STAY

CONNECTED
IN 2024

With Complete Coverage of NOW INCORPORATING

Library Information Technology

FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS, CIL has provided a forum for practitioners to share case
studies, best practices, and strategies about applying and deploying technology in libraries,
archives, and museums. Published 10 times a year, check it out to see what you’ve been missing.

Personal Rate (U.S. Print or Digital Subscription) just $69.95.

Personal Rate (U.S. Print/Digital Combo Subscription) just $98.95.

Technology is empowering libraries to provide FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT

better services to their communities. If you
haven’t been keeping up with what your peers
are doing, you risk being left behind. Make this
year the time you join the community of practice
that Computers in Libraries magazine represents.
the ITI Subscription Service Team:
Phone: (609) 654-6266 x128
Fax: (609) 654-6098
Email: jwelsh@infotoday.com

Start saving time on your own projects by reading

what your peers have done. Stay connected and
start saving money by choosing one of our print
or digital subscription options. www.infotoday.com/CILMAG
Contents
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 • Volume 44 • Number 1
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONS

features
3 From Photo Digitization to OER
BY BRYAN HULL, CARMIN I. SMOOT, AND JULIA CURTIS

8 Exploring Student Use of Microsoft’s

Surface Hubs in an Academic Library
BY KIMBERLY MARKS AND GRETCHEN MAXEINER
3 8
13 How We Took Our Library All Digital
BY JOSEPH DUDLEY

23 Automatic Transcription of Oral

Histories Using Word 365
BY ERIKA ALFIERI

31 EDTECH
How to Design Fun Math Games for Kids,
Teens, Seniors, and In-Betweeners 13 23
BY PHIL SHAPIRO

columns
17 Building Digital Libraries
Three Decades of Digital Convergence 31 36
BY TERENCE K. HUWE

20 From the Innovation Lab

Welcome to What’s to Come
BY CHAD MAIRN

feature
36 User Surveys as Drivers of User
departments Engagement and Service Improvement
BY WINNIE JAMARA
2 Editor’s Notes
Delighting Patrons With columns
Digital Innovations 35 Voices of the 41 InfoLit Land 43 The Dollar Sign
BY DICK KASER
Searchers Finding Open Untangling
27 News Desk FOMO, GAI, LLM, Access Can Be Company Histories;
BY ALISON A. TROTTA
RAG: So Many Harder Than Tracing Corporate
Acronyms! Finding Nemo Roots
29 Noted & Quoted BY MARYDEE OJALA BY WILLIAM BADKE BY MARYDEE OJALA
BY ALISON A. TROTTA

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 1

 Editor’s
by
dick
kaser
Notes  letter from the editor
Delighting Patrons With Digital Innovations
Happy New Year! In this first issue of 2024, we are publishing a series
of articles by librarians who have embraced digital solutions for the ben-
efit of academic, special, public, and school library patrons. Authors Bryan
Hull, Carmin Smoot, and Julia Curtis share their experience in digitizing
a collection of dermatology photos gathered over one doctor’s career and
discuss the process of turning it into a diagnostic learning tool that will
be available as an open repository accessible to students, researchers, and
practitioners globally.
Joseph Dudley (Bryant & Stratton College) embraced the task of trans-
forming a group of physical libraries into a 100% digital and virtual library.
From liquidating the print collection to developing interfaces and learning
aids, he tells us how the project was managed and how it has been received.
Erika Alfieri (Jacksonville Public Library) shows you how to leverage
your Microsoft 365 subscription to create automatic transcriptions of audio
files. Alfieri’s case in point involves the transcription of oral histories, but
the process will work for other collections and tasks you may need to com-
plete without investing in additional services or software.
Kimberly Marks and Gretchen Maxeiner (Grove City College) share their
experience in building collaborative spaces with Microsoft Surface Hubs in
their newly redesigned learning commons. Their data offers insights into
student and faculty member use of these smart screen devices in education.
Terence Huwe’s column—now in its 24th year—focuses on the topic of
digital convergence. Joining him as a columnist this issue is Chad Mairn
(St. Petersburg College), who will be publishing a piece every other issue on
AI, VR, AR, and other technology topics for innovation labs.
As a friendly reminder, now’s a good time to book your place at the Com-
puters in Libraries 2024 conference in March. I hope to see you there.
Dick Kaser, Executive Editor ❘ kaser@infotoday.com
CIL’s Mission Statement
CIL’s mission is to provide librarians and other information professionals with useful and insightful
articles about the technology that affects them, their institutions, and their patrons.
We aim to publish interesting stories, case studies, and opinions that are of professional value to
people working with technology in public, academic, special, and corporate libraries, as well as
archives and museums.
CIL is written by librarians for librarians, and it’s about technology all the time.
2 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
EDITORIAL
Executive Editor........................................................................................Richard T. Kaser
kaser@infotoday.com
Editor, Online Searcher...........................................................................Marydee Ojala
Editorial Services Manager ..............................................................Lauree Padgett
Managing Editor............................................................................................Alison A. Trotta
Production Editor ...............................................................................................Terri Koenig
MAIN & EDITORIAL OFFICES
143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford, NJ 08055
(609) 654-6266; (609) 654-4888 • Fax: (609) 654-4309
Web: infotoday.com
DESIGN & PRODUCTION
Production Manager .........................................................................Tiffany Chamenko
Senior Graphic Designer ............................................................... Jennifer Burmood
Senior Graphic Designer ................................................................... Jackie Crawford
ADVERTISING SALES
Account Executive ..................................................................................LaShawn Fugate
(859) 278-2223 X 104 • lashawn@infotoday.com
MARKETING
Vice President, Marketing
& Business Development...............................................................Thomas Hogan, Jr.
Circulation Manager ...................................................................................Janeen Welsh
jwelsh@infotoday.com
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT
President & CEO,
Information Today, Inc. ....................................................................Thomas H. Hogan
Chairman of the Board ......................................................................... Roger R. Bilboul
CFO...............................................................................................................................Mike Flaherty
Vice President, Information Technology.........................................Bill Spence
Computers in Libraries (ISSN: 1041-7915; USPS: 730-510) is published 10 times per year
(monthly with January/February and July/August combined issues) by Information Today,
Inc., 143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford, NJ 08055 USA; Phone: (609) 654-6266; Fax:
(609) 654-4309; Internet: infotoday.com. Registered in U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
Periodicals postage paid at Vincentown, N.J., and additional mailing offices. © Copyright, 2024,
Information Today, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in
whole or in part in any medium without the express permission of the publisher. Printed in
USA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Computers in Libraries, 143 Old Marlton Pike,
Medford, NJ 08055-8750. Rights and Permissions: Permission to photocopy items is granted
by Information Today, Inc. provided that a base fee of $3.50 plus $0.50 per page is paid directly
to Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), or provided that your organization maintains an
appropriate license with CCC. Visit copyright.com to obtain permission to use these materials
in academic coursepacks or for library reserves, interlibrary loans, document delivery
services, or as classroom handouts; for permission to send copies via email or post copies
on a corporate intranet or extranet; or for permission to republish materials in books,
textbooks, and newsletters. Contact CCC at 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923; (978)
750-8400; Fax: (978) 646-8600; copyright.com. If you live outside the USA, request
permission from your local Reproduction Rights Organization. (For a list of international
agencies, consult ifrro.org.) For all other requests, including making copies for use as
commercial reprints or for other sales, marketing, promotional and publicity uses, contact
the publisher in advance of using the material. For a copy of our Rights and Permissions Request
form, contact Lauree Padgett, lpadgett@infotoday.com. Online Access: Visit our website at
infotoday.com/cilmag. Contents also available online under direct licensing arrangements
with EBSCO, NewsBank, ProQuest, and Gale and through redistribution arrangements with
information service providers including Dow Jones Factiva, LexisNexis, OCLC, STN
International, and Westlaw. Subscription Information: Print and/or PDF subscriptions to
Computers in Libraries are available at the following rates (per year): Subscribers in the
U.S.—$129.95. Special rates available for individuals and K–12 schools, see website for details;
Subscribers in Canada or Mexico—$149; Subscribers outside North America—$160. All
amounts payable in U.S. funds. Subscribe online or email custserv@infotoday.com. Back
issues: $15 per copy, prepaid only. Missed issues within the U.S. must be claimed within 45
days of publication date. Change of Address: Mail requests, including a copy of the current
address label from a recent issue, and indicating the new address, to Computers in Libraries, 143
Old Marlton Pike, Medford, NJ 08055-8750. Reprints: For quality reprints of 500 copies or more,
contact LaShawn Fugate, Account Executive, 143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford, NJ 08055-
8750; Phone: (859) 278-2223 X 104; email: lashawn@infotoday.com. Disclaimers: Acceptance
of an advertisement does not imply an endorsement by the publisher. Views expressed by
authors and other contributors are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the publisher. While best efforts to ensure editorial accuracy of the content are
exercised, publisher assumes no liability for any information contained in this publication.
The publisher can accept no responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or the
loss of photos. The views in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of Information Today, Inc. (ITI) or the editors.
From Photo Digitization
to OER
By Bryan Hull, Carmin I. Smoot,
and Julia Curtis
The scope of the project
quickly expanded beyond
a simple flash card system
to a platform that could
allow users to explore the
image set via diagnosis
and clinical characteristics.
T
his is the story of how a photo digiti-
zation project is transforming into a
library-developed OER for doctors,
students, and researchers.
Background of the UtahDERM project
In fall 2017, Dr. Garrett Coman, a der-
matology resident at the University of
Utah, asked the Spencer S. Eccles Health
Sciences Library to digitize a collection of
nearly 15,000 35-millimeter Kodachrome
slides belonging to Dr. Leonard Swinyer,
an adjunct faculty member for the Univer-
sity of Utah’s department of dermatology.

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 3
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | From Photo Digitization to OER

After more than 4 decades working in derma-

tology, Swinyer had amassed an extensive clini-
cal image collection of patients’ skin conditions.
Taken with patient permission, this high-quality
clinical image collection was significant in terms
of its size, breadth, and educational value, with
coverage of both pediatric and adult patients, as
well as a representation of skin colors to reflect
the diversity of the patient population.
When Coman approached the library with the
slides, the initial aim was to digitize the images
for preservation; later, they could be turned into
digital flash cards to further the education of
medical students and residents. The scope of the
project quickly expanded beyond a simple flash
card system to a platform that could allow users
to explore the image set via diagnosis and clini-
cal characteristics. Thus, the seeds were planted
for the UtahDERM (Dermatology Education Re- Homepage of the UtahDERM website (utahderm.med.utah.edu)
sources & Modules) project.
acteristics, which refer to the visual information a derma-
Digitizing the Kodachrome Slides tologist sees when observing a dermatologic condition, were
Utilizing a CyberView X5-MS automated batch scanner, also standardized in order to have a controlled vocabulary
each Kodachrome slide was scanned at 400 DPI. The resolu- and standard with which to describe the images. The char-
tion was chosen for the speed with which the scans could be acteristics included the following:
completed and for its suitability for web transmission and
viewing. While a higher resolution is ideal for true digital
•Location
preservation, it wasn’t feasible with the available resourc- •Configuration
es and the desire to get the collection of images digitized
quickly in order to begin work on the image viewer platform.
•Color
In all, it took 988 hours of total effort to digitize the slides •Primary lesion
at the chosen resolution.
•Secondary change
Metadata Structure and Gathering the Descriptions •Fitzpatrick I-VI
To accurately describe the images, a standard was creat-
ed for both diagnoses and clinical characteristics. For diag-
•Immunosuppression status
noses, names were to match the dermatology textbook that •Sex
the dermatology department uses for teaching and learn- The metadata gathering process was unique in that a
ing: Dermatology, Fourth Edition by Jean L. Bolognia, Ju- team of 12 dermatology faculty members and residents was
lie V. Schaffer, and Lorenzo Cerroni (Elsevier 2018). This recruited to confirm the diagnosis and identify the clini-
ensured that a single diagnosis name was used, reducing cal characteristics for each of the nearly 15,000 slides. The
alternative names or aliases that are common in dermatol- process for gathering metadata was as follows:
ogy from being introduced into the dataset. Clinical char-
1. A folder of images was assigned
to a dermatology faculty member
or resident.
2. That person reviewed each im-
age in the folder and filled out a
Google Form with metadata.
3. The process was repeated until
the entire folder of images was
described.
Each faculty member and resi-
dent received a small stipend for
Digitized images from the Swinyer collection each image described, incentiviz-

4 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com

 From Photo Digitization to OER | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

ing their participation and

compensating them for the
significant time commitment
necessary for such a large im-
age set. The process to de-
scribe the images was monu-
mental and took a year and a
half to complete, with the first
set of images being described
in early 2019 and the final set
being completed in July 2020.

Developing the Platform to A screenshot of a low-fidelity prototype demonstration video (left) and a screenshot of high-fidelity web prototype (right)
Host and Share the Images
While the Eccles Library had access to readily available
CMSs and digital collection solutions, none of them were
equipped to handle the specifics of diagnosis and clinical
characteristics that described the images. They were also
unable to help us achieve the educational goals that were en-
visioned for the project. It became clear that a home-cooked
solution needed to be developed by the library in order to
make the vision of an educational tool and image explorer
a reality.
A team of library personnel—including two librarians,
a web programmer, and a web designer—began the develop-
ment of the image viewer in fall 2018. The development fol-
A screenshot demonstrating searching and selecting diagnoses
A screenshot demonstrating filtering by the location characteristic of ears
lowed standard user design prototyping practices, starting
with low-fidelity prototypes and working toward a high-fi-
delity prototype that we could then use as the initial struc-
ture for the system. Feedback was sought along the way
from our dermatology colleagues as we solidified design
choices and explored features to be implemented.
There were four basic functionalities that were to be de-
signed and implemented into the image viewer system:
•Browsing images by diagnosis
•Filtering the images by characteristics
•Browsing images via Dermatology textbook chapter
•Ability to hide diagnoses for flash cards
Each image had a dermatologic diagnosis that
was ascribed through the metadata collection pro-
cess. As such, the ability to search diagnoses was
one of the primary functionalities of the image
viewer; that way, users could explore entire im-
age sets of the same diagnosis. We also wanted
users to have the ability to search multiple diag-
noses in order to compare image sets comprising
discrete diagnoses.
To further refine image searching, we wanted
to provide an option to filter the images by clin-
ical characteristics. This included being able to
search across the entire collection based on spe-
cific characteristics, such as location, but also to
filter characteristics within specific diagnosis
queries. For example, we wanted the ability to
search all images that had conditions located on
the hand and the ability to search a specific diag-
nosis, such as blue nevus, but to filter the search
to only blue nevus that appears on the ears. This
introduced complications into the system design,
as the characteristics could act as discreet search
terms but also as a filter to refine search returns
of a diagnosis.
To increase the educational utility of the im-
age viewer, an additional method to search the
collection was introduced. This time, it was by

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 5

COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | From Photo Digitization to OER
chapter of the Dermatology textbook, in which a diagnosis
is primarily referenced and discussed. This allows students
and residents to browse images related to specific chapters
within the text for study.
Lastly, the original idea for the system was to be able
to flash-card the images. This proved to be complicated to
implement, since a collection of images would first need
to be queried before users could flash-card them. Thus, if
the idea was to hide diagnoses in order to test your knowl-
edge, you would not be able to search by diagnosis. There-
fore, the only way to construct a query was via a clinical
characteristic search in order to get an image set without
revealing diagnoses. To work around this issue, a user can
toggle between the two modes of the image viewer—search
mode and flash card mode—to search for images, then flash-
card the return.
A display of an epidermal nevus slide and associated metadata
A screenshot of a core diagnosis article on UtahDERM
6 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
The image viewer itself was built using many different
technologies, including server-based PHP, several Java-
Script libraries, HTML, CSS, and an IIIF image server to
handle serving large images. The front end of the website
was built on WordPress but is separate, as the image view-
er runs as its own independent application. The back end of
the image viewer contains systems for ingesting images,
data management, and administrative tasks such as log-
ging and auditing.
Medical Student Write-Ups
In conjunction with the development of the image viewer,
a collection of articles covering 100 core dermatology diag-
noses was developed as an additional feature of the Utah-
DERM project. These core diagnoses articles serve as a quick
reference tool for medical students and general health prac-
titioners to learn the essentials of common der-
matological conditions. Each article is written by
a rotating medical student in the department of
dermatology and peer-reviewed by dermatology
faculty members. Additionally, a linkback system
was created in order to link diagnoses within the
image viewer back to the relevant article and vice
versa. This helped create additional learning op-
portunities to be included with the image viewer,
as a user could reference basic information for
common dermatologic conditions in conjunction
with a large set of clinical images. It also present-
ed an opportunity for medical students within
the dermatology department to become involved
in the project and gain experience with medical
education, writing, and peer review.
Lessons Learned and Future of the Project
Now in our sixth year of the UtahDERM proj-
ect, we have learned many valuable lessons for
projects of this scope. The first challenge we en-
countered involved addressing the difficulty of
the metadata gathering process, which necessi-
tated bringing in subject matter experts. It is
difficult to get highly specific metadata from a
highly specialized group of people who have se-
vere time constraints to describe an image set
as large as the Swinyer collection, even with fi-
nancial compensation as an incentive. It is also
challenging to ensure quality control, as library
personnel cannot judge the accuracy or complete-
ness of the metadata and must rely on subject
matter experts to peer review and perform qual-
ity control.
The second challenge involved tackling fea-
ture and scope creep in the development process,
as the COVID-19 pandemic occurred in the mid-
dle of development and added another layer of
complexity to project management. Connecting
with our dermatology colleagues became more
 From Photo Digitization to OER | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

In conjunction with
the development of
the image viewer, a
collection of articles
covering 100 core
dermatology diagnoses
was developed. …

licized release of the application. We are

also hoping to recruit dermatology faculty
members to provide more images in order
to grow the collection, especially when it
comes to adding more skin-of-color exam-
ples for each diagnosis. Lastly, we’d like to
conduct more stringent user testing on the
initial application so that we may further
refine its user interface and streamline its
functionality. Our hope is that with a wider
release and more input from the dermatol-
ogy community, we can grow the image set,
find funding avenues to develop new facets
to the image viewer, and have a widely used
and helpful tool for dermatology education
across the globe. n
A screenshot of the default view of the UtahDERM image viewer (utahderm.med.utah.edu/image-viewer)

complicated, as meetings were canceled and more pressing

issues rose to the forefront. For library personnel, this left
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
extra time for development to focus on features and man- Bryan E. Hull, ME.d.
agement structures that were not initially included in the Head of digital publishing
original prototype and scope of the project. Assistant librarian
While feature and scope creep presented challenges, they Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library
also offered opportunities to discover solutions that were University of Utah
ultimately beneficial to other projects, such as the inclu-
sion of an IIIF image server that could be used elsewhere.
Feature and scope creep also presented numerous areas of Carmin I. Smoot, M.L.I.S.
Program manager for digital publishing
growth, as the platform itself has the flexibility to include
Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library
other methods of dermatologic imaging, such as histopa-
University of Utah
thology, dermoscopy, reflectance confocal microscopy in
vivo imaging, and other modalities, as they arise in the
future. The image viewer and website are currently in the Julia Curtis, M.D.
alpha stage, meaning that the application and materials Assistant professor
that are presently ingested are publicly accessible but not Department of Dermatology
widely promoted or publicized yet. School of Medicine
Our future plans include completing the ingestion of the Editor in chief of the UtahDERM website
entire set of Kodachrome slides before a wider, more pub- University of Utah

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 7

 Exploring Student Use of
Microsoft’s Surface Hubs
in an Academic Library

By Kimberly Marks and

Gretchen Maxeiner

8 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com

 Microsoft’s Surface Hub 2S is an interactive screen that
can be used as a large-screen display, digital whiteboard,
meeting platform, collaboration tool, and more.

icrosoft’s Surface Hub technology arrived on the campus of Grove City Col-

M lege—a Western Pennsylvania Christian liberal arts college of approximately

2,500 students—in fall 2022 as part of the newly renovated Henry Buhl Li-
brary. Ten of these interactive screens were installed and given a soft rollout
to let students discover and interact with them on their own. An Institutional Review
Board-approved research study was undertaken in spring 2023 to identify student uses
and perceived benefits. Using the study results coupled with the authors’ firsthand ex-
periences, this article describes the debut of Surface Hubs in an academic library, the
ways students are using them, the benefits that students and faculty members perceive,
and this library’s next steps.

Background
Microsoft’s Surface Hub 2S is an interactive screen that can be used as a large-screen
display, digital whiteboard, meeting platform, collaboration tool, and more. Microphone
and camera capabilities are specially designed to support whole-room virtual meeting
interactions, and each Surface Hub comes with a custom pen that enables users to select
objects and draw on the screen. Surface Hubs can function as standalone devices that
offer students a modified set of Microsoft Windows 10 apps with an op-
tion to log in to their Microsoft accounts. Students can also connect
their own devices for on-screen sharing.
As part of the renovation, the library’s large reading room
was converted into a learning commons, with eight enclosed
meeting rooms (locally referred to as huddle rooms) along one
side. These rooms seat four to eight people, with a vari-
ety of table and seating types, and are semi-private, with
glass fronts and limited soundproofing. Each room is
equipped with traditional whiteboards and a wall-
mounted Surface Hub with wireless connectivity.
Two mobile Surface Hubs are also available in the
open learning commons space. The huddle rooms
and mobile units are available to students by
reservation through Microsoft Outlook or
for walk-in use. Reservations are limited
to 2 hours at a time, and the library di-
rector can review reservations to pre-
vent improper bookings.

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 9

COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Exploring Student Use of Microsoft’s Surface Hubs in an Academic Library

The Surface Hubs entered the library’s renova-

tion plans at the prompting of the college’s CIO,
who recognized several attractions of the tech-
nology. To start, the Surface Hubs would be valu-
able in supporting online/hybrid classes as well
as student projects with the external communi-
ty. It was also an opportunity to acclimatize stu-
dents to technology they would likely experience in
the business world. Finally, these initial Surface
Hubs would tie in with other plans around cam-
pus, where this and related technology would even-
tually be added to collaborative workspaces and
classrooms, replacing traditional projector and
screen systems with modern technology offering
A Surface Hub in a huddle room better resolution, remote participation, lecture re-
cording, captioning, and more. And while there
are other brands and types of interactive screens
available, Grove City College is a Microsoft cam-
pus—with all students and staffers issued a laptop
equipped with a standardized suite of Microsoft
Office products—so integrating Microsoft’s ver-
sion was an easy fit for all users.
However, library staffers simply viewed the
Surface Hubs as another feature of the renovated
space awaiting student exploration. As previously
noted, the Surface Hubs were installed with mini-
mal promotion or explanation. Students were free
to discover and interact with them on their own.
The authors’ research study took place during
spring 2023, beginning approximately 6 months
after the Surface Hubs were installed. The study
had four components: 1) anonymous student sur-
veys 2) faculty surveys, 3) student interviews, and
A Surface Hub in use as a mobile board 4) several observation periods for simple tracking
of Surface Hub and space use. The results of the
study as well as growing staff experience working
with students and this technology have painted a
clearer picture of how Surface Hubs have become
a meaningful component of the library.

Student Use of Surface Hubs

A Surface Hub in use for anatomy instruction
Although only 10% of students surveyed were
aware of Surface Hubs before they became avail-
able in the library in the fall, 88% reported hav-
ing used one by spring. Word-of-mouth and curios-
ity after seeing other students using them seemed
to be important drivers, based on interviews and
the authors’ experiences. Knowledge and skill
seemed to spread similarly; although most sur-
veyed students reported not seeking help in us-
ing the Surface Hubs, almost all of those who did
cited friends and classmates as one of their infor-
mation sources.
While there are several ways that students can
access the Surface Hubs, survey results and ob-
servations found that most link them up to their

10 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com

 Exploring Student Use of Microsoft’s Surface Hubs in an Academic Library
laptops and use them as a display. Only some students use
apps directly on the Surface Hub, and even fewer log into
the Surface Hubs via their Microsoft Office accounts, which
would enable them to access their own files.
The whiteboard feature is, by far, the most used soft-
ware on the Surface Hubs, based on surveys, interviews,
and observations. This heavy use is somewhat surprising
considering that the huddle rooms are equipped with tra-
ditional whiteboards. However, students noted that mark-
ers are messy and dry out quickly, and the boards must
be cleaned after use. In contrast, they described the ease
of the digital whiteboard and its unique features: enlarg-
ing and minimizing text; using the lasso to quickly grab
text to move, delete, change color, etc.; and the “infinite”
space on the screen. Based on this research and observation,
the authors now view the digital whiteboard function as a
gateway feature to Surface Hub use. There is an inviting
icon on the Surface Hub homepage to draw users in, and it
is a simple tool for which students immediately recognize
potential applications. Interviewed students regularly re-
ported this as the first tool they used on the Surface Hub,
moving on to explore other uses once they became comfort-
able. In addition to the whiteboard feature, students also
regularly use web browsers, PowerPoint, Word, and Teams.
They have also reported and been observed using industry-
specific software and gaming software.
Chart 1
Research also looked at students’ purposes in engag-
ing with the Surface Hubs. Although about a quarter of
surveyed students acknowledged having used the devices
for non-academic purposes, very few (7%) identified this
as their primary purpose (see Chart 1). Students reported
that they used the Surface Hubs most frequently for brain-
storming (43%) or collaborating on group projects (43%).
While brainstorming could be a solo activity and was of-
ten observed and reported to be so, overall collaborative
use of the Surface Hubs was high. During the observation
periods, 86% of Surface Hub use involved multiple users,
and 87% of surveyed students reported using the devices
for collaboration at least once a semester. However, despite
this high level of in-person collaboration, remote collabora-
| COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES
tion was low. Only 7% of students surveyed indicated that
they had used the Surface Hubs for videoconferencing or
remote collaboration; while this was occasionally observed,
it was rare. A full list of observed and reported activities
on the Surface Hubs includes individual studying, learn-
ing by rote, brainstorming, group studying, group project
work, tutoring, practicing presentations, remote classes,
interviews, online gaming, watching sports, and creating
an ambient study environment with background videos.
Chart 2
When asked about the perceived benefits of having Sur-
face Hubs in the library, student responses were positive.
Most students surveyed who had used the Surface Hubs be-
lieve that the devices benefit them now or will in the future.
Half saw benefits to their learning and/or their coursework,
and 40% saw a benefit in preparation for future education
or employment needs (see Chart 2). One senior computer
science major noted, “I usually try to study for midterms
and finals using the screens with a group of people from
my classes. The screens help us to be able to visualize a
larger amount of data at the same time in a neat and or-
ganized way, which I would tend to think leads to better
exam grades.”
Research also included faculty member surveys to help
identify needs, potential applications, and faculty perspec-
tives on this technology. Tools and spaces to support collab-
orative work are clearly relevant on campus, with 33 fac-
ulty survey respondents teaching more than 60 classes or
sections during the spring semester that required or en-
couraged collaborative student work. And while only 21%
reported that their current classes involved assignments
or projects for which students might use the Surface Hubs,
more than half reported that they would possibly or defi-
nitely adjust future lesson plans to integrate Surface Hub
usage now that they were aware of these devices.
Similarly, almost half indicated that this technology
might potentially open new avenues for student learning
activities in their classes. Faculty members envisaged po-
tential uses in both formal learning and co-curricular learn-
ing, anticipating group projects, brainstorming and plan-
ning sessions, and videoconferencing. Applications might
include planning group trips, building interactive game
maps, remote collaboration on group music compositions,

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 11
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Exploring Student Use of Microsoft’s Surface Hubs in an Academic Library
and collaborative readings in an honor society context. Fac-
ulty also recognized benefits to students in future work or
educational environments, in learning in general, and in
coursework specifically. “I think that collaborative planning
is a big part of all future professional work, and exposing
our students to tools that make that visible and easier to
access is important for their professional soft skills,” one
education faculty member noted.
The whiteboard
feature is, by far, the
most used software
on the Surface Hubs …
Next Steps
Overall, the inclusion of Surface Hubs in the renovated
Henry Buhl Library has been considered a success. Students
have been interested and curious to use the new technology
and have found applications to support their learning and
other activities. Many actively recognize the benefits of get-
ting familiar with the devices for now and the future. Fac-
ulty members also see benefits and, in time, may increase
class-related reasons for students to use the Surface Hubs.
The authors’ research, however, has also identified two chal-
lenges to address.
First, while many students have interacted with the Sur-
face Hubs and discovered beneficial features, with some
even becoming enthusiastic users, there are clear knowl-
edge barriers. The most common obstacle reported by stu-
dent users was insufficient knowledge of the technology,
while nonusers reported their most common reason for not
using Surface Hubs was a desire for training. Even regu-
lar users are often surprised to find out about functions
they hadn’t thought to look for, such as split screens or the
ability to log in and thus save one’s brainstorming session
on the digital whiteboard. Although students generally de-
scribe the Surface Hubs as intuitive and many report that
they have not needed to seek help, the authors see oppor-
tunities to attract more users and build stronger skill sets
among existing users through training and instruction.
The second challenge is availability. Students occasion-
ally express frustration about finding an open Surface
Hub, and some surveyed students stated that their prima-
ry reason for nonuse was the lack of availability. The hud-
dle rooms have proved to be very popular, and these semi-
private group spaces were occupied 72% of the time across
12 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
all of the library’s open hours during the observation peri-
ods. The two mobile Surface Hubs in the learning commons
would be a logical alternative, but they are only rarely used.
During observation periods, only 5% of Surface Hub use in-
volved the mobile units. It is possible students do not real-
ize that these mobile units are intended for their use, and
it is probable that they prefer working in the semi-private
huddle rooms. The authors intend to use marketing to in-
crease student awareness of these mobile Surface Hubs, en-
courage room reservations, and draw attention to non-peak
hours for the Surface Hubs.
The increased presence of Surface Hubs planned for else-
where on campus will also likely alleviate the high demand
in the library, but the authors anticipate that this technol-
ogy will continue to serve an integral role in the library
space. It is clear from student interviews and other expe-
riences that many students consider the Surface Hub a re-
search and study tool, and the library is their preferred
place for research and study. They appreciate the proxim-
ity of the library collections and also the library’s expanded
hours. While library staffers may not initially have recog-
nized the value of this technology to the renovated space,
it is now clear that the Surface Hubs have become an inte-
gral component of student learning in Grove City College’s
Henry Buhl Library. n
Resources
Bathiche, S. (2022, March 16). “Empowering Collaboration in the Hybrid
Workplace With Surface Hub 2S and Surface Hub 2 Smart Camera.”
Microsoft Devices Blog. blogs.windows.com/devices/2022/03/16/
empowering-collaboration-in-the-hybrid-workplace-with-surface-hub-2s-
and-surface-hub-2-smart-camera.
Microsoft Corp. (2022). “Enhance Your Meeting Experience and Engage
Everyone on Surface Hub 2S.” query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/
api/am/binary/RE4U5gd.
Smith, M.S. (2019, April 17). “Microsoft Surface Hub 2S Hands-On Review:
You Won’t Buy Microsoft’s Surface Hub 2S, But It Could Still Change Your
Life.” Digital Trends. digitaltrends.com/computing/microsoft-surface-
hub-2s-review.
Kimberly Marks
(marksks@gcc.edu) is the assistant director of library
services at Grove City College’s Henry Buhl Library.
In this role, she serves as the coordinator of library
assessments and provides information literacy
instruction to students ranging from first-semester freshmen
through to the graduate level. She holds an M.L.S. degree from
Clarion University in Pennsylvania and is currently pursuing a
doctorate of education degree from the University of New England.
Gretchen Maxeiner
(maxeinergl@gcc.edu) is the cataloging/
reference librarian at Grove City College’s
Henry Buhl Library. She has more than 25 years
of experience in academic libraries in both
technical and public services and has an interest in user
behavior. She holds an M.S.L.I.S. and an M.A. in Latin from the
University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign.
How We Took
Our Library By Joseph Dudley

ALL
DIGITAL

A
t the start of the winter 2022 se-
mester, Bryant & Stratton Col-
lege’s (B&SC) libraries—which had
until that time comprised a virtual library available to
all campuses and two satellite, brick-and-mortar libraries
at each location staffed by at least one librarian—transitioned
to a completely digital library with an all-electronic collection
and a staff of four remote librarians serving campuses in New
York, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin. This transition supported
a growing student preference for digital-only library resourc-
One of our first tasks es and followed current academic library trends for removing
after becoming a lightly or non-used print collections and repurposing physical
library spaces.
completely digital library Our digital-only transformation was supported by existing
was the liquidation of library technology at each campus. B&SC’s virtual library was
already the main access hub for our array of more than 50 re-
print collections at all search databases and our existing LibGuides, which had been de-
campuses. signed by campus librarians to support the academic programs
at each location. Additionally, B&SC was already a contributing


infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 13
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | How We Took Our Library All Digital
The goal of the redesign was to ensure
that all users would now have relatively
regardless of physical campus location.
member of the LibAnswers online reference cooperative,
which meant that our students and faculty patrons were
acquainted with the service and were familiar with online
24/7 chat reference and using the Ask Us widgets to initi-
ate reference transactions with online librarians.
Reference: LibAnswers Leveraged
As our library services moved to digital-only, we antici-
pated that one of the most noticeable changes at the campus
level would be the physical absence of the campus librari-
an to answer reference questions. This meant that our Lib-
Answers service—which up until then had served as a sup-
plementary service for evenings and weekends—was now
one of our main channels (in addition to email and video
chat meetings) for reference transactions. Also, since staff-
ing had now transitioned to fully remote librarians serving
the entire multicampus system, we were no longer answer-
ing reference questions from LibAnswers patrons outside
of B&SC. However, co-op librarians continued to support
us during evening and weekend hours, enabling us to con-
tinue to offer 24/7 chat reference to the B&SC community.
Although LibAnswers widgets were already present on
the virtual library, we spent a significant amount of time
discussing how to redesign our LibAnswers FAQ page as a
main point of entry for digital reference questions. FAQs
were updated to include questions that we anticipated would
occur to B&SC students, and links to additional library ser-
vices (such as document delivery and scheduling a research
consultation) were also added, transforming the FAQ page
into a multipurpose digital reference desk.
Print Collections Liquidated
One of our first tasks after becoming a completely dig-
ital library was the liquidation of print collections at all
campuses. The B&SC system office recommended liquida-
tion of print items in one of three ways. The preferred meth-
od was through donation to Better World Books, whose re-
gional drop-off locations would provide the most efficient
option for liquidation. Additional suggested options includ-
ed donating selected items to faculty members (who could
keep them on office shelves for reference when working
with students) or donating a selection of items to campus
learning centers to be used as study materials. Librarians
worked closely with campus contacts during this process
to monitor and assist as needed. The print collections at
the Akron and Parma (both in Ohio) campuses had been
14 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
the same navigation experience
previously liquidated, as student preference for digital li-
brary materials became clear prior to the COVID-19 pan-
demic. Those campuses were able to act as models for col-
lection liquidation.
Librarians also worked during the first year of digital-
only service to remove bibliographic records for print items
from our shared library catalog as print collections were
liquidated. The market dean of instruction for the Wis-
consin campuses had previously served as Wisconsin mar-
ket librarian and was familiar with the cataloging system,
so was able to help in this process. Ultimately, our library
management system (LMS) vendor was called upon to as-
sist with the final stages of deleting MARC records for print
materials.
Library Spaces Become Campus Learning Centers
Previous library spaces transitioned to campus learning
centers and were staffed by a learning center coordinator
who, in most cases, also became the main campus contact for
librarians. Some campuses chose to eliminate print collec-
tions from the new learning centers entirely. Others, how-
ever, chose to retain some selected titles as student study
materials, with the understanding that going forward, the
library would only purchase e-materials and that the cam-
pus would now be responsible for any edition updates of
print materials, if those were desired.
Communication With Faculty
While general communications (such as new service and
collection additions) were now distributed to the campus-
es through the learning center coordinators, librarians
remained available to communicate with faculty members
directly (either individually or at faculty meetings) and
continued to actively search out such opportunities (either
remotely or in person when possible). Speaking at begin-
ning-of-term faculty meetings was recognized an excellent
opportunity to present higher-level library updates, begin
conversations with faculty members regarding collection
development needs for the semester, and schedule classroom
presentations. Librarians are also able during these meet-
ings to answer questions faculty members may have regard-
ing access to library services or resources.
Librarians also attend meetings during the semes-
ter (both remotely and in person), such as those with out-
side accrediting organizations and internal system meet-
ings with faculty members and administrators. Attending

accreditation meetings offers the op-
portunity to speak with outside ac-
creditors about how library services
are administered and how patrons
are engaged in a digital environ-
ment. Attending system meetings
allows librarians to share informa-
tion with internal stakeholders that
can lead to opportunities for addi-
tional classroom and individual stu-
dent engagement. Additionally, li-
brarians regularly conduct internal
professional development workshops
for faculty members during the se-
mester on a variety of topics, such
as best practices for managing copy-
right, using American Psychologi- Virtual library design
cal Association (APA) documenta-
tion, and finding and using OERs.
Discovery Layer Leveraged
Once all print items were liquidated and records with-
drawn from the catalog, we realized that it was now possi-
ble—and more efficient, given our new status—to eliminate
the standard LMS software and use our discovery layer as
our main search and discovery tool. Although the catalog
would still have offered patrons the option of searching
within our e-collection, they would have needed to navi-
gate past screens for a primary print collection that no lon-
ger existed. So, after some discussion among ourselves and
with our LMS vendor, we decided to move away from the
traditional catalog and explore incorporating BIBFRAME/
linked data technology into the virtual library. This would
give us the ability to share our collection across multiple
electronic systems, both increasing visibility and ease of
access. We approached this decision recognizing that such
a move was a major departure from long-standing library
practice, but all librarians agreed that it was the correct
Subject guides
How We Took Our Library All Digital | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES
move in terms of providing a more seamless library search
experience for our users.
Library Homepage Redesigned
As collections and access to them were realigned, it now
became obvious that we had to consider a new interface for
the virtual library. Specifically, we needed to move away
from the concept of several separate B&SC campus library
sites created with separate design philosophies and toward
the concept of a single site with a unified design distributed
to multiple campus locations.
The redesign was undertaken by the system library man-
ager and system librarians, using available technology. Af-
ter considering several design options, we decided on a vi-
sual structure for the virtual library’s homepage that would
allow users to contact librarians with reference questions by
chat, email, or video call; request a more in-depth research
consultation; access popular library collections and features
from a list of Quick Links; or access all library collections
and services from a rotating gallery
at the bottom of the screen. A Cam-
pus Resources link provided access
to all subject guides at all campuses,
and a search field was included at the
top of the screen to allow users to
initiate a broad search of all library
items. Fonts and font sizes were se-
lected for optimum readability, and
a color palette was designed to con-
form to the rest of the BS&C site.
Subject Guides Redesigned
The color palette, fonts, and font
sizes chosen for the virtual library’s
homepage were incorporated into all
campus subject guides; where need-
ed, navigation systems were edited
infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 15
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | How We Took Our Library All Digital
all-digital library service platform,
there will doubtless be changes
to give the entire virtual library the look and feel of one site,
with subject guides cascading down from the homepage. In-
dividual campus guides were redesigned to provide tabs for
curriculum focuses at each location, with links to selected
ebook, ejournal, and database collections for each subject
area, conceptually modeled on a physical library’s table or
window display. In addition, the library search bar, Ask Us
tab, Quick Links, and system librarian photo and email link
appear on all guides. That way, patrons can search and ask
questions from any point. The goal of the redesign was to en-
sure that all users would now have relatively the same navi-
gation experience regardless of physical campus location.
During the fall 2023 semester, a survey was distrib-
uted to students at all campuses to gauge patron satisfac-
tion with reference services and the virtual library’s ease
of use. Student responses will be used in determining the
next steps in implementing library policy.
Library Instruction
Library instruction continues to take place by faculty
member request, virtually and, when feasible, in person.
For online class sessions, librarians appear as guests in the
virtual classroom. When they appear virtually in a tradi-
tional classroom, images and audio are displayed using con-
ferencing applications and equipment. Such presentations
support the B&SC mission of preparing students for a dig-
ital workplace.
Classroom instruction can cover a range of topics, in-
cluding navigating the virtual library’s homepage to locate
materials and services, contacting a librarian with refer-
ence questions, locating library subject guides, discovering
resources using keyword and subject searching, and locat-
ing and using APA resources and tutoring. Often, slides
used during instruction sessions are provided for posting
in course platforms for student reference.
Collection Development
Collection development continues to take place each se-
mester, with librarians focusing on collecting electronic re-
sources only. Faculty members often request specific titles
for their subject areas, which can then in many cases be
made available in the virtual library within 24 hours. When
needed, the library system manager can request an increase
in concurrent usage for heavily used titles. Notably, one of
the advantages of an all-digital collection is that new items
can be immediately marketed to all campus locations.
16 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
As we continue to develop our
and adjustments.
Library Statistics
Library statistics are gathered at the beginning of each
semester to track library logins, use of databases, use of li-
brary guides, digital reference chats, digital tutoring, and
statistical data about information literacy assessments. A
report is created based on the numerical data and distribut-
ed to campus deans along with an invitation for their feed-
back and suggestions.
BIBFRAME/Linked Data Capability
During the first year of all-digital service, we began to
explore the addition of BIBFRAME and linked data capabili-
ties to make our digital collection more visible and usable
to our student patrons. At first, we considered making ma-
terials available on the web, but as discussions progressed,
we decided that the best course of action would be to make
items available to internal systems—most notably, our li-
brary guides—and to individual course platforms. In this
way, we will be meeting students where they already are and
will be able to advance the goal of providing a seamless li-
brary access experience for all users.
Other Plans for the Future
As we continue to develop our all-digital library service
platform, there will doubtless be changes and adjustments.
We are preparing for a full examination of data from our
recent student survey, which will certainly inform our next
steps. One possible action may be the development of rela-
tionships with campus learning centers and learning cen-
ter coordinators in order to open additional communication
with students and faculty. Undoubtedly, surveys and focus
groups will continue to be important tools for us to gauge
user needs and satisfaction as we continue to explore and
develop this new landscape for library services. n
Joseph Dudley
is a remote system librarian, providing
reference and technical/digital services to
Bryant & Stratton College’s Western New
York, Ohio, and Wisconsin campuses. Before
assuming his current position in 2022, Dudley
served as campus librarian at the Cleveland
and Solon, Ohio, campuses.
 Building Digital
by
terence k.
huwe
Libraries
 Library Director Emeritus for Institute for the Research on
Labor and Employment, University of California–Berkeley
Three Decades of Digital Convergence
M
[THIRTY] YEARS OF emories vary about when digital
convergence first hit professional
MONITORING LONG- life and the workplace. I date it to
the late ’90s, when David B. Yoffie pub-
TERM TRENDS—24 lished a collection of essays about it (see
the Resources section). Even then, it was
FOR COMPUTERS clear that many technologies, not to men-
tion workplace operations, were collapsing
IN LIBRARIES—HAS
into each other. This process is ongoing and
ITS REWARDS. BUT has influenced how we see work in all of its
forms. Never an easy process, convergence
AFTER MORE THAN 3 has the mercy of moving quickly; it also
encourages technologists to move fast and
DECADES, WHERE DOES break lots of things. But as convergence
accelerated, workers realized they needed
CONVERGENCE STAND? to take the lead in rethinking their jobs.
Many have found that whenever they do
so, a new focus on human-paced interac-
tion can moderate digital convergence—
and improve the process.
Librarians are no strangers to disrup-
tive technologies, so leave it to us to look at
the finer points. I am no exception; 30 years
of monitoring long-term trends—24 for
Computers in Libraries—has its rewards.
But after more than 3 decades, where does
convergence stand? Has the workplace
achieved its digital potential, or is it just
in formative stages? A closer look reveals
three trends—and they include practical
responses that can inform our own strate-
gic planning.
Professional Culture
Takes on Dislocation
The first trend is an urge to push back
and cross-examine digital convergence.
This happens at professional, worksta-
tion, and even factory floor levels. Digital
technology is new, but people have always
been change agents. When they remember
this, their first step is shifting from every-
day grousing to brainstorming. As they do
so, employee attitudes often synchronize,
forcing open dialogue in some cases and
heated debate in others. When pushback
arises, managers may find themselves fac-
ing articulate stakeholders who are slow
to back down. The process may be running
quietly in the background, but it illustrates
that, at its core, digital convergence relies
on consent.
Employee activism is a crucial element
of change. Disruptive technologies are
daunting enough for firms, but they can
feel devastating for employees. As debate
increases, the workplace becomes the ideal
test bed for convergence—the site where
winners and losers define themselves and
technologies either flourish or vanish.
Winners are cast as tech moguls or STEM
professionals whose pay grows in lockstep
with digital applications. But a closer look
at knowledge work uncovers greater nu-
ance, including organization-wide trauma
and determination. Consequently, conver-
gence also pushes experts to conduct in-
depth analysis of both professional culture
and working life.
New Activism, New Alliances
The second trend is a return to core pro-
fessional values for new ideas. For example,
attorneys were among the first knowledge

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 17
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Building Digital Libraries
workers to experience the looming dis-
location. Automation and AI moved
quickly into law, in which thousands
of documents must be reviewed in sup-
port of litigation. This process—known
as discovery—is just the most obvious
candidate for automation. But lawyers
were quick to notice, as they were well-
accustomed to the healthy revenue this
necessary process produced.
They also utilized a powerful card
to safeguard professional practice:
the attorney-client relationship. This
relationship runs on trust, an organic
quality. Lawyers chose the consulta-
tive dynamics of practice, emphasiz-
ing human connectivity in response to
digital convergence. They cede ground
occasionally, such as with discovery or
document preparation. They also deploy
new technology in targeted ways (for
example, in-depth analysis of judicial
opinions over time). Through it all, they
have retained the authority to advise
and litigate; so far, they are holding
their ground.
Well-entrenched power can drive
change or halt it. But my view is that
professionals are learning a new skill:
how to talk back to technology to get a
better outcome, instead of just accept-
ing what they are told. Lawyers won’t
find much sympathy given their compen-
sation, but their defense of professional
practice is nonetheless inspiring. More-
over, the need for sustained activism
shows no sign of ending. Another people-
based strategy is to build out nonlegal
expertise at senior levels in law firms.
This is a pragmatic nod to the power of
expert collaboration across traditional
boundaries. Essentially, lawyers chose
to take advice from colleagues and cli-
ents rather than algorithms.
Clinical psychologists offer another
example of stretching professional du-
ties to grow. Psychologists are in a long-
term struggle to prescribe medicine to
patients. Digital convergence improves
secure charting and information shar-
ing, so there is no technical barrier to
this. But medical doctors see it as an
existential threat, since the right to
prescribe is fundamental to medicine.
Researchers have found that “there
remains a consistent lack of empirical
18 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
evidence for the desirability, feasibility,
safety and cost effectiveness …” of this
idea (see the Resources section). The de-
bate is ongoing and illustrates another
force that complicates technology: Pro-
fessions are competing for the right to
provide an indispensable service.
Collaboration Calms Convergence
Meanwhile, other trusted relation-
ships in the medical workplace are
faring well. Nurse practitioners and
physician assistants are relatively new
classifications, and they treat patients
and prescribe medicine in consulta-
tion with physicians. This experience
suggests that digital convergence can
strengthen specific collegial ties even
as it disrupts norms.
THE FIRST TREND IS AN
URGE TO PUSH BACK AND
CROSS-EXAMINE DIGITAL
CONVERGENCE.
Doctors have also embraced technol-
ogy in daily practice. Thirty years ago,
few doctors regarded PDAs as essential
patient care tools. At that time, I served
on a grant committee that funded in-
triguing studies of how to deploy PDAs
in the medical workplace. The findings
were prescient; smart devices and on-
line charting are fundamental tools in
medicine. Are doctors engaged? Yes,
and their strategies have kept step.
People Power Drives Planning
The third trend mirrors the second:
preservation of individual authority
and reputations during organizational
change. Pure science is an instructive
forum to watch this play out. Just as
with law and medicine, principal inves-
tigators call the shots in science. But
despite a fondness for tried-and-true
methodologies, they grasp the potential
of better data oversight and wide access
to practice data and notes. Data stew-
ardship is fueling lively discussions of
best practices. Everyone has a stake,
and when directors and lead scientists
work together, they can mobilize entire
labs for rapid action.
Life in the lab shows us the poten-
tial of human agency. People power
can moderate change rather than sim-
ply repudiating it. Digital convergence
motivates scientists to pay fresh atten-
tion to established systems for lab over-
sight. When principal investigators
and administrators show support, the
lab community as whole becomes more
open to change. As convergence takes
flight, data stewardship is also provid-
ing new tools to safeguard academic
reputations. This is timely, as the open
data movement spurs debate about the
quality of peer-reviewed papers and
their associated datasets. As ideas mul-
tiply, science librarians will see ample
moments to promote data literacy and
introduce the theory of the information
lifecycle. When convergence delivers
recognizable benefits, employee resis-
tance may flip over to a willingness to
experiment.
The Network Effect Meets the
Employment Relationship
Digital convergence is ongoing and
hard to forecast. In response, business
schools are updating the curriculum,
but the most relevant guide to work-
place dynamics is not at all new. The
curriculum is changing, yes. This
convergence is new, but the idea of the
employment relationship continues to
provide a useful approach to studying
workplace dynamics. It does so because
it focuses on human interactions, which
retain their importance.
For decades, the employment rela-
tionship—which is to say, everything
that occurs among people at work—has
long been part of business education.
Understanding this relationship pre-
pares managers for the clash between
new technology and the network effect,
which describes the norms of human
and organization-level dynamics in so-
ciety. The long-term impact of the em-
ployment relationship is second only to
the family-and-friends support system
we all depend on.
The employment relationship pushes
convergent thinking in the direction
of common sense and measured pac-

ing. Moreover, recent labor actions in
the automotive industry and ominous
rumblings among Amazon workers
confirm the ubiquity of people power.
Labor actions accelerate just as profes-
sional activism does, particularly when
technology comes into play. In profes-
sional life and on the shop floor, real-
time information access motivates the
workforce—and reminds people to get
involved in their own destinies.
Two Strategies for Library Services
Digital convergence is ongoing. I see
two strategies that can align library
services with the torrent of change.
First, professions that retain agency
and authority are much better placed to
influence the course of technology roll-
outs. Second, looking far beyond native
professional wisdom makes abundant
sense. Studying how other disciplines
respond to convergence is an excellent
NEWSLINK
DELIVERS
timely product news, industry analysis, and
trends not available anywhere else on the web.
Subscribe to the FREE NewsLink
enewsletter for info pros today!
starting point, if it is not already oc-
curring. Indeed, sharing practice data
is making scientists think more like li-
brarians. They are more on the lookout
for collaborators and better prepared
to share practice data from the outset.
Likewise, librarians are thinking more
like scientists, promoting the case for
data stewardship and crafting strate-
gies that directly address continuous
change. Evidence of the library’s strate-
gic pivot is everywhere. Workshops now
cover digital publishing, open science,
makerspaces, oral history making,
video journalism, scanning workshops,
and more. These topics fare well along-
side research and writing workshops.
Library services wear a human face
these days, as we chart our own re-
sponses to digital convergence. Better
yet, skillful storytelling about work-
place receptiveness and resistance helps
everyone face change directly. If I am
infotoday.com/newslink
Building Digital Libraries | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES
correct in my trend-watching, then the
storytellers—that would be us—have a
natural advantage through our under-
standing the forces at work and being
capable of interpreting them. n
Resources
Lavoie, K.L. and Barone S. “Prescription Privileges
for Psychologists: A Comprehensive Review
and Critical Analysis of Current Issues and
Controversies.” CNS Drugs. 2006; 20(1):
51–66 pp. DOI: 10.2165/00023210-
200620010-00005. PMID: 16396524.
Yoffie, D.B. Competing in the Age of Digital
Convergence. Boston, Harvard Business School
Press, 1997. 978-0-87584-726-9. 464 pp.
Terence K. Huwe is the library
director emeritus for the Institute for
Research on Labor and Employment
at the University of California–
Berkeley. His email address is
thuwe@berkeley.edu.
infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 19
 From the
by
chad
mairn
Innovation Lab
Welcome to What’s to Come
WE ARE CURRENTLY
I
have been a faithful reader of Computers
in Libraries for more than 20 years, and
IN A RENAISSANCE I am thrilled that I was invited to write
a column for the magazine that has been
(EMPHASIS ON THE a key resource for keeping me informed
about the technologies impacting our li-
AI), A REBIRTH, THAT braries and society as a whole. This is a
good time for me to briefly introduce my-
IS PUSHING THE
self and to highlight what I plan to cover
BOUNDARIES OF in my upcoming pieces. I am an informa-
tion services librarian, assistant profes-
WHAT IS POSSIBLE sor, and founder of the Innovation Lab at
St. Petersburg College (SPC) in Florida. I
FOR MACHINES teach computer and information literacy
as well as music technology classes and a
AND HUMANS TO variety of STEM-related workshops. I also
mentor students in SPC’s Undergraduate
ACHIEVE.
Research Experience program and manage
our library research databases.
While an undergraduate student study-
ing humanities at the University of South
Florida (USF), I was awarded a Library
of Congress (LC) fellowship. I helped ar-
chive personal papers and other items in
the Leonard Bernstein Collection. As a fel-
low at the LC, I learned to appreciate the
research process, and I also had multiple
unforgettable opportunities to see and in-
teract with the library’s vast collection of
resources and archives.
During my library and information sci-
ence graduate work—also at USF—I was a
technology liaison between the Bill & Me-
linda Gates Foundation and Florida pub-
lic libraries. While installing, configur-
ing, and training library staffers on how
to use computers in rural libraries, I saw
firsthand how technology could be used to
improve people’s lives. I was hooked. To
20 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
 Teaching With Emerging Tech
this day, I continue to be inspired by peo-
ple wanting to learn and integrate their
new skills into their personal lives—and
getting to see that intellectual spark is re-
warding and exactly the reason why I am
still working as a librarian.
Twenty or more years ago, emerging
technologies were easier to keep track of.
There were fewer devices, and they were all
pretty much the same. I had a large desk-
top computer that would barely move and
an old flip phone that took several minutes
for me to clumsily text a simple message
to a friend or family member. That was it.
Things were much simpler back then. All of
those devices were self-contained, and I did
not need to worry too much about updates
or security settings. But today, technology
is constantly changing. New devices and
technologies are coming out all the time,
and they are all connected to one other. I
seem to be constantly updating my soft-
ware; plus, I must pay very close attention
to a multitude of potential security issues.
Our lives are getting more complex while
technology promises to make our lives eas-
ier, but does it?
Technology is changing, and the way I
use it is changing too. Twenty years ago,
I would use technology for specific tasks.
For example, I would use my computer for
work, my phone for communication, and
my TV and stereo for entertainment. But
today, all of those tasks can be done on one
device that I carry with me everywhere. I
am seemingly using technology for every-
thing now; it is interwoven into every as-
pect of our society. Although this constant
change can be overwhelming—and it can

be difficult to keep up with the latest
trends—it is also an exciting time to
be alive, watching unprecedented tech-
nological innovation while figuring out
what society can and cannot do with
technology. As a result, I hope to shine
a light on emerging technologies that
are impacting our society and share my
thoughts with the readers of this col-
umn. I will work diligently to make it
a worthwhile read and will try to ar-
ticulate practical uses of these tech-
nologies through a library lens. Some
of my primary research interests are
quantum computing, AI, extended re-
alities, makerspaces, and the Internet
of Things (IoT).
Imagine having a superpower that
allows you to solve puzzles and answer
questions faster than any regular com-
puter ever could. Quantum computing
has the potential to revolutionize in-
dustries, solve complex problems, and
unlock new frontiers in technology. It
uses the principles of quantum theory
to perform computational tasks. In ad-
dition, it has the potential to be much
faster than traditional computing and
will impact a variety of applications,
including cryptography, drug discov-
ery, and the sciences. Quantum com-
puting could allow library cataloging
systems to read every book ever writ-
ten in one sweep to ultimately help
people solve problems that require re-
search much faster. The LC produced
a video lecture in 2005—almost 20
ago—titled, “How Quantum Comput-
ing Will Change the Way We Collect,
Store and Distribute Information” (loc
.gov/item/2021687624). It is fascinat-
ing what is possible with this technol-
ogy now, and it will be mind-blowing to
see what it can do in the future.
A minute cannot go by without us
hearing something about AI. We are
currently in a renaissance (empha-
sis on the AI), a rebirth, that is push-
ing the boundaries of what is possible
for machines and humans to achieve.
AI is a computer system that can per-
form tasks that typically require hu-
man intelligence (e.g., understanding
natural language, recognizing images
and speech, and solving complex prob-
lems). It is important to realize AI’s
capabilities and to see its potential to
seriously revolutionize various indus-
tries, including libraries, healthcare,
and transportation. In the future, AI
will impact every industry. However, it
is just as important to be aware of AI’s
potential issues (e.g., ethical concerns
such as privacy, bias in decision mak-
ing, and the potential for workforce re-
ductions). This dual awareness of AI’s
potential and its challenges is crucial
for its balanced and sustainable inte-
gration into our daily lives, and librari-
ans and other information professionals
will play an influential role in expand-
ing information literacy standards to
include AI literacy. As always, librar-
ians are at the forefront of transfor-
mative technologies and helping peo-
ple make sense of it all.
IT IS MY GOAL TO HIGHLIGHT
TECHNOLOGIES THAT CAN MAKE
OUR LIVES MORE PRODUCTIVE,
FUN, AND MEANINGFUL WHILE
NURTURING A CULTURE OF
CONTINUOUS LEARNING AND
INNOVATION.
Extended realities (XR) is an um-
brella term that covers various forms
of immersive technology: VR, AR, and
mixed reality (MR). These technolo-
gies blend digital and physical worlds,
offering innovative ways to experience
and interact with information. XR has
the potential to modernize education,
entertainment, and healthcare by of-
fering immersive experiences that can
enhance learning, provide realistic sim-
ulations, create engaging entertain-
ment, and streamline the health sci-
ences. Like any technology, XR is not
perfect. For example, some users suf-
fer physical effects such as motion sick-
ness or eye strain. There are also con-
cerns about privacy and data security,
as XR technologies can collect detailed
user data, especially when the system is
From the Innovation Lab | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES
using eye- and face-tracking technolo-
gies. Most importantly though, there is
a high risk of creating a widening digi-
tal divide, in which access to advanced
XR technologies is limited to certain
groups. Librarians have been on the
front lines with regard to helping nar-
row the digital divide, but there is still
a lot of work to be done.
Makerspaces are collaborative plac-
es where people can go to learn, create,
and share ideas. They usually have a va-
riety of tools and equipment that people
can use to make their own projects, such
as 3D printers, laser cutters, and sew-
ing machines. I believe the makerspace
movement became popular because of
the important work libraries have done
for many years, where they have provid-
ed a safe place for people to be creative
and collaborative while learning new
skills, to gain access to tools and equip-
ment they might not have access to oth-
erwise, and to be exposed to different
emerging technologies that are power-
ing much of our world. Libraries are so-
cial institutions that provide a means
for people to learn from each other and
to build relationships, which is precise-
ly why the makerspace movement has
thrived in our libraries for decades. Fi-
nally, makerspaces can help attract new
patrons to the library and promote the
value of STEM education and literacy.
If you are interested in learning more
about makerspaces, I recommend check-
ing out Nation of Makers, Fab Founda-
tion, ALA’s Library of the Future ini-
tiative, and, of course, Computers in
Libraries.
The IoT refers to the growing net-
work of interconnected devices that
communicate and exchange data over
the internet. This includes smart home
appliances, wearable technology, indus-
trial sensors, and autonomous vehicles.
Someone wearing a Fitbit or adjusting
the temperature of their house from
their phone means that they have inter-
acted with the IoT. RFID is a technology
often used in libraries, and it is consid-
ered a member of the IoT family. RFID
uses electromagnetic fields to automati-
cally identify and track tags attached to
objects, such as books and other library
items. RFID can help facilitate invento-

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 21
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | From the Innovation Lab

ry tracking and asset management and
provides robust access control. By inte-
grating IoT technology such as RFID, it
becomes possible to automate process-
es, monitor environments, and gather
insights in real time, which frees up
time for librarians to do more impor-
tant tasks such as helping people find
and use information effectively. Tech-
nology should be a tool that makes lives
easier and better, while also helping to
remove mundane tasks. This gives peo-
ple more time to be creative and more
productive.
I previously mentioned that I am
the founder of the Innovation Lab. This
space was born in 2014 and is a collabor-
ative learning environment. It is often
referred to as a technology playground,
in which people of all ages and skill sets
with similar interests can meet and so-
cialize while sharing ideas and learning
new skills. Aptly, the title of this col-
umn is From the Innovation Lab, and
it will focus on emerging technologies
that were previously mentioned—and
ones that do not yet exist—to ultimate-
ly help make our libraries more innova-
tive and to strengthen education by in-
tegrating new learning tools to foster
digital literacy for librarians as well as
for our patrons. It is my goal to high-
light technologies that can make our
lives more productive, fun, and mean-
ingful while nurturing a culture of con-
tinuous learning and innovation. Thank
you for reading, and please do not hes-
itate to contact me at mairn.chad@
spcollege.edu. n
Resources
Innovation Lab at St. Petersburg College: What Is
It? spcollege.libguides.com/ilab
Leonard Bernstein Collection at the Library of
Congress:
loc.gov/collections/leonard-bernstein/about-this-
collection
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: gatesfoundation
.org
Nation of Makers: nationofmakers.us
Fab Foundation: fabfoundation.org
Library of the Future’s Maker Movement: ala.org/
tools/future/trends/makers
Chad Mairn (mairn.chad@
spcollege.edu) is a librarian, teacher,
author, and self-described geek. He
frequently shares his enthusiasm for
all things technology as a speaker at
library and technology conferences.
Mairn is an information services
librarian, assistant professor, and
founder of the Innovation Lab at St.
Petersburg College.

New Fiction From

the Publisher s of
Boardwalk Empire
Empire!!
randdaughter of “The Pinelands Witch,” daughter of the self-styled Wizard

G of the Pines, and with powers of her own, eleven-year-old Florilla Munion
finds herself abandoned deep in the New Jersey Pinelands. Rescued by
the itinerant Dr. Peace, she is taken to Benderville, a model mill town in the heart
of the Pines owned by the doctor’s old friend, the eccentric, progressive Benjamin
Bender. He takes Florilla in, and she becomes his pupil when he discovers her
talent for his beloved Latin and Greek.

Florilla: A Pinelands Romance explores the time period from 1848 to 1857 when By Perdita Buchan
various thinkers, reformers, and philosophers speculated on the best ways to 240 pp/hardcover
organize life and work. Its portrayal of life in the Pines and on the road during ISBN 978-1-940091-09-9
those years is both fascinating and eye opening. $16.95

Look for Florilla: A Pineland’s Romance wherever books Plexus Publishing, Inc.
and ebooks are sold, or order direct from the publisher. www.plexuspublishing.com

22 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com

 By
Erika Alfieri
Automatic
Transcription of Oral
Histories Using Word 365
Word has a Dictate function, but the true workhorse is its full
Transcription feature, which boasts an impressive suite of options.

I
n summer 2022, I was fortunate enough to intern as a
graduate student at Loras College’s Center for Dubuque
History in Dubuque, Iowa. The archive boasted a wealth
of both local and collegiate history, and I had my choice
of whichever project I preferred to complete. I chose to tran-
scribe oral history cassette tapes from the 1970s that con-
cerned mayoral races between local politicians, sermons
given by clergy, and speeches given at Loras College. At
first, I attempted to transcribe the histories by hand. I have
a background in freelance oral history transcription, so I
thought I might put it to use. Unfortunately, transcribing
an oral history played directly from a cassette deck rather

23 |JULY/AUGUST 2023 | infotoday.com infotoday.com

infotoday.com
| JANUARY/FEBRUARY
| JULY/AUGUST 2023
2024 | 23
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Automatic Transcription of Oral Histories Using Word 365

than a computer proved tricky. A transcriptionist’s pedal
and software make quick work of a digital audio file, but
pushing the physical buttons on the tape recorder was cum-
bersome and slow, and I feared that the constant replay of
the tape might, over time, lead to damage. Clearly, the so-
lution was to digitize the audio.
With that goal in mind, an audio input cable was pur-
chased, and I was soon opening Audacity, ready to convert
the audio to a digital format. As I was about to begin, an
idea struck me: What if I used the voice-typing function
in Google Docs? With one end of a USB-B to USB-A cable
plugged into the Marantz Professional PMD-300CP cas-
sette player and the other into the Windows desktop com-
puter, the computer perceived the input as a USB micro-
phone. From there, it seemed like a simple task to open a
fresh Google Doc, choose the voice-typing option, and hit
play on the recorder. Unfortunately, Google’s voice-to-text
functionality proved ill-suited to the task; it produced such
a garbled mess of nonsense that I nearly scrapped my plans
of automatically transcribing the cassette tapes. Surely,
there was transcription software that could handle the job?
I popped open the Microsoft 365 Word software that I’d been
given access to through Loras College and poked around.
It had a voice-to-text option, and a quick test revealed that
not only did it work better than intended, it also contained
features that made it a prime candidate for automatic au-
dio transcription.

Necessary Materials Using Microsoft 365’s Word to Record

• A computer 1. On the left-hand side
of the page, choose
• A Microsoft 365 Word subscription Create and then
• Physical audio media (such as a Document.
cassette, CD, record, etc.)
2. In the ribbon at the
• A physical audio media player (such as a top of the page,
cassette deck, CD player, turntable, etc.) locate the Dictate The Create and Document
icon. options, highlighted in red
• Cabling to connect the physical audio media
to the computer (such as a USB-A to USB-B 3. Click the arrow
cable, RCA to aux cable, etc.) next to Dictate, and
choose Transcribe.

Setting Up the Physical Audio Media 4. In the panel that

appears on the
1. Plug in the physical audio media to power. The Dictate and
right, choose Start Transcribe functions,
2. Connect the physical audio media player to Recording. highlighted in red
the computer using the appropriate cabling.
5. Press the play
3. Power on the physical audio media. button on the audio
source.
4. Insert the physical audio media.
6. When the audio
finishes playing, The Start Recording button,
Connect to Microsoft 365 highlighted in red
click Save and
1. Turn on the computer. Transcribe Now in
the transcription
2. Log in to Windows.
panel.
3. Open a web browser.
Note: You must use
4. Navigate to office.com. the online version of
Microsoft 365’s Word
5. Click Sign In. The Save and Transcribe Now
for transcription. This
button, highlighted in red
6. Sign in with your username and password. function does not exist
in the desktop version.

24 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com

 Automatic Transcription of Oral Histories Using Word 365 | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

Working With Microsoft 365’s Word
Microsoft 365’s Word has a Dictate function, but the true
workhorse is its full Transcription feature, which boasts an
impressive suite of options. When fed live audio, Microsoft
365’s Word will automatically detect and label individual
speakers and can switch between them with astonishing
accuracy. Once the recording is complete, speakers’ names
may be edited, and any errors in the automatic assignment
of speakers may be easily corrected with the click of a drop-
down button. My rough estimate of the accuracy of the tran-
scription for the files that I used—which, it’s important to
note, were all on audio cassette tape and largely comprised
clean and clear audio—was, at a guess, 95%. That is to say,
it was extremely high. Additionally, Microsoft 365 Word’s
transcriptions are timestamped and hyperlinked. As you
play the audio into the software, a .wav file of the audio
input is automatically created in Microsoft SharePoint,
and the hyperlinked timestamps may be clicked to jump to
that portion of the audio recording. This makes editing a
breeze, as you can stop and start again or replay audio sec-
tions with ease. It’s also a wonderful, user-friendly option
for researchers who may only be interested in certain por-
tions of the audio.
One of the greatest benefits of using Microsoft 365 is
that most everyone in our industry has access to it since
Windows and Microsoft are the de facto choices of most li-
braries, institutions of higher learning, and corporations.
While I selected the line-in audio option, the transcription


STEP BY STEP:
Automatically Transcribing Oral History
Cassettes Using Microsoft 365’s Word
Editing the Transcription
1. When the transcription is done, review it in the
panel to the right.

2. Click the pencil icon next to the speaker name

to edit the text.
A sample text block from the
transcription panel with the pencil
a. Here, you can change the name of the speaker. icon highlighted
Select the checkbox to change all instances of
the speaker name.

b. Click the check at the bottom to confirm your choice.

Note: You can click the timestamp in the transcription

panel to navigate to that part of the audio file.

3. Repeat Step 2 for all speakers.

A sample text block from the
transcription panel in editing mode
4. When done, click the arrow next to Add to Document

5. Choose With Speakers and Timestamps.

6. Your transcription will paste into the document.

7. Listen to the audio again, and make any final

edits necessary.

Note: Microsoft 365’s Word simultaneously creates a

.wav recording of the transcription that is accurately The Add to Document button with the
timestamped in Microsoft SharePoint. down arrow options visible

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 25

COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Automatic Transcription of Oral Histories Using Word 365
function also works with uploaded audio or with a record-
ing, although, it’s important to note that uploads are lim-
ited. Microsoft states, “Users with a Microsoft Word 365
subscription can transcribe a maximum of 300 minutes of
uploaded audio per month” (support.microsoft.com/en-us/
office/transcribe-your-recordings-7fc2efec-245e-45f0-b053-
2a97531ecf57). The beauty of using physical media as an au-
dio input is that you bypass this limitation since you’re us-
ing live audio transcription rather than a prerecorded file.
Overall, Microsoft Word 365 remains
useful, robust, and accessible software
that’s worth experimenting with. …
No method is without its downsides, however. First, the
audio input must run, undisturbed, for the length of time
that it takes to play. Second, if you need to pause the au-
dio mid-transcription, the timestamp feature will be mis-
matched to the audio timing, as it starts over with each
press of the transcribe button. Third, if you’re using pre-
recorded audio, the upload is limited to .wav, .mp4, .m4a,
and .mp3 file formats. Fourth, a .wav audio file, while use-
ful, is not up to snuff in terms of archival fidelity. As al-
ways, no automatic transcription software is perfect. I did
need to replay the audio and to correct minor errors that the
software ran into, such as misspellings of a person’s name
or an unfamiliar institution or the odd time when the soft-
ware misheard a word.
Microsoft 365’s Word performed well on my audio files,
but more testing of the software is certainly warranted.
For example, it offers the Transcription function for many
languages, but I can’t speak to how it will perform in a lan-
guage other than English. I’m also curious as to how the
software handles less clear audio files and true live tran-
scription—two features that I did not use.
Overall, Microsoft 365 remains useful, robust, and ac-
cessible software that’s worth experimenting with, espe-
cially if you already have access to it. The landscape of fu-
ture automatic transcription is likely to change drastically
as AI races on. I’m hopeful that going forward, audio files
will be uploaded to AI, automatically chopped up, and tran-
scribed in the blink of an eye. But for now and for most of
us, Microsoft 365 is accessible, trainable software with re-
markable accuracy.
Tips and Tricks
It’s possible to record .wav audio in Microsoft 365’s Word
while also simultaneously recording a higher-quality audio
file on secondary audio recording software such as Audac-
ity. To do this, open Microsoft 365’s Word and Audacity at
the same time. With both set up and ready to record, press
26 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
Start Recording in Microsoft 365’s Word and, as quickly
as possible, press the recording button in your chosen au-
dio recording software. Next, just as quickly, press play on
your physical audio media. When the recording is complete,
be sure to stop both software programs and your physical
audio media player. It’s important to note that the audio re-
corded in the secondary software may need to be trimmed or
lengthened at the start of the recording in order to ensure
that the timestamps in the automatic transcription match
in both files. (This is due to not being able to truly simulta-
neously start or stop recording in both software programs.)
Troubleshooting
My Computer Won’t Detect My Audio
Input as a Microphone.
This issue is tricky because it depends on what type of
cable, computer, and physical audio device you’re using.
When in doubt, a cable that ends in a male aux cable is cer-
tain to be recognized as a microphone by your computer.
However, it’s important to note that aux-in audio is likely
to be of lower quality than a USB connection.
My Audio Quality Still Sounds Poor, Even After Digitizing.
Digitizing a recording cannot improve the quality of the
originally recorded audio. Whatever the original fidelity of
the audio, you’re more or less stuck with it.
My Audio Quality Is Too Poor for the
Transcription Software to Work.
Not every piece of recorded media can be automatically
transcribed. However, if you are somewhat tech-savvy, you
can sometimes clean up an audio file in audio editing soft-
ware such as Audacity. This type of work is best performed
with files that contain sounds such as light static or the low
hum that is sometimes present on audio cassettes. Remov-
ing these sounds does fundamentally change the digital au-
dio file, so it may be prudent to retain both an original and
a cleaned-up version and to let listeners know that the file
has been edited. This may create clear enough audio for the
automatic transcription process to work. n
Erika Alfieri
(they/them) is a youth librarian at the
Jacksonville Public Library. They also
run River Stories, an oral history project
documenting the experiences of the
queer community in Jacksonville, Fla.
Alfieri holds an M.L.I.S. from Florida State
University and an undergraduate degree in
art history from Arizona State University.

by
Words of Wisdom
alison a.
trotta ‘Teachers are to
inspire; librarians
are to fulfill.’
—Ray Bradbury
Wiley Signs New
Agreement With DEAL
Wiley has entered into a new 5-year
agreement with the DEAL Consortium,
which represents more than 1,000 ac-
ademic institutions in Germany. The
deal began in January, and it allows
the two organizations to craft a blue-
print for the next phase of OA publish-
ing in order to better meet the changing
needs of the scholarly community. Wi-
ley, the first publisher to sign an agree-
ment with DEAL, will continue to pro-
vide authors at German institutions
with OA publishing options across its
portfolio. The agreement includes read
access to all of Wiley’s journal content,
along with more extensive benefits for
the German research system, such as
supporting institutions in the tran-
sition to OA, honoring the huge val-
ue that learned societies bring to the
scholarly community, and bolstering
infrastructure, which includes robust
workflows to support authors, readers,
and librarians.
ALA Fights Climate Change
ALA is teaming up with the Sustain-
able Libraries Initiative (SLI) to create a
strategic plan for library professionals
to combat climate change. SLI’s focus
is to empower library leaders to further
environmentally sound, socially equita-
ble, and economically feasible practices
to purposefully address climate change
and co-create thriving communities.
The National Climate Action Strategy
will give the organizations guidance
on climate change mitigation, climate
change adaptation, and climate justice
work. “The creation of the climate ac-
tion strategy for libraries will involve
News Desk
 news • announcements • updates
the convening of key leaders currently
working on the core value of sustain-
ability within ALA both through online
meetings and a gathering at the 2024
LibLearnX: The Library Learning Ex-
perience in Baltimore, Md. In addition,
the ALA Council Committee on Sus-
tainability (CCS) and SLI will conduct
a virtual session and issue a survey to
collect feedback from the library field
to inform the strategy,” a press release
states. “This plan builds on years of
work by committed ALA member lead-
ers and will help library workers gain
further understanding, confidence,
and access to resources to build a more
sustainable future for libraries and the
communities they serve,” says ALA
president Emily Drabinski. “We need
library professionals to see climate ac-
tion as a part of their roles in order to
face the current realities and dire pre-
dictions of climate change in the com-
ing decades,” states Rebekkah Smith
Aldrich, co-founder of SLI.
EBSCO Introduces New Division
EBSCO Information Services has
launched EBSCOlearning, a new di-
vision geared toward improving the
skills and productivity of businesses,
organizations, and learners. This un-
dertaking brings EBSCO’s skills devel-
opment content and learning solutions
into one division to serve the needs of
professionals and workers, along with
learners at secondary schools, trade
schools, colleges, universities, gradu-
ate schools, and public libraries. Ac-
cording to Mike Laddin, EBSCO’s SVP
and general manager of EBSCOlearn-
ing, this will enable EBSCO to sup-
ply additional, targeted focus in the
development of learning products for
students and those in the workforce.
“With EBSCOlearning’s products and
services, we look to equip people and or-
ganizations with enhanced productiv-
ity, greater efficiency, lower turnover,
improved employee satisfaction, [and]
career and life advancement. We have
a focus on ‘real-time learning’ in bite-
sized increments to meet the needs of
how people learn and work today,” he
says in a press release. Along with its
well-known global research and library
solutions for academic, school, and pub-
lic libraries; healthcare and medical in-
stitutions; and government agencies,
EBSCO has a portfolio of well-regard-
ed corporate learning and career de-
velopment products and services spe-
cifically for businesses, educational
institutions, and workforce develop-
ment organizations. They include Job
and Career Accelerator, FinancialFit,
and EBSCO LearningExpress. “These
products provide leadership and man-
agement skills development, entrepre-
neurial training, career development
resources, GED equivalency, college
and graduate school test preparation,
occupational test preparation, learn-
ing resources for correctional facilities,
technical courses such as AWS train-
ing, and much more,” according to the
same release.
ResearchGate Partners
With Taylor & Francis
ResearchGate has teamed up with
Taylor & Francis, making 200 Taylor
& Francis journals available on Re-
searchGate. This partnership will give
these titles enhanced visibility and en-
gagement via ResearchGate’s Journal

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 27
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | News Desk
Home offering. Each journal will have
a dedicated profile that is accessible via
the ResearchGate platform and will be
prominently displayed on associated
article pages along with related touch-
points across the network. Addition-
ally, researchers can read more than
60,000 version-of-record OA articles on
the ResearchGate platform. More arti-
cles from 80 OA Taylor & Francis jour-
nals will be added as they are published.
Lyngsoe Systems Teams
Up With Surrey Libraries
Lyngsoe Systems has partnered with
Surrey Libraries to launch the Super
Access initiative. This project, pow-
ered by Lyngsoe Systems’ technology,
aims to transform libraries across Sur-
rey, U.K., and beyond, enhancing acces-
sibility and empowering communities
via modern technology. It plans to re-
form the way residents connect, learn,
and explore within the library system.
The initiative will give people a seam-
less and enriched experience, providing
improved access to resources, enhanced
services, and the ability to connect to a
wealth of knowledge and culture. Phil
Farrell, Lyngsoe Systems’ general man-
ager, says in a press release, “Lyngsoe
Systems are delighted to be working
with Surrey Libraries to implement our
proven technology for the Super Access
initiative. Our system is helping trans-
form libraries across the UK, and this
new framework agreement will enable
other libraries to embrace our technol-
ogy too.”
Gale Offers New Environmental
History Resource
Gale, part of Cengage, has debuted
the first installment of Environmental
History: Conservation and Public Poli-
cy in America, 1870–1980. It is the first
digital archive that looks at the histo-
ry of the environment and conservation
efforts globally from the late 1800s on-
ward. The collection focuses on the role
of various government agencies, con-
servation organizations, and individu-
als who pioneered the study of the nat-
ural environment and campaigned for
its protection. The series will provide
scholars and researchers with histor-
28 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
ical context for present-day conser-
vation movements from a variety of
viewpoints, enabling new insights
and connections about environmental
efforts.
ResearchGate and Pensoft Team Up
ResearchGate and Pensoft have en-
tered into a new partnership, which
will enhance the reach and visibility of
Pensoft’s OA journals, increasing ac-
cess and engagement with its 25 mil-
lion researcher members. Pensoft, a
fully OA publisher, provides high-qual-
ity end-to-end services to its own jour-
nals, as well as third-party research
journals through its in-house scholarly
publishing platform ARPHA. One fac-
et of this new partnership means that
20 Pensoft journals have their content
automatically added to ResearchGate
upon publication, upping their visibil-
ity and discoverability via Research-
Gate’s Journal Home offering. Accord-
ing to a press release, this “provides a
unique opportunity for Pensoft to con-
nect its authors with their readers. The
new journal profiles on ResearchGate
will provide a central location for each
journal, enabling researchers to learn
more, discover new article content, and
understand how, through their net-
work, they are connected to the jour-
nal’s community of authors and editors.
Authors of these journals additionally
benefit from having their articles auto-
matically added to their ResearchGate
profile page, giving them access to met-
rics, including who is reading and cit-
ing their research. These rich insights
will also enable Pensoft to build a deep-
er understanding of the communities
engaging with its journals.”
Research Solutions, Inc.
Acquires scite
scite has been acquired by Research
Solutions, Inc., which will enhance Re-
search Solutions’ product offerings and
supply cross-selling opportunities to
scite’s growing B2C consumer base of
about 21,000 active subscribers, along
with its diverse B2B customer base of
corporate entities, leading academ-
ic institutions, and government agen-
cies. “scite’s Smart Citations go beyond
traditional citations by displaying ci-
tation statements, their context with-
in citing articles, and a classification
to indicate whether the paper supports
or contradicts the cited claim. Powering
a suite of research features, this index
of over one billion Smart Citations as-
sists in discovering, vetting, and un-
derstanding research articles,” accord-
ing to a press release. “This acquisition
presents a material cross-sell and up-
sell opportunity, driving platform rev-
enue growth by providing a comprehen-
sive suite of research tools to existing
Research Solutions customers, which
will enhance workflows from end to end.
With a majority of its revenue currently
sourced from B2C and academic users,
scite will strengthen Research Solu-
tions’ capacity to serve academic insti-
tutions and leverage scite’s unique ca-
pabilities together with Article Galaxy
Scholar.”
De Gruyter Announces
New Division
De Gruyter has launched Paradigm
Publishing Services, a new dedicated
division that provides publishing solu-
tions to meet the unique needs of pub-
lishers in the humanities and social
sciences, as well as in scientific associ-
ations, societies, and library publish-
ing programs. Paradigm is focused on
helping publishers adapt and revitalize
their business strategies and publish-
ing operations. Overseen by Steve Fal-
lon, De Gruyter’s president, the Para-
digm team will uphold a worldwide
presence via established De Gruyter
brands, including the OA providers
Ubiquity and Sciendo, along with the
University Press Library Group. Par-
adigm is dedicated to offering an in-
novative approach that leverages the
potential of its portfolio through its
comprehensive array of products, ser-
vices, and talent. “This strategic move
reaffirms De Gruyter’s commitment to
providing exceptional support and so-
lutions for publishers navigating the
evolving landscape of global access and
financial viability through sustainable
publishing of both open and closed con-
tent,” according to a press release. l

by
alison a.
trotta
‘Representation matters in librarianship, especially when the communities we serve are di-
verse, and they would want to see people that look like them in libraries.’
—‘Celebrating Black Librarianship: An Interview With Dr. Hayden,’ by Wing Tang, The Reservoir: A Chronicle for Collective Change, July 12, 2023
CCC has announced that Ian Palmer
is its new VP of marketing. He will be
responsible for leading the company’s
international marketing communica-
tions strategy and driving global brand
awareness for its information solutions.
Palmer has more than 2 decades of expe-
rience working for software and service
providers that assist scholarly publish-
ers, research-driven organizations, and
knowledge workers who rely on STM in-
formation. Additionally, he is an accom-
plished marketing and sales leader who
previously served as chief sales and mar-
keting officer at PubHive, VP of sales
and marketing at DeepDyve, and phar-
maceutical solutions director at QxMD
Software. Tracey Armstrong, president
and CEO of CCC, says in a press release,
“Ian has substantial expertise in driving
market creation and demand through
research-driven positioning and brand-
ing, full-funnel marketing management,
plus data and analytics-driven decision
making. We look forward to his con-
tributions as CCC continues to develop
solutions that foster high data quality,
integrate data silos, and create licens-
ing solutions enabling the use of copy-
righted materials as society realizes the
benefits promised by AI systems.”
•••••
CCC has hired Duncan Campbell as
the executive director of its client en-
gagement and business development
team. Most recently, Campbell was se-
nior director of global sales and partner-
ships at Wiley. In that position, he led
the teams responsible for licensing and
Noted & Quoted
 people • libraries • awards • promotions
business development, agent relations,
collective rights management, and per-
missions across all of Wiley’s academic
journal and database content. Camp-
bell is a vice chair of the Association of
Learned and Professional Society Pub-
lishers (ALPSP) Policy Committee and a
non-executive director of Seren Books, a
literary publisher based in Wales. Previ-
ously, he was co-chair of the CLOCKSS
digital archive and a board member at
the International Publishers’ Rights
Organization, the International Federa-
tion of Reproductive Rights Organiza-
tion (IFRRO), and Crossref.
•••••
Choice, a publishing unit of ACRL
(which is a division of ALA), has se-
lected Rachel Hendrick as editor and
publisher. Hendrick began serving as
operations manager of Choice in 2014
before being promoted to director of
operations in 2016. In April 2022, she
was named interim editor and publish-
er. Hendrick began her career at LIFE
magazine as a photo researcher, but she
also worked at many notable national
and international companies, such as
Readers Digest, Conde Nast, and So-
theby’s auction house. After joining the
team at Choice, she became a driving
force in reconfiguring its operations
and content in order to meet the needs
of 21-century librarianship. Beyond her
professional knowledge of publishing,
Hendrick is bringing her expertise in
librarianship to the role, having earned
an M.L.I.S., with a concentration in
rare books and special collections. She
also holds an M.A. in history and a B.A.
in fine arts for art history.
•••••
ALA’s president, Emily Drabinski,
was named to the 2023 Out100 list from
Out magazine, joining a group of dis-
tinguished LGBTQIA+ people who were
recognized for their stellar contribu-
tions, impact, and influence throughout
last year. The theme of the 2023 list was
Open Doors, spotlighting people who
have made significant inroads within
the community and have blazed trails
by opening doors and breaking down
barriers for others. Drabinski was fea-
tured in the list’s Storytellers category.
•••••
Core, a division of ALA, has an-
nounced Julie Reese as its executive di-
rector. Reese began serving as interim
executive director in September 2022.
Since that time, she worked alongside
Core’s board of directors and members
to make certain that Core’s mission, pro-
grams, and services align with strategic
goals. Reese has striven to create new
relationships across ALA units as well
as with external stakeholders and peer
organizations that hold mutual inter-
ests. “Reese has been with ALA for 22
years, beginning with former divisions
Library Leadership & Management As-
sociation (LLAMA) and Association for
Library Collections & Technical Servic-
es (ALCTS) and now in Core. She quickly
grew the continuing education offerings
from ALCTS and the LLAMA regional
institutes and ALCTS National Confer-

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 29
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Noted & Quoted

ence in the years to follow. During her
tenure with ALCTS, she saw the birth
of web courses—then webinars—and
created ALCTS’s first-ever week-long
virtual forum, the ALCTS Exchange,”
according to a press release. “During
her interim year, Reese oversaw the de-
velopment and implementation of Core’s
first in-person conference, Core Forum,
which was held in Salt Lake City in Oc-
tober 2022. With Reese in the lead, Core
has been able to achieve a balanced bud-
get for FY23, a first for Core, which was
the goal for year three of the division.”
With this promotion, Thomas Ferren
stepped into the role of deputy execu-
tive director of learning and events.
Prior to this, he held the position of
interim deputy executive director for
leadership and learning. Before that,
he was program officer of professional
development, successfully managing
the Core continuing education program
and maintaining Core CE products
(webinars, web courses, classrooms,
preconferences, tours, etc.). Before join-
ing Core, Ferren was the program offi-
cer for continuing education at ALCTS
in 2019 and ALA’s senior registration
coordinator from 2007 to 2011 and
from 2016 to 2019. In the latter role, he
handled registration for almost 200 in-
person meetings, affiliate conferences,
online courses, and webinars. Addition-
ally, he was heavily involved in ALCTS’s
continuing education.
•••••
SirsiDynix announced Maryśka Con-
nolly as director of partnerships and
communications for its CloudSource
team. Connolly joined the company in
2021 as a library relations manager.
In that role, she represented 74 cus-
tomer accounts, instructing libraries
throughout the U.S. on system features
and functionality as well as integrating
their feedback into future product road
maps. Before joining SirsiDynix, Con-
nolly worked in academic libraries for
more than a decade. Mostly recently,
she was a technical services librarian
at Hampden-Syndey College’s Bortz
Library and system administrator for
the Symphony Southside Area Libraries
Sharing Access (SALSA) consortium.
She has an M.L.I.S. from Valdosa State
University and was given the Academic
Innovator Award in 2021 by the Virgin-
ia Library Association (VLA). l
Does your library have a
special announcement
to make?
CIL is always looking for more items to
include in the Noted & Quoted section.
So if you have something
to share, please send it in.
Contact: Alison A. Trotta
CIL Noted & Quoted Editor
atrotta@infotoday.com

Propose your case TOPICS FOR 2024

studies, best practices, CMSs and Websites Web Resources
how-to articles, ILS/Discovery/ Edtech and
research results, and Search Instruction
opinion pieces on any Catalogs, Platforms and
tech-enabled effort that Collections, Library Systems
and Metadata Data Management
helped your library
E-Resources and Metrics
achieve its purpose,
Digitization, Access, Breakthroughs and
vision, mission, or and Preservation Cutting-Edge Tech
mandate.

Librarians: Submit your story proposals using our query form at infotoday.com/cilmag.

30 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com

 By
Phil

EDTECH
HOW TO DESIGN Shapiro

Fun Math Games for

Kids, Teens, Seniors, and In-Betweeners

My
G
rowing up, my friends and I would often invent games
g oa
of l in to play (both indoors and outdoors), and we came to

pro th i al understand that invented games could be just as fun as

mo s is t l store-bought games. I’ve been using that playful spirit to cre-
con te pl o ate fun, free math games for my library community—and this
a
abo versat yful
article will show you how you can do the same. These games
ut i
num ons
are all paper-based, but if you have coders in your community,
you could create interactive, web-based versions of them too.
ber
s.


infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 31

 COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | How to Design Fun Math Games for Kids, Teens, Seniors, and In-Betweeners
EDTECH

Pairs Math Game, LibreOffice display screen

My original game, Pairs Math Game, was designed for Format menu. With the large size font for numbers that I
middle school students. (Visit the game’s website at pairs use, I often choose a row height and column width in the
mathgame.com to see all versions. They can be freely range of .4" or .5". You will need to experiment to find
downloaded, printed, and photocopied.) Its basic goal is to what works best for your own printing needs. I also align
find two numbers that add up to 100, So, you are looking the numbers in the middle of the cell by choosing the small
for pairs such as 95 and five or 80 Align Center icon in LibreOffice’s
and 20. The rules of this game can formatting toolbar.
be modified to suit age categories or
special needs. New Versions
In creating this game, I use the After designing the original ver-
LibreOffice Calc spreadsheet to gen- sion of this paper-based math game,
erate random numbers from 1 to I handed out copies to families who
100. (If you’re more familiar with visit the public library where I work.
Excel, you can use that to fill your Imagine my surprise when one
spreadsheet with random numbers.) mother told me, “My 4-year-old son
To make the game more visually en- loves your math game.” The original
gaging, I print it with large-font game was designed for middle school
numbers on tabloid size paper (11" x students, but apparently this young-
17"). Via trial and error, I found a ster is math-oriented. I received oth-
visually appealing design of 17 col- er favorable feedback from the first
umns by 18 rows, with a 28-point version of the game, so I went on to
font. design a version that’s better suited
The key to making the design ap- for elementary students. Some ver-
pealing is the spacing of the spread- sions now have other goals than add-
sheet cells, which you can control ing two numbers to make 100.
in LibreOffice by adjusting the row I also decided to create versions of
height and column width under the Life-size numbers banner the game that print on legal size pa-

32 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com

 How to Design Fun Math Games for Kids, Teens, Seniors, and In-Betweeners
per (8.5" x 14"), which is easier and cheaper to photocopy.
Because my library’s managers are so supportive, I went
on to design a banner size version—3' x 8'—to hang on
the wall of the computer center, where I work. In the ban-
ner version, the font size is 144 points—which is 2" tall.
I added color to some of the numbers in this banner, just
for visual interest. The colors have no significance to the
game on this banner, but I may design future math games
in which the colors have a role to play.
As you can see from the photo on page 32, this large ban-
ner provides an engaging way for students to talk about
numbers. If you’d like to hang a banner in your own li-
brary, the Pairs Math Game website provides a free PDF
file that you can print on an HP DesignJet printer with
36" paper rolls. More and more public libraries are offer-
ing these printers for public use. Your library might also
have a community partner—e.g., an architectural firm or
a college makerspace—that can print this banner for you.
Some library systems might have a banner printer that
is used by the marketing department. You should be able
to sweet talk your marketing department colleagues into
printing a math banner for use in the library. These col-
leagues might even be happily surprised to learn about
this alternative use for the printer.
The Pairs Math Game website includes links to buying
vinyl banners of this game from Zazzle.com. (Full disclo-
sure: I receive a small royalty payment whenever a vinyl
banner is purchased.) These vinyl banners are very dura-
ble and can even be used outdoors, in the rain, at public
library events. Some public libraries might choose to add
a mini banner to their circulating library collection. This
smaller banner is designed to fit on most dining room ta-
bles. It’s useful to note that when you order a vinyl banner
from Zazzle.com, it takes about a week to 10 days for it to
be delivered. If you’re planning on using vinyl banners for
public events, it’s best to order them early.
Game Uses
My goal in all of this is to promote playful conversations
about numbers. Talking is teaching. I also strive to give
agency to my students to encourage them to invent their
own math questions that they can ask me and others. Cros-
by, a bright fourth grader who visits my library, invented
the Crosby Question. His question is used with Numbers
Banner 1. The Crosby Question goes like this: “Find three
numbers that add up to 200, with none of the numbers be-
ing round numbers.” This is a high school-level math ques-
tion, invented by an elementary school student. To honor
his inventiveness, I have posted the Crosby Question as the
first student-created questions section on the Pairs Math
Game website. Without much effort on my part, I have
helped Crosby think of himself as a math game inventor.
Having had a positive experience with this, he will natu-
rally seek out other opportunities to invent. I asked him
recently, “How was your week, Crosby?” I was immense-
ly amused when he replied, “I had a good week. I’ve been
| COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES
thinking about the Crosby Question and whether there
EDTECH
might be some interesting variations of that question.”
Bingo. Mission accomplished.
To be sure, this math game has many possible uses in the
community. It can be used in afterschool academic enrich-
ment programs, at home by grandparents raising grand-
children, or in a children’s hospital with children who need
to keep their minds occupied while they are healing after
surgery. The game could also be used in a seniors’ retire-
ment community to keep minds agile, on long airplane or
train trips, to keep kids busy, or even in a school classroom
as a reward activity after students have completed another
learning activity.
If you have families in your community who don’t
speak English, this game can provide fun mental stimu-
lation while they’re learning English. Along this line of
thought, I recommend you watch the short, inspiring You-
Tube video, “13 Year Old Tanglin Solves Hardest Ken-
Ken” (youtube.com/watch?v=Xg8wEGFHWoM). Ken-
Ken logic puzzles have a devoted worldwide following.
If you’d like to make KenKen a part of your library com-
munity, see my video book review on YouTube, “KenKen
Tried and True Techniques for Beginners” (youtube.com/
watch?v=k8V3iVDDnRY).
Imagine my surprise when one
mother told me, ‘My 4-year-old
son loves your math game.’
DIY
If your library community would like to go all in on de-
signing and distributing your own math games, you might
want to purchase an HP DesignJet printer. I recently
bought the $700 HP DesignJet T210 for my own home use.
It is immensely fun for printing math games, children’s
stories with very large fonts, and other uses. It prints on
paper rolls that are 24"x 150' feet. These paper rolls are

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 33
 COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | How to Design Fun Math Games for Kids, Teens, Seniors, and In-Betweeners
EDTECH
‘Coin Questions—at the Public Library—Takoma Park, MD’
Back in 2016, I created an 8-minute video explaining
the fun coin question math activity I do with students who
visit the public library where I work. These coin combina-
tion questions help students develop a love of thinking.
When you have a love of thinking, the world becomes a
much more interesting place to live, work, and play. I use
these questions with children as young as kindergarten
$18 each. The ink for this printer is also affordable, when
used wisely, and printing number game banners is a low-
intensity use of the ink. My own setup is to use this printer
with open source software, such as LibreOffice, Inkscape,
and GIMP, as well as with the Canva web service, which I
have not yet explored enough.
I should say a few words about library policies regard-
ing hanging banners on the wall. At my place of work, the
managers have been immensely supportive of my doing
so. They understand that my purpose is education inclu-
sion, to reach students who otherwise would not be excel-
ling at math and give them a way to increase their inter-
est in mathematical thinking. Staffers in several libraries
I visited in the past year explained to me that they aren’t
allowed to hang anything up on the wall. To my mind, this
policy is shortsighted. This is akin to a family saying, “We
will not place any our children’s drawings on the door of
the family refrigerator because that could detract from
the pristine look of our family kitchen.” In answer to that,
I would say that you have a choice to either look good or
be good. Please do not foreclose the latter by choosing the
former.
If you’re wondering how I became a math game designer,
you may want to read my 2012 article, “The Day My Mind
Became Open Sourced” (shorturl.at/lrw39). In it, I explain
34 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
age and as old as high school age. I adapt the difficulty
of the questions to the age and skill of the students. The
fun part, for me, is nudging the students forward in the
difficulty of the questions that they enjoy solving. This re-
quires getting the students to trust me to not ask them a
question that is too difficult for them to answer. When I
ask difficult questions, I might also give them some hints
or otherwise engage in a dialogue
that helps them to reach the answer.
The most fun is when I invite stu-
dents to invent their own coin com-
bination questions to ask me. (I tell
them, tongue-in-cheek, “Your ques-
tion cannot be too difficult, because
I’m just an adult.”) I invite students
to ask me coin combination ques-
tions that have as many as eight, 10,
or 12 coins. I’m usually able to figure
out an answer to these in less than
2 minutes. When students invent the
questions, they are increasing their
own sense of agency—and they’re
still learning math in the process.
how an afterschool play session with my friend Bruce Jor-
dan gave me a clear sense of what I wanted to do for the
rest of my life. When you read that article, you will un-
derstand why I love spending time on my sideline projects
at my public library job. I have a strong sense of my own
agency within this world, and I exercise that agency in a
way so that others can choose to be agents themselves. In
the words of the very wise Pete Seeger, “The world does
not need strong leaders. It needs many leaders—each of us
doing many good things in many communities.” This is a
call to action we should all respond to. Let’s watch what
happens when we do that. n
Phil Shapiro
works as a library associate at the Takoma
Park Maryland Library, which is a small
public library close to Washington, D.C.
The Takoma Park community has residents
from 92 countries, and they all come to the
public library. At his job, Shapiro greets
community members in English, French,
Amharic, Somali, and American Sign
Language. He is reachable at pshapiro@his
.com and opensource.com/users/pshapiro.
voices of the
searchers
FOMO, GAI, LLM, RAG: So Many Acronyms!
Marydee Ojala
FROM THE WAY GENERATIVE AI as a whole, and ChatGPT as its
subset, have dominated the headlines, you’d think that’s the only
technology information professionals worry about these days.
You’d be wrong. First of all, although GenAI only came on the
scene for public use at the end of 2022, AI has been around for
decades. Librarians have been experimenting with introducing
robots into their libraries, creating AI-based taxonomies and
metadata, analyzing circulation data and user demographics us-
ing AI-powered tools, employing chatbots for basic reference
questions, and using machine learning for text and data mining
for years. We’re hardly AI novices.
The incredible hype around GenAI, the speed at which the
technology is changing, the sudden alterations in user interfac-
es, and the exciting and innovative uses information profession-
als are finding for it lead some to experience FOMO (Fear Of
Missing Out). All those other people are doing things that we ei-
ther haven’t considered, lack a budget to implement, or don’t
have time for. Or all three. Some GenAI attributes can be easily
incorporated into our normal workflows, such as machine trans-
lation. Others take more effort, such as creating images. You can
construct an image reasonably quickly, but to make it exactly
the way you want it to look takes considerably more iterations,
thought, and time. Content summarization can convey great
benefits but needs human supervision.
Although ChatGPT’s initial entrance into librarian consciousness
centered on its propensity to create illusionary citations, other Gen-
AI products produce valid ones. Since this is a known problem, I’m
pretty sure it will be fixed in future versions. The trick is to know the
source material that feeds the LLM (large language model), some-
thing Chat GPT’s creator, OpenAI, has resisted revealing. Consen-
sus, Elicit, and scite use peer-reviewed literature as the basis for
their LLM. One result is real, accurate citations.
For online searchers, FOMO is not the only fear. Another long-
standing fear is missing a critical piece of information. I once had a
discussion with colleagues about whether we should tell clients our
search results were comprehensive. I thought not, citing one exam-
ple where my client subscribed to a specialized newsletter that was
not included in any library database and was not available in elec-
tronic form. I could not include it in my deliverables to him and had
to explain why what he considered a vital source was missing.
As the pool of information expands, this fear intensifies. There’s
just too much information out there, and in an increasing number
of formats. Can I really search the web via multiple search engines
and a large number of subscription databases, then add in searches
on YouTube, Substack, Medium, and Reddit, and still make the proj-
ect deadline? We are limited by our budgets and our time.
Coupled with missing something important is the added fear of
providing incorrect information. As spurious scholarly research pa-
pers, deepfakes, misreported and mislabeled news stories, and gar-
bled statistics appear more frequently, it’s exhausting to sort out
what is valuable (and true) from what isn’t.
And then there’s the fear of not knowing what all the AI-related ac-
ronyms represent. Here’s a quick primer on a few of them: GAI is the
shortened form of GenAI or generative AI. RAG is retrieval augment-
ed generation. Part of NLP (natural language processing), RAG adds
external sources to the existing LLM and combines retrieval-based
models with generative models to improve the quality of answers.
AGI, artificial general intelligence, is at the heart of the philosophical
discussion about whether AI will be helpful or harmful to humans
in the future. SGE, Search Generative Experience, is Google’s contri-
bution to the panoply of acronyms. Part of Google Labs, SGE uses GAI
to provide answers to queries about the standard list of blue links.
Here’s another fear: As budgets are suddenly redirected toward
AI projects, many librarians fear being thought of as irrelevant. It’s
all those “Why do we have a library now that we’ve got the inter-
net” questions once again only with greater force and with “AI”
substituted for “internet.” If library budgets are cut to accommo-
date new AI initiatives, we have the appalling situation of being
unable to retain traditional trusted databases, which is bound to
have a detrimental effect on library users’ research endeavors.
I think it’s clear that GAI will have a transformative effect on
how we view the search process, whether we’re searching the web,
in library databases, or on discovery systems. Let’s not fall prey to
FOMO or any other fear. Be proactive in explaining the benefits
and drawbacks of GAI. Explore how AI changes research. It’s a
brand new, shiny search world, and it’s up to information profes-
sionals to lead the way. Fearlessly. NFOA (no fear of AI).
Comments? Email Marydee Ojala (marydee@xmission.com), editor, On-
line Searcher.
infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 35
 User
Surveys
Drivers of User
as
Engagement and
Service Improvement
By Winnie Jamara
Faced with stiff competition from other
information service providers and the
economic downturn, academic libraries
must find ways to reposition themselves
and remain valuable to the community
they serve. Therefore, it is imperative
for them to find ways of assessing their
user satisfaction levels with regards to
the services and products they offer.
Academic libraries can engage their
users by listening to them, and one
way of listening is through customer
surveys, which allow the library to gather
information on the quality of the services
and highlight areas where service levels
should be raised.
36 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
U ser surveys help determine customer insights into servic-
es and products and are drivers of user engagement and
service improvement. Also needed is a customer feedback
loop, a framework for implementing the feedback for improved
service and products delivery.
BOTSWANA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (BIUST)
Established in 2006, the BIUST was intended to play a major role
as a catalyst for social and economic growth, leading to a signifi-
cant transformation of Botswana. The primary goal was to shift the
nation’s economy from one centered on resources to one centered
on knowledge.
The university library plays a critical role as the heart of the uni-
versity, promoting learning and intellectual exploration. The library
provides resources and services that are responsive and aligned to
the strategic goals of the university: teaching, learning, and research.
It has a staff of 17 in three units: Administration, which is charged
with providing authoritative control of library affairs; Resource
Management, which is responsible for managing information re-
sources, people, information technology, and space; and Informa-
tion Support, which deals directly with library users, provides effec-
tive reader’s advisory and basic reference services to patrons, offers
in-person assistance for the use of technology (including electronic
devices and library e-resources), and promotes access and usage of
information resources.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Libraries have always been customer-centric. In today’s ever-
evolving information landscape, which is coupled with changing
user needs and technology, library users play a key role in deter-
mining library provisions. Cullen (2001) opines that academic li-
braries must raise the quality of their offerings if they want to re-
main competitive in the increasingly global digital environment.
The future of academic libraries lies in their close interactions with
patrons. Today’s participatory libraries build on that trust and pro-
vide their users with more power to influence the course of the li-
brary services themselves (Nguyen et al. 2012). Smeaton and Davis
(2014) share the same sentiments by indicating that this brand-
new participatory library is the one that regularly converses with
its patrons. Lankes et al. (2007) argue that by engaging its users, the
library amasses user data that can help with both present and fu-
ture services and collection development. Casey and Savastinuk
(2008) argue that in a Library 2.0 environment, a guiding principle
is “user-centered change.” This approach focuses on library-user
engagement, customer as collaborator, and customizable services.
They recommend a regular solicitation of user feedback plus the
evaluation of current services.
Libraries must argue for their continued existence by citing ad-
vantages, effects, community, and social benefits (Reid 2020). Hal-
lam (2018) further indicates that the need is growing for libraries to
demonstrate their social value to funders. Carlsson and Torngren
(2020) highlight that, as governmental entities require more effi-
cient services and a proactive development plan, university librar-
ies must upgrade their services to meet present and future needs
as new needs are always being created. Quality assurance and as-
sessment have become critical components in the operations of
academic libraries.
Libraries have been using quality evaluation and other man-
agement methods for more than 50 years (Orr 1973). A critical
factor for success is understanding customer satisfaction (Aqui-
lani et al. 2017). Libraries must identify various customer groups,
understand their needs, and seek to achieve high levels of user
satisfaction. A move from a library-based view to a customer-
based view is critical (Hakala and Nygrén). As a result, it is crucial
that libraries discover techniques to gauge how satisfied their cus-
tomers are with the services and products they provide. Evaluating
service quality is the first step to keeping consumers (Altman and
Hernon 1998).
Through user engagement, a two-way process between the
service provider and its users, libraries can identify what does
and does not meet their users’ needs. In the context of libraries,

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 37
 this would be the interaction between the library users and the
library. Attfield et al. (2011) defines engagement as a crucial idea
in creating user-centered web apps. The level of the user experi-
ence highlights the beneficial features of the contact, especially
the phenomenon connected to being mesmerized by technolo-
gy. They go further to state that user engagement is the relation-
ship that occurs between a user and a resource at any given time
and maybe across time in terms of emotions, thoughts, and be-
havior. User engagement is the degree to which the user experi-
ence highlights the advantages of connecting with a product or
services delivered.
It is important to note there is a difference between user engage-
ment and customer engagement. Bowden (2009) views customer
involvement as a psychological process with both emotional and
cognitive components, whereas Vivek et al. (2012, p. 127) define
customer engagement as “the intensity of an individual’s partici-
pation and connection with the organization’s offerings and ac-
tivities initiated by either the customer or the organization.”
METHODS FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE
The design and development of library services and products
should be informed and shaped by the customer. Delivering qual-
ity service is an essential strategy for success and survival within
any organization. Services and products must constantly be evalu-
ated to gauge their impact, assess satisfaction, and encourage the
modification of services in response to evaluation.
Hakala and Nygrén (2010) argue that for university libraries to
better serve their clientele, as well as their organizations, they need
to listen. A user survey is a technique for gathering client feedback
on the services and products that an organization offers. By con-
ducting user surveys, the library can collect user data and find out
more about the services’ quality, pinpointing areas where service
levels need to be raised. Additionally, they are user-friendly, cheap
to administer, and offer high reliability. They are also useful in
strategic planning. Carlsson and Torngren indicate that surveys are
simple to conduct, efficiently collect feedback from user groups, and
produce information that can be used to explain the value of librar-
ies to stakeholders.
Some standardized user survey instruments that were initially
developed for market research have been adopted by libraries for
assessing patron attitudes and engagement with library products
and services.
Servqual: As indicated by HeryWihardikaGriadhi (2018) and
Coleman et al. (1997), Servqual is a service-quality survey devel-
oped by Leonard L. Berry, A. Parasuraman, and Valarie A. Zeithaml.
It is an instrument created to measure service quality based on the
minimum, perceived, and desired performance levels of a client. It
provides 22 questions that can be modified to be more specific to
library needs. Answers to the questions are ranked from 1 to 10, with
1 bring very poor and 9 excellent. This low-to-high ranking is a com-
mon Likert scale implementation. The SERVQUAL survey is de-
signed to measure service quality in five dimensions:
• Tangibles: The appearance of physical facilities,
equipment, personnel, and communication materials
• Reliability: The ability to perform the promised service
dependably and accurately
38 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
• Responsiveness: The willingness to help customers and
provide prompt service
• Assurance: The knowledge and courtesy of employees and
their ability to convey trust and confidence
• Empathy: The caring, individualized attention given
to customers
LibQUAL+: According to Kumar and Mahajan (2019), LibQUAL+
is a user-centric paradigm that collects data on practically every
facet of the library, both qualitative and quantitative. The core
questions in the LibQUAL survey are organized into three main
categories: Affect of Service (AS), Information Control (IC), and
Library as Place (LP).
LibSat: As an alternative to LibQUAL, LibSat is a continuous
web-based survey available 24/7 for library users to express their
opinions about the quality of services they receive.
Scale Survey: This is the most commonly used instrument by
BIUST library and makes use of SurveyMonkey. It has a satisfac-
tion scale that includes moderate or neutral options as well as
extreme attitudes on a range of topics. Likert scale ratings are de-
signed to offer quantitative response possibilities that simplify
data analysis. It enables academic libraries to find other points of
view that can be important for comprehending the input they are
receiving. It can also help them focus on the areas where they
might wish to make improvements.
QUALITY ASSURANCE AND ASSESSMENT
Quality assurance and assessment has become key to library op-
erations. COVID made this action even more of a must for libraries
as departments’ competition for finances intensified. Library ser-
vices and products must constantly be evaluated to measure their
impact on the customer, assess customer satisfaction, and encour-
age the modification of services in response to evaluation.
Several data collection techniques can be used to measure user
engagement, including self-reported measures, questionnaires,
pre- and post-tasks, and performance and psychological mea-
sures. Here are just some of the benefits that are derived from em-
ploying user surveys for assessing library users’ attitudes and en-
gagement with library products and services:
• Drives customer engagement and service improvement
• Involves users in the design of new services
• Allows the library through customer surveys to address
real concerns of its users
• Enables the library to better serve its customers
• Provides a useful means of efficiently gathering data about
library patrons’ attributes, knowledge, behaviors,
experiences, and demography
• Strengthens library collection and services
• Compares the quality and utility of the library services
users experienced to their expectations
• Understands what is most important to library users
• Determines the level of engagement between the library
and its users
Despite the advantages of user surveys as an engagement tool
for library services and products improvement, lack of implemen-
Mark Sharpe’s explanation of the importance of
customer feedback loops on the convas blog
(convas.io/blog/customer-feedback-loop)
The infusion of a customer feedback loop in a survey by BIUST library
tation of its findings is detrimental to the overall improvement of
library operations, which has a diverse effect on user satisfaction.
Chow (2019) argues:
[T]he user survey is a useful tool for library managers in-
terested in developing their libraries in response to chang-
ing user needs, and secondly, for more published ac-
counts of surveys and their usefulness. However, the user
survey as a tool for generating evidence-based decision
making in libraries fails to achieve its potential if two fur-
ther important practices are not implemented. First and
most importantly, the findings obtained from the survey
must be used to inform decision making on managing
and leading improvements to the library. This aspect of
follow-through from survey findings to management de-
cision making, may well lead to changing resource alloca-
tion and priorities, new practices, and improvements to
collections and the physical environment. Second, the
findings of the survey should be fed back to users as a
means of raising their interest and engagement in the aca-
demic library as a hub of learning.
FEEDBACK LOOP AS A CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE STRATEGY
When it comes to improving library services and products, librar-
ies should not stop at customer surveys; they should also adopt and
implement customer feedback loops as a customer experience
strategy. The basis for adopting a customer feedback loop is to let
users know that their feedback is used for both product and ser-
vice improvement. Without this reassurance, users are less likely
to provide feedback. They want tangible evidence that their feed-
back is being useful.
Having a well-designed feedback loop is key in building loyal
and engaged users. Library users’ feedback loop should help en-
hance services, products, and delivery instead of just fixing the
identified gaps as a way of keeping users happy. Closing the loop
creates a lifecycle that builds powerful relationships. Library us-
ers’ expectations have risen over the years. In response, libraries
are reinventing themselves to provide services and products that
meet/exceed user expectations. As a result, libraries are continu-
ously embedding customer feedback loops into user surveys to
gain information from users about a product or service that could
ether be negative or positive. Library services and products are
improved through implementation of the four components of
the feedback loop as explained briefly below:
• Gather feedback: Ask library users for feedback on library
services and products.
• Analyze feedback: Categorize feedback into themes that
are meaningful to library operations. Build services and
products road maps based on customer feedback.
• Act on feedback: Plan and execute changes based on user
feedback and recommendations. Share with staff members
who will implement the changes. Adjust services and
products, then evaluate the changes.
• Follow up with customers: Make follow-ups with users
who gave feedback on your plans to let them know about
the changes. This will show them that they are being
listened to. This will motivate them to give feedback as the
library looks to improve its offerings.
WHY USE A FEEDBACK LOOP IN SERVICE
IMPROVEMENT?
Implementation of the feedback loop cycle is important to li-
braries for these reasons:
• Enhances user experience
• Improves the quality and functionality of library infrastructure
and delivery of services
• Increases usage and impact of library products and services

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 39
 • Enhances innovation in library services
• Demonstrates value and contribution
• Enables the library to explore opportunities
• Fosters intentional user engagement
PROVING VALUE
In conclusion, the competitive nature of services, the value of
libraries, and their place in educational institutions have made
consumer involvement increasingly important and relevant.
Therefore, including assessment and monitoring of library ser-
vices and products is essential for improving service delivery as
this enables the library to provide services and products that
satisfy the changing demands of its users. By employing user sur-
veys as a catalyst for customer engagement and service enhance-
ment, academic libraries can map patron experiences with the
services and goods provided. To enhance user experience and,
consequently, happiness, academic libraries systematically gath-
References
Altman, Elllen and Peter Hernon, “Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction
Do Matter.” American Libraries, v. 29, n. 7, August 1998: pp. 53–54 (jstor.org/
stable/25635065).
Aquilani, Barbara; Celilia Silvestri; Alessandro Ruggier; and Corrado Gatti,
“A Systematic Literature Review on Total Quality Management Critical Success
Factors and the Identification of New Avenues of Research.” The TQM Journal,
v. 29, n. 1, January 2017: pp. 184–213 (doi.org/10.1108/TQM-01-2016-0003).
Attfield, Simon; Gabriella Kazai; Mounia Lalmas, and Benjamin Piwowarski,
“Towards a Science of User Engagement (Position Paper).” WSDM’11, Feb.
9–12, 2011, Hong Kong, China (researchgate.net/publication/228542640_
Towards_a_science_of_user_engagement_Position_Paper).
Bowden, Jana Lay-Hwa, “The Process of Customer Engagement: A Conceptual
Framework.” Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, v. 17, n. 1 (Winter 2009);
pp. 63–74 (tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.2753/MTP1069-6679170105).
Carlsson, Håkan and Tore Torngren, “Understanding Library Users via Surveys and
Other Methods—Best Practices for Evidence-Based Library Development.” Journal
of Library Administration, v. 60, n. 8 (September 2020): pp. 925–944 (doi.org/10.10
80/01930826.2020.1820276).
Casey, Michaael E, and Laura C. Savastinuk, “Library 2.0: Service for the Next-
generation Library.” Library Journal, v. 131, n. 14 (September 2006): pp. 40–44.
Chow, Janet, “Realising the Potential of User Surveys for Improving Academic
Libraries: The Case of St John’s College, Cambridge.” Journal of Librarianship
and Information Science, v. 51, n. 3 (October 2017): pp. 689–701 (doi.org/10.
1177/0961000617732379).
Cullen, Rowena, “Perspectives on User Satisfaction Surveys.” Library Trends, v. 49,
n. 4 (Spring 2001): pp. 662-–686 (researchgate.net/publication/32961919_
Perspectives_on_User_Satisfaction_Surveys).
Coleman, Vicki; Yi (Daniel) Xiao, Linda Bair, Bill Chollett, “Toward a TQM
Paradigm: Using SERVQUAL to Measure Library Service Quality.” College &
Research Libraries (C&RL), v. 58, n. 3 (May 1997): pp. 238–249 (crl.acrl.org/
index.php/crl/article/view/15128).
Hakala, Ulla and Ulla Nygrén, “Customer Satisfaction and the Strategic Role of
University Libraries.” International Journal of Consumer Studies. v. 34, n. 2 (February
2010); pp. 204–211 (doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-6431.2009.00834.x).
40 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
er user opinions regarding their collections, services, and phys-
ical space. User comments shed light on the requirements, hab-
its, and issues that library users face.
Embedding a customer feedback loop in a user survey can
play a crucial role in enhancing service delivery and efficiency
in academic libraries by aligning services with user needs, im-
proving the user experience, and driving continuous improve-
ment. It helps academic libraries stay responsive to user expec-
tations, optimize resource management, and foster a culture of
user-centered service.
Winnie Jamara (jamara2@biust.ac.bw) is manager, information support,
Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) Library.
Comments? Emall Marydee Ojala (marydee@xmission.com), editor,
Online Searcher.
Hallam, Gillian, “Being Evidence Based Makes Sense! An Introduction to Evidence
Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP).” Bibliothek Forschung Und Praxis,
v. 42, n. 3 (December 2018): pp. 453–462 (doi.org/10.1515/bfp-2018-0067).
HeryWihardikaGriadhi, Made, ”An Evaluation on Library Services Using
Servqual Method.” Global Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning
in Education (GC-TALE 2017), SHS Web Conf. v. 42 (2018) (doi.org/10.1051/
shsconf/20184200071).
Orr, R. H., “Measuring the Goodness of Library Services: A General Framework for
Considering Quantitative Measures.” Journal of Documentation, v. 29, n. 3 (1973):
pp. 315–332 (doi.org/10.1108/eb026561).
Kumar, Anil and Preeti Mahajan, “Library Performance Assessment of Service
Quality Through LibQUAL: The Case of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU),
Rohtak (India).” Library Philosophy and Practice (ejournal). 2638 (September 2019)
(digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/2638).
Lankes, R. David., Joanne Silverstein, and Scott Nicholson, “Participatory
Networks: The Library as Conversation.” Information Technology and Libraries,
v. 26, n. 4 (December 2007): pp. 17–33 (doi.org/10.6017/ital.v26i4.3267).
Nguyen, Linh Cuong, Helen Partridge, and Sylvia Lauretta Edwards, “Towards an
Understanding of the Participatory Library,” Library Hi Tech, v. 30, n. 2 (June 2012):
pp. 335–346 (researchgate.net/publication/242026161_Towards_an_
understanding_of_the_participatory_library).
Reid, Peter H., “How Good Is Our Public Library Service? The Evolution of a New
Quality Standards Framework for Scottish Public Libraries 2012–2017.” Journal of
Librarianship and Information Science, v. 52, n. 3 (July 2019): pp. 647–658 (doi.
org/10.1177/0961000619855430).
Smeaton, Kathleen and Kate Davis, “Using Social Media to Create a Participatory
Library Service: An Australian Study,” Library and Information Research, v. 38, n. 117
(2014): pp. 54–76 (lirgjournal.org.uk/index.php/lir/article/view/593).
Vivek, Shiri. D., Sharon E. Beatty, and Robert M. Morgan, “Customer Engagement:
Exploring Customer Relationships Beyond Purchase.” Journal of Marketing Theory
and Practice, v. 20, n. 2 (Spring 2012): pp. 127–145 (jstor.org/stable/23243811).
 infolit land
Finding Open Access Can Be Harder Than Finding Nemo
S tudents often ask me, “Will I still have access to the li-
brary’s databases after I graduate?” The answer, sadly, in
most cases, is, “No.” This is discouraging for those alumni who
expected to have access forever. True, there are some licens-
ing arrangements that can extend library database use to for-
mer graduates, but they are few.
A former student can revert to Google and experience the
hot mess that finding scholarly literature on the web involves.
There is Google Scholar with its regular, “Pay us $40 and you
can download this article.” Yet the rapidly growing OA move-
ment, spurred by demands from public funders and the pres-
sure on traditional publishers to offer more OA, is giving all of
us hope. Currently, about 20% to 25% of all scholarly articles
are OA, and OA publishing in recent years is beginning to out-
pace articles being released behind paywalls.
While not comprehensive, I’d like to suggest some of the bet-
ter avenues for discovering OA academic sources. Be aware,
though, that what I suggest is my own judgment call, which is
readily open to correction, and will likely miss a few options.
DIRECTORY OF OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS
Over the years, DOAJ (doaj.org) has developed into a power-
house, providing access to more than 20,000 OA journals and
more than 9,600,000 articles. Standards for inclusion are rigorous,
including peer review and a consistent track record of publication.
Article searches offer the standard range of filters, including
“Subject” which uses more than 600 broad categories. Once
you have completed a search, you can filter it further by journal
title and date. The records for each article are minimal but in-
clude a brief abstract, author affiliation, and basic information
about the journal. Full-text links direct the user to the article on
its journal website. Overall, the search interface is plain but
easy to navigate. There is no citation-generating tool.
INTERNET ARCHIVE SCHOLAR
Internet Archive Scholar (IAS; scholar.archive.org), a rela-
tively new tool, is still under development. (One suggestion I
would make is to change its garish logo on the homepage.) As
of November 2023, IAS covers slightly more than 35 million
articles, making it larger than DOAJ, and its coverage ranges
from the 18th century to present. The Internet Archive’s strong
collection of out-of-copyright resources has clearly been en-
listed. In several ways, this is a different sort of database in
William Badke
Trinity Western University
that it contains regularly published academic articles but also
conference proceedings and even preprints.
Search is by simple keyword, with no filters available. Rudi-
mentary post-search filters include a broad set of date limiters,
such as “since 2000”; resource type; and availability as full-text,
OA, or even digitized microfilm. You can sort by relevance or
ascending/descending date.
Metadata for IAS comes from Fatcat (fatcat.wiki), an open
catalog of resources, which offers minimal information. There
is a citation generator that does not include the American Psy-
chological Association (APA). Full-text links most often lead to
PDFs, though some send users to the Internet Archive itself.
Overall, while broader than DOAJ, IAS as a new resource is
limited by its very basic search tool, almost nonexistent meta-
data, and mixed bag of resources. Its strength lies in its broad
coverage and historical depth.
DIMENSIONS
I wrote a column on the Dimensions database several years
ago (“The Dimensions Database: A Revolution in Academic In-
formation Tools?” Online Searcher, v. 42, n. 4, July/August 2018:
pp. 52–54), praising it both for the quality of its data sources and
its features, such as reference tracking and an OA filter. Dimen-
sions (app.dimensions.ai/discover/publication) remains a viable
OA database for those without access to paywalled tools. For ex-
ample, a search for “information literacy” AND
ethics reveals 203 scholarly articles, of which 113 are OA.
True, an OA filter doesn’t always help the user find the best re-
sources, since the option of OA or paywall says nothing much
about relative quality.
Still, this is a solid tool to identify a considerable number of
freely available articles, edited books, book chapters, confer-
ence proceedings, and preprints. Links to citations to each
article improve both the user’s understanding of the signifi-
cance of the article and access to further relevant resources.
CORE
Describing itself as “the world’s largest collection of open
access research papers,” some 277 million to be specific, Core
(core.ac.uk) on the surface appears to be an ideal OA aggrega-
tor. It has a promising list of filters, but a significant challenge
is the extremely broad range of source materials, from daily
newspapers and online tutorials/slide shows to repositories,

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 41
 dissertations, and scholarly articles. This “include almost every-
thing to get overall numbers up” approach is close to deceptive and
muddies what Core could offer by way of solid academic OA. The
“Type” and “Publisher” filters can screen out some of the mud, but
a database like Dimensions is cleaner.
GOOGLE SCHOLAR
Why not raise Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) to a position
higher in my list? Certainly, Scholar is the largest academic data-
base available to us today. My answer is that its quality, both in
search tools and in the uneven level of its resources, continues to
make it dodgy. I know Scholar is sheer genius in its almost-com-
prehensive coverage of academic literature, but there are several
reasons why only skilled users are going to avoid its minefields:
1. It has no ability to filter for type of material—book,
article, conference proceeding, etc.
2. Not only does it not reveal the sources of its data, but
it is filled with predatory journals, preprints, and stuff
that may look academic but is not. Wading through
all of this to find the gold takes a lot of skill.
3. It doesn’t have the metadata to do much with specific
searching. Sadly, its advanced search is almost lost
under the enigmatic “hamburger” in the top right.
4. Its citation feature is unreliable, often missing
key elements.
That said, Scholar is probably the world’s most popular academ-
ic search engine, so I certainly wouldn’t cut it from my list.
PREPRINT DATABASES AND OA BOOKS
Preprints, resources that have not completed peer review and
publication, are very popular these days, often providing us with
the most cutting-edge research. Wikipedia has a good list of pre-
print repositories (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_preprint_repos
itories). The caution here is that these resources haven’t yet gone
through a vetting process, and any findings need to be taken with
a considerably large grain of salt.
Now we come to OA books and a different sort of conundrum.
While digitized out-of-copyright books are commonplace (think
https://archive.org/details/texts?tab=collection, www.hathitrust.
org), the sheer cost to publishers or authors engaged in publishing
current books as OA has limited the number of current titles that
are available. Directory of Open Access Books (doabooks.org),
covering more than 75,000 titles, is a great, though not compre-
hensive, finder for OA books. It is probably the first choice for aca-
demic OA monographs.
Oapen (oapen.org) is an infrastructure platform for publishers
wanting to produce OA volumes. As such, it could just be soft-
ware, but it also hosts the books that publishers develop, thus
becoming a database. One limitation, of course, is that it only
contains the titles produced by publishers which have signed up
to Oapen. That said, it has good metadata, and many of its titles
are also covered in DOAB and Google Scholar.
JSTOR has also weighed in with its own database for OA books.
For access, go to about.jstor.org/oa-and-free, then filter for books.
This database is small (around 100,000 volumes) but covers the
42 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
most prestigious publishers that are producing OA academic works.
The JSTOR platform offers filtering options and good bibliographic
information as well as the JSTOR citation feature. Note that “books”
also includes dissertations.
Google Books (books.google.com) would be a whole lot more
helpful if it were not dominated by commercial interests. Most of
what you find there is in-copyright material with limited pre-
views. Still, I have often found full, or almost full, chapters, even
of commercial titles. To locate older out-of-copyright works, use
the “any time” filter at the top of the screen. There are also filters
for type of document and for preview versus full view. Fully OA
works have a “Read” label. If you want to optimize your experi-
ence, try the Google Books advanced search (books.google.com/
advanced_book_search). It’s quite sophisticated.
Dissertation access is dominated by ProQuest, which is pri-
marily a vendor of works for a fee. But even ProQuest offers a free
option, and other OA repositories provide a bounty of disserta-
tions in full text. But how do you find them? One way is to search
on a subject area, along with the word dissertation, in
Google or Bing. The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dis-
sertations (ndltd.org/thesis-resources/find-etds) offers a list of data-
base repositories and search tools by country. Probably the best over-
all source, however, is Open Access Theses and Dissertations (oatd.
org), which has a search engine for almost 7 million works.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The challenge of the paywall has been relatively intractable,
though barriers are beginning to crumble. Academia as a whole
is to some extent to blame for the costly barriers to access created
by commercial interests. Rather than funding published scholar-
ship ourselves, we turned the task over to private interests, who
saw a ton of money to be made. I still cannot, for the life of me,
understand why a journal that does not pay its authors and edi-
tors, and that is largely electronic, should charge an annual sub-
scription of $10,000. The profit margins of big academic publish-
ing rival companies such as Apple.
Many journals were initially published by scholarly societies
or funded university presses, but subscription lists were hard to
maintain, and scholarly books didn’t sell a lot of copies. Rather
than maintaining funding, the societies and university presses
either jacked up prices or turned the whole publication process
over to companies that determined a cost based on whatever
they thought the market would bear.
This has pushed researchers without database access, many of
them living in poorer countries, out into the cold. No wonder that
pirate sites such as Sci-Hub have risen and flourished. It is impor-
tant for all of us to promote OA in whatever ways we can. Things
are much improved from 10 years ago, but they could be even bet-
ter. In the meantime, I hope I have offered some useful solutions to
access for those who are on the wrong side of paywalls.
William Badke (badke@twu.ca) is associate librarian at Trinity Western
University and the author of Research Strategies: Finding Your Way Through
the Information Fog, 7th Edition (iUniverse.com, 2021).
Comments? Email Marydee Ojala (marydee@xmission.com), editor, On-
line Searcher.
 the dollar sign
Untangling Company Histories; Tracing Corporate Roots
I f you have ever had an interest in personal genealogy or
been fascinated watching Henry Louis Gates, Jr. trace the
family histories of celebrities on the television show Finding
Your Roots, you may have explored databases from Family-
Search or Ancestry. You might even have had 23andMe ana-
lyze your DNA to give you information on your geographic
origins and health details. Researching company histories is
equally interesting and is similar in that it requires putting lots
of little pieces together to build a fuller picture. However, the
sources for information are different, and the family trees can
be vastly more complicated.
The urge to investigate company histories is sometimes trig-
gered by personal genealogy. Someone discovers that an ancestor
worked for a particular company and wants to know more about
it. Alternatively, it’s the discovery of an object in Grandma’s attic or
at a garage sale that, channeling Antiques Roadshow, someone
thinks might be valuable. But how old is it? It had to have been
manufactured while the company was still in business so the dates
when it was a going concern help determine the object’s age.
It’s not just personal curiosity that gives rise to questions
about company histories. There could be patent implications.
At issue could be a company that is a patent assignee for a pat-
ent filed long ago. What happened to that company, and who
now owns the patent? Other legal issues might involve land
ownership. What company owned a piece of land that is now
in dispute due to pollution claims, drilling rights, or fraudu-
lent deed transfers? Town historians often want to investigate
how companies, particularly those that might now be defunct,
shaped the development of their town.
As with most company searches, whether historical or cur-
rent, public, listed companies are vastly easier to research than
privately held ones. The ancestor worked for Ford Motor Com-
pany? Easy. The company still exists under the same name.
How about Allegheny Airlines? Slightly more complicated, but
traceable through merger and acquisition activity as first be-
coming USAir, then US Airways, and now American Airlines.
The corner mom-and-pop grocery store active in the 1940s?
That’s not so easy, and the emergence of a comprehensive
company history is highly unlikely.
MERGENT/MOODY’S
For public companies, a good starting place is Mergent On-
line. It has the digitized version of the Moody’s Manuals that
used to take up considerable shelf space in many business li-
braries. Now known as Mergent/Moody’s Manuals, they are in-
Marydee Ojala
Editor, Online Searcher
valuable for tracing the corporate roots of publicly traded com-
panies and contain more than a million historical documents.
The online collection provides access to corporate history,
business descriptions, and detailed financial information com-
piled from annual reports, 10-K reports, and news releases and
mirrors the print volumes for Industrial Manuals, Bank & Fi-
nancial Manual, International Manual, OTC Industrial Manual,
OTC Unlisted Manual, Public Utilities Manual, and Transporta-
tion Manual. Coverage ranges from 1909 to 2022.
Note that not all the text is searchable. For example, a search
for Gulf Oil gives two possible company names: Gulf Oil
Corporation and Gulf Oil Corp. The difference is that the for-
mer has searchable text, and the latter does not.
Hoover’s is another possibility. Dating back more than 20
years, the Hoover’s Historical Collection of Handbooks pro-
vides insights into the most influential public, private, and
state-owned enterprises in the world. Gary Hoover, who start-
ed Hoover’s and sold it to D&B, has a long-standing interest in
company and business history. He is now the executive direc-
tor of the American Business History Center (americanbusi
nesshistory.org). He’s also the entrepreneur-in-residence at
the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin.
The purpose of the center is “to create a nexus or hub for
the study, popularization, and celebration of business and
entrepreneurial history.” On its website, you can view articles
and newsletters and charts and data. The latest article, dated
Nov. 17, 2023, is about Sam Walton. Interactive charts exist for
the 20 Largest Employers U.S. Public Companies, the most re-
cent of which covers 1994 to 2022. You can pause the anima-
tion with the green button at bottom left and then use the little
arrow to its right to move to any year.
The center also has a search box. My search for Gulf re-
trieved the article “Gas Station Wars: Rockefeller to Dinosaurs to
Tigers in Tanks,” which in addition to text has some historic pho-
tographs. If the available information seems a bit sparse and you
notice a gap between information uploaded between the end of
2022 and now, there’s a good reason. Hoover’s home and library
(of 70,000 books) burned to the ground in October 2022 and was
a total loss. That he could recover from such a devastating event
and turn his attention back to the center is remarkable.
WEB SEARCHING
If you don’t subscribe to Mergent or any of the databases
that include Hoover’s data, you could try a simple web search
on the search engine of your choice. Google’s SGE (Search

infotoday.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | 43
 Generative Experience) provided this summary for history
of gulf oil:
Gulf Oil Corporation was formed in 1907 from a
number of oil businesses, including:
• J.M. Guffey Petroleum Company
• Gulf Pipeline Company
• Gulf Refining Company
The company’s name comes from the Gulf of Mexico,
where Beaumont, Texas is located. The company’s
origins date back to 1901, when an oil well was
discovered in Spindletop, Texas. The well was
funded by the Mellon family, who are known for
their banking interests in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
But do you trust an AI-generated answer? In this case, it accu-
rately summarizes the origin story of the company and very likely
derives its data from the extensive treatment of the company in
Wikipedia. Reading about all the various owners, which differed
depending on what part of the world the mergers and acquisitions
occurred, reveals the possible twists and turns in tracing corporate
family trees. It’s often more complicated that a family genealogy.
ORIGIN STORIES OF COMPANIES
Wikipedia often, as is the case with Gulf Oil, provides extensive
histories for public companies, but that is not the only source a re-
searcher can consult. Historical societies in Texas (tshaonline.org/
handbook/entries/gulf-oil-corporation) and Pittsburgh (historic
pittsburgh.org/collection/gulf-oil-corporation-records) provide
digitized documents and photographs. The latter, Historic Pitts-
burgh, is hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Library System. It is
worth checking with historical societies and archives in cities where
your target company was prominent to see if any special collections
exist. If local public or academic libraries maintain special collec-
tions for businesses, these collections can be another profitable av-
enue to pursue. If the company is prominent enough, you may find
books detailing its history. They may even be in your own library.
Origin stories are particularly interesting when, due to mergers
and acquisitions, dates change. I am thinking mainly about the date
a company claims as its earliest incarnation. Gulf Oil claimed 1901
for its “birthdate”; Standard Oil of California cited 1906. But the pre-
decessor company for Standard Oil was Pacific Coast Oil, operating
from 1879 to 1906. Does that mean Gulf Oil can “backdate” its origin
to 1879? It’s probably not important since it’s no longer a freestand-
ing company. Closer to home, now that Clarivate owns ProQuest,
which used its Bell & Howell antecedents to trace its origins back to
the 1930s, can Clarivate say it began 90-some years ago? This is where
the comparison of tracing corporate family trees with personal gene-
alogy breaks down. People have only one birth date. It doesn’t vary
based on, say, a remarriage of their parents.
COMPANY NEWS
In addition to checking directories, corporate websites, Wiki-
pedia, and historical societies, for smaller companies, newspa-
per mentions may be the only datapoint available. If your library
subscribes to any of the many newspaper databases available,
from Factiva, ProQuest, and EBSCO to NewsBank, Nexis, News-
44 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | infotoday.com
paperArchive, and Newspapers.com, you’ve got an excellent
starting point. Keep in mind all those potential alternative com-
pany names, however, since you may well have to search each of
them with an OR operator if the database supports that.
With NewspaperArchive, names are not standardized, making
multiple searches mandatory. For smaller companies, stories in
local newspapers do not always adhere to the exact name of the
company. Quality control could have been a bit lax at weekly pa-
pers decades ago. Additionally, if the papers were digitized using
OCR (optical character recognition), you may find strange spaces
introduced in the company names. Newer digitization efforts re-
sult in much cleaner documents.
Company names can be deceptive. I used to work for Bank-
America Corporation. It began life as Bank of Italy in 1904, and while
it sounds like it should be the national bank of Italy, it was actually a
commercial bank based in San Francisco. It became Bank of Amer-
ica in 1930. BankAmerica was the holding company name. Bought
by NationsBank in 1998, the headquarters moved from California
to North Carolina and took the Bank of America name. Company
name changes can happen irrespective of any merger and acquisi-
tion activity. Just look at X, formerly known as Twitter.
IMAGES AND VIDEOS
Searching the image databases of web search engines can sur-
face graphics of advertisements; photos of executives, buildings,
and products; and company logos. Want to know what Indianap-
olis mapmaker George F. Cram looked like? Google images has
photos of him and notices of his globes for sale on Etsy and other
places. There’s even a link to his obituary.
I’ve noticed that the airline industry, at least in the U.S., is try-
ing to reconnect with its roots. Airlines formed as the result of
multiple acquisitions are now displaying the logos and livery of
preceding airlines. You can glean more information about those
logos and the companies behind them via an image search.
Video can also be useful. Search YouTube for history of
[company name here] and you may find someone has
uploaded a presentation on the topic. As with any YouTube search,
it’s important to determine the video’s accuracy. Is this a historian,
a student, or a company insider? Is it someone repeating rumors?
Is it authoritative?
We’re talking history here, and with the increased emphasis on
primary sources and more availability of digitized historical docu-
ments, my hope is that we will see more dissertations and schol-
arly papers on business history. Where are the digital humanities
and digital social sciences researchers in this area?
The comparison between personal genealogy and untangling
company histories to trace corporate roots works on the level of
complexity. Both require searching multiple sources and formats.
Neither one is a quick, simple, or uncomplicated endeavor. To some
extent, to be completely comprehensive, the task is never done, as
more data sources become available on a somewhat regular basis. I
still can’t envision Henry Louis Gates, Jr. putting together a hit televi-
sion show on company histories. Maybe Gary Hoover will do that.
Comments? Email Marydee Ojala (marydee@xmission.com), editor, On-
line Searcher.
ARE YOUR
WEB EVENTS
PERFORMING
UP TO YOUR
STANDARDS?
Information Today, Inc. (ITI) Webinar Sponsorships Give Your Organization
a Unique Opportunity to Engage Potential and Existing Customers
in the Discussion of New Solutions, Best Practices, and Case Studies

ITI offers a turnkey solution
for thd compldtd organization,
managdmdnt, markdting, and
dxdcution of your 1-hour wdb
dvdnt. ITI will providd a moddrator
who is an industry dxpdrt to
facilitatd all aspdcts of your dvdnt.
Topics includd digitization and
prdsdrvation, discovdry systdms, and
mddia litdracy to data managdmdnt,
digital transformation, and usdr
intdrfacds. Thd choicd is yours.
ITI engages all the support tools
ndcdssary to makd surd your
dvdnt is succdssful, including
aggrdssivd onlind advdrtising;
full-color print ads in Information
Today and Computers in Libraries
magazinds; banndr ads on thd ITI
wdbsitd; rdal-timd polling; attdnddd
rdgistration; dvdnt archiving; a
contdnt staging producdr; onlind
rdhdarsal sdrvicds; and ddtaildd
monitoring and rdporting.
The entire event will be created,
managdd, and dxdcutdd by ITI
with your assistancd. Additionally,
all rdgistrants will rdcdivd a
rdminddr phond call and dmail
blast prior to thd dvdnt.
For more information about webinar hosting—
and how it can help your organization
engage and connect with new and existing
customers and prospects—contact ITI today.

LaShawn Fugate I Account Executive — Advertising & Conference Sales I Phone: 859-278-2223 x 104 I lashawn@infotoday.com

www.infotoday.com
Early Bird Pricing Available! Use code CILMAG to register today.

T h e L e a d i n g Te c h n o l o g y C o n f e r e n c e a n d E x h i b i t i o n
for Librarians and Information Managers

Library
Futures
and
Wildest
Dreams

CI L. I N F OTOD AY.COM

MARCH 12–14, 2024 HYATT REGENCY

CRYSTAL CITY
PRECONFERENCE WORKSHOPS
Monday, March 11 Arlington, VA
DIAMOND SPONSORS FEATURING LEARNING PARTNER

MEDIA SPONSORS ORGANIZED AND PRODUCED BY CONNECT WITH US!

#CILDC