Category: Bowler

Observation of the 58th Street Public Library

The 58th Street branch of the NYPL is one of their smaller locations. My observation took place midday on a weekday. Some patrons did appear to be stopping by during a lunch break, quickly picking up hold materials before leaving. However most patrons did linger in the library, many for the entirety of my observation.

Physical Library Space

When you walk into the library it is all one room. To your immediate left are a handful comfy chairs and behind that a small children’s area. This has two small tables with three or four chairs around them, and a very small open area. Then on the left are the stacks. To your immediate right is the reference desk. This library does not have self-checkout, so it is the only location to check out materials. (There is a book drop in the vestibule of the library so you can return books without entering the main space.) Beyond that, on your right are a dozen or so computers, which can be checked out for 45 minute intervals, and the DVD collection. Straight ahead of you there are some more comfy chairs, two long communal tables to work at with outlets built in and hold/reserve shelves which line the back wall.

One of the first things you notice about the space is that it is designed primarily for adult patrons. There are mostly places to sit and read/work individually. Some parents/caregivers have modified the space to suit their needs. An empty space in front of the reference desk, where the line forms when the demand is higher, is taken over by unofficial stroller parking. There isn’t enough space in the children’s section to store any belongings and have space to move around.

Use of the Space

Patrons at the time of the observation seem to be coming to the space to either work independently or pick up holds from the hold shelves. Only a handful of patrons even visited the stacks during their time in the library. Those working either at the computers or communal tables didn’t visibly have physical library materials with them. Over the course of the observation there were two older patrons who read periodicals that the library had on display. But only two patrons visibly had library books at their spaces. And only one of them spent time reading their book. Patrons primarily took advantage of the computer/Wi-Fi/digital resources that the library offers, as opposed to books or periodicals.

This library fulfills a very important role as a ‘third space,’ somewhere that is not home or work/school where people can congregate and just be. For example, there were many retirees, who came here to spend time outside of their homes. While not apparent from the layout, according to their website there is also a second floor, which houses a space that can be reserved for community events/needs as well as their tech classes.

Library Staff

During my observation I saw four different members of staff working the reference desk. Only one of them was a women. Considering the stereotype of the middle age white female librarian this felt noteworthy. Additionally two of the men were people of color. This felt important because as you look around the library, they have a diverse range of patrons. Having a body of staff that reflects your patron-base allows them to best serve their patrons, and be aware of any special needs or considerations their patrons might have.

Recommendations

This is not a high-tech library that is going to have a maker space or a lot of automated systems. However there are small areas where they could probably integrate more digital services. The addition of a self-checkout station would allow patrons who are just picking up materials, and not asking questions, to quickly get their business done.

There also felt like a need for a more designated child friendly space. Some patrons verbally complained about the strollers left in front of the reference desks. Many also made faces when navigating around them. While space is at a premium in a library of this size, the reading area next to the children’s area could probably be rearranged to have space for the strollers. Then those seats could be moved to another area of the library.

Another option would be to take advantage of the second floor space. Maybe when there aren’t events up there have the space open for children to use. That way there would be space for them to run around or read aloud without disturbing the people working downstairs. However I have not seen that space so I don’t know how difficult that would be or if there is a computer set up that would make that difficult.

Posted on by Claudia Berger 0

Observation- Larchmont Public Library: The Provisions of a Small Local Library

Despite having consistently been a resident of New Rochelle, I have had a long-lasting connection with the nearby Larchmont Public Library. As a senior in high school I volunteered there, but quite a bit has changed both physically and technologically since I was last there on a regular basis. Extensive renovations were made in 2016.

The circulation desk is straight ahead as you walk in. Beyond that is the newly added and beautifully constructed Technology Commons, an open space with computers and tables. This serves as an excellent location for such a center. It is in close proximity to the circulation desk which always has at least one person there to assist patrons. I went on a Sunday, which usually is a relatively quiet day and most of the librarians are not there. Nonetheless, there was one man there who had quite a few patrons approach him for technological assistance. He maintained his affable demeanor throughout his exchanges with the patrons despite having quite a few people approach him. One patron’s issue seemed to be persistent and he returned repeatedly to the librarian for help. I did not detect any sense of frustration from the librarian despite the patron getting rather flustered. The librarian simply set him up at a different computer and the issue seemed to have been resolved.

Surrounding the Technology Center are enclosed areas designed for private tutoring sessions. Overlooking the Technology Center is a balcony area which hosts the adult fiction books. On the floor below is the adult non-fiction section. There is a diminutive art gallery (the Oresman Gallery) on the way to the Burchell Children’s Room which was completed in 2010. For a small public library which only has 100,00 items, there are many services which are offered.

Slightly unusual for a public library of its size, there is quite a lot of French items. The Children’s Library  has an entire section of French books and there are an abundance of French options in the adult sections as well. There is a regular French/English story time offered on Sundays. Larchmont has historically had a large number of French speaking residents. The Lycee Franco-Americain de New York is right next door to the library. It is clear that the library has this community in mind when developing the collection and organizing the programming.

The library has been wheelchair accessible since 1995, although this is possibly an area where there can be room for improvement. On the bottom floor, there is a wheelchair lift next to the staircase so as to accommodate the physically handicapped. However, it can be a bit of a pain to use. In order to operate the lift, one needs to have a key which must be obtained from the circulation desk. It would probably be simpler to have a ramp instead.

Another issue I overheard someone complain about was that the book drop was underneath the computer kiosk for searching the catalog. It is possibly a slight inconvenience and perhaps not an intuitive place for it to be, but to be honest, I found the complaint to be rather petty. Still, I suppose it is something worth considering when creating an information space.

I was also surprised by the number of research resources that are provided at the Larchmont Public Library. There are four full-time reference librarians and one part-time reference librarian (she actually used to be the assistant director of the library and my supervisor). The reference librarians are not there on Sundays, but there is permanent use of the online resources, which include materials on Arts and Literature, Biographies, Genealogy, Health and Science, History, Business and Law, Social Science, Newspapers, Serials etc. I was astounded by how much this small public library has to offer.

 

Posted on by Benjamin Ottenstein 0

After School At The Cortelyou Library

Cortelyou Library
Cortelyou Library (photo by Mary Bakija)

The first thing you see when you enter the Cortelyou Library is the information desk. A librarian sits there, and if you make eye contact, she’ll smile and say hello. Many of those who entered on the day I was there, both children and adults, knew her. “I passed!” reported one teen, and the librarian gave the thumbs-up sign, while telling another, “I haven’t seen you in a while!” Other patrons either passed the desk quietly, or stopped with specific questions. It was a cool fall day, around the time the elementary school next door and the middle school down the street had ended classes for the day, and the librarian was constantly fielding questions.

“How does she get a library card?” one guardian asked, nudging the girl at her side, before accepting a form to fill out.

“When is storytime?” another guardian asked, in a thick Russian accent. The bilingual storytime wasn’t for a little while, so the family of five headed out, saying they’d return.

“Where’s the bathroom?” asked another guardian, shepherding her child in the direction the librarian pointed.

Where To Checkout?

Directly to the left upon entering is another highly used area: the self-checkout machines. People who came in knowing which book they wanted walked right up to one to use it to search. Others checked out after browsing a bit, or after picking up their book from the holds shelf nearby. Some popped in, renewed, popped out. A class of about a dozen pre-K aged children stood in line to check out books with their teacher at one of the self-checkout kiosks. The teacher had a bag full of the kids’ library cards and helped each child check out one or two picture books, which went fairly smoothly. (Putting coats back on didn’t go quite as well. The “flipping method” requires some finesse and experience, it seems. And then Max forgot his hat.) The teacher reminded the kids: “Keep the paper slip with the book, because that tells you when you have to bring it back.”

It’s interesting to see the information desk and the self-checkout stations so close to each other. It’s common to every branch of the Brooklyn Public Library that I’ve visited, and I have seen how useful it can be. During this observation, the librarian at the info desk spent several minutes recommending a book comparable to Nathan Hale’s series to a mother and her son, at which point a few people wanted to check out books. Rather than wait, they saw the self-checkout kiosks were available, and they used those. However, people also used them when no patrons were at the info desk. It was a little sad to see people actively avoiding that human interaction; the alternative view, of course, is that they might find self checkout to be more efficient, faster, or even a more private way to access information.

Where To Sit?

A nice piece of design in this branch is that there are two separate areas with computers: one for adults, and one for children in the children’s area. Several kids coming in after school raced to the computers, working together on projects and playing games. Adults were also busy at their computers — the entire time I was at the library, every computer in the adult section was occupied, and patrons were often waiting their turn for a computer to become available. Because both computer sections are surrounded by bookshelves, as patrons young and old waited for a chance to use a computer, they also interacted with the physical collection, browsing titles and picking up books.

The most apparent constraint of this branch is its small size. Though this was a peak time for the branch, it’s representative of the weekday after-school crowd. According to the library system’s BrooklynStat service, in fiscal year 2018, the branch recorded 198,901 visits, making it the fifth most popular branch in the system. Taking into account Sundays and holidays, the library was open about 300 days during the year, so that’s an average of about 663 people that visited this branch each day. And, at least in its busy times, you can really feel that. It’s bustling and vibrant, warm and welcoming, convivial and social, and incredibly kid-friendly. By 3:30pm the day I visited, every chair was occupied, and additional children dashed around tables or sat on the floor. The noise had increased — in addition to the general chatter and energy of the crowd, three infants wailed unconsolably for 20 minutes straight — and the space was more comparable to a school cafeteria than to what most people imagine a library to be.

How To Improve

The wide, single-story building was built in 1983. The library doesn’t have stats available online that date back to that time, but we can see some change in the neighborhood by looking at census data. According to the Department of City Planning, the population of Community District 14, where the Cortleyou Library is located, was 143,859 in 1980. By 2010, the population had grown by nearly 17,000 people. The library may have filled the neighborhood needs effectively in the ’80s, but the neighborhood has grown, and perhaps it’s time for the library to grow, as well.

If I were to improve the library in just one way, to accommodate the demand and the various users, I think separate, walled sections would be helpful. During my observation, several adults entered the library, looked around for a seat, observed the hectic atmosphere, and then turned around and left, perhaps to sit in one of the several coffeeshops on Cortelyou Road instead. If the spaces for children and for adults were separated, it would impact the energy and sociability of the library — I for one wouldn’t have made a new kindergartener friend, who shared facts from the non-fiction book she’d just read about glass. But it would be nice to have a dedicated, quieter space, where adults (and children) could enjoy a bit of peace. I’d add a few comfortable chairs in there, too, as all those currently in the library are firm plastic seats at tables.

Public Service

Though not exactly the “street-level bureaucrats” described by Michael Lipsky in his paper Toward a Theory of Street-Level Bureaucracy (because the Brooklyn Public Library is not run by the government, but is a nonprofit organization that receives funds from a number of sources, which does include local, state, and federal governments), Lipsky’s descriptions felt like they’d come alive here in some ways. Librarians represent a larger organization, and certainly some people who don’t know exactly where the library’s funding comes from may not distinguish the library from a government agency. And as shown above, librarians interact with citizens extensively.

“The potential impact on citizens with whom [a street-level bureaucrat] deals is fairly extensive,” Lipsky wrote. At the library, that couldn’t be more true. I saw it in action, quite positively, throughout the afternoon, as librarians and support staff assisted patrons with all sorts of requests, tirelessly fielding repeated, similar questions without irritation.

The physical and psychological threats Lipsky outlines are also a possibility at the library. There is certainly a psychic toll on everyone working, from the librarian who was trying to settle down a man who was yelling, to the security guard who reminded a girl about some of the responsibilities she has for her younger brother, to the volunteer who shelved books near the hysterical infants. And every single one of them worked with patience. It’s exhausting to be “on” like that all the time. But for the right person, like the librarian I saw at work that day, and with the right training and support, it might be easier to see it not as exhausting, but rather as rewarding.

Posted on by Mary Bakija 0

Observing the Eastchester Public Library Children’s Room

When I walked into the Eastchester Library children’s room in November, I was immediately welcomed by none other than Olaf, the snowman from Frozen. On the day of my visit, he was dressed as a turkey as part of a gratitude-themed Thanksgiving display on the inside of the opened front door (if you’re wondering, Olaf is thankful for Anna, Elsa, and warm hugs). Curious George, Yoda, Raggedy Ann, and others joined him to dance on the walls and welcome children into a space where everything is joyful, warm, and familiar. Many of the characters have been drawn or painted by the librarians themselves, whose extraordinary talents bring the characters alive.

Room by Room

Decorations like these are what make a children’s room just that: a space for children to feel at home. In fact, the three connected rooms that make up the children’s library are more residential-looking than they are institutional. The front room, through which you enter, contained the books for all the youngest readers (up to third grade) and the reference desk, as well as a small seating area near the picture books. Unfortunately, though, directly in front of me was a fireplace that stood right in the middle of the room across from the reference desk. It blocked the librarians’ view of what was happening in the seating area, which at the time included two toddlers jumping up and down on the couch. The librarian reprimanded them, but only after she was asked to do so by a concerned parent.

Through two wide doorways lay the second room, which housed nonfiction and fiction (third through fifth grade). This room also had a computer station with three computers that were blocked from the librarians’ view by a wall. The computers were unobtrusive and had no extra games or programs for the kids other than what can be accessed through the internet and ABCMouse. A quick peek at the nonfiction books revealed less than fifteen titles on technology as well. Clearly, then, digital literacy and digital information skills weren’t part of the library’s main educational focus.

The last room was a playroom containing large wooden tables, a LEGO area, and stuffed animals galore. Restricting the toys to this one space made sense for keeping the louder playing children separate from the others who wanted to read or ask questions of the librarians in the other room. The day that I visited, a cereal box stick puppet craft was held in the playroom on the big tables. The room was overcrowded and many children had to wait for others to finish before they could start on the craft. This was frustrating for the smaller children with little patience. Perhaps moving furniture, adding tables, or capping attendance would solve this problem: it would of course be better to do the former two, so as to not let the space constrain the library’s abilities to serve the community, but this may not be possible.

Suggestions for Improvement

Overall, I felt that the library’s set-up was efficient though old-fashioned in its deprioritizing of its digital aspects. Considering the great number of toddlers and elementary schoolers who use technology today, it’s important to teach them safe habits. However, this set-up does encourage stepping away from the screen, which is beneficial for children so young. My main suggestions for improving the library’s design would then be physical first: removing the fireplace in the center of the room (the librarians told me this hasn’t been done because of budget issues) and the wall blocking the librarians’ view of the computers would make it easier for the librarians to supervise what’s going on in all the different parts of the room if they’re at the reference desk.

Speaking of the reference desk, I found myself considering the movement to abolish the reference desk entirely (Luo, 2017). The desk can be seen from the hallway outside the children’s room and therefore easy to find. In the three hours of my observation, which were mostly after-school hours on a Tuesday, fifteen people came to ask questions, including one older man who was lost and needed help finding the adult history section. While I have read about this mostly in the context of academic libraries, I noticed that some of the shyer children had trouble approaching the monolithic desk to ask for help. However, it’s possible that roving reference paired with a smaller desk (as this was the main workstation for the librarians, it would be hard to eliminate altogether) may be less intimidating.

Though not perfect, I enjoyed my trip to the Eastchester Library Children’s Room in Westchester, NY. It may not have been the most modern of places, but it was clearly well loved by its patrons and I hope to return someday.

References:

Luo, Lili (2017). Models of Reference Services. In Linda C. Smith and Melinda Wong (Eds.), Reference and Information Services: An Introduction (155-178). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Posted on by Gina Elbert 0

Lorena Gauthereau Digital Dialogue: “Elaborating a (Digital) Methodology of the Oppressed in US Latina/o Digital Humanities”

In September, CUNY Graduate College hosted a livestream event featuring a lecture from Lorena Gauthereau, CLIR-Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage (Recovery) at the University of Houston, that focused on colonialism’s influence on digital humanities and archives – particularly when analyzing Latinx digital humanities in the US – and ways that this influence can be deconstructed through the use of digital tools and methods. The event was held at the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) as part of their Digital Dialogues series.

Throughout her lecture, Gauthereau observed that “archives have historically functioned as a tool of colonialism” and outlined the ubiquity of colonialist practices in archival institutions. In her work at Recovery, she finds that digital technology can be a way to restructure the framework in which archives have traditionally operated to give archival and custodial control back to the people whose lived experiences are supposed to be represented in an archive. While she says the definition of “digital humanities” varies (she suggests checking out What is Digital Humanities?, a humorous site that yields a different definition every time the page is refreshed), “the use of digital tools to analyze or visualize humanities projects” or “the intersection of the humanities with computers” could both be sufficient.

Gauthereau presenting at Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH).

Through the use of decolonial and postcolonial theories, Gauthereau says that we must always approach “the digital with a critical eye” in order to restructure the frameworks of digital humanities to center the lived experiences of people who are not being represented or are being misrepresented. While decolonial methods are “approaches to coloniality (the underlying colonial structures that continue to exist even today) that try to de-link from colonial epistemologies and ontologies,” postcolonial methods “look at the big picture” of colonialism and the impact it still has today. Put another way, she says, decolonial theory stems from postcolonial theory, where postcolonial theory operates on a macro-level approach to the structures of colonialism, and decolonial theory operates on a micro level.

For any information professional, constantly considering the cultural legacy of colonialism is extremely important in our work. In order to avoid appropriation, erasure, or misrepresentation, we must be sensitive to the cultural differences and lived experiences of people whose communities have been exploited by colonialism.

As Amanda Stevens writes in A Different Way of Knowing: Tools and Strategies for Managing Indigenous Knowledge, information professionals can and should make sure that managing indigenous knowledge is useful for the community itself by serving as a resource and involving people from that community in the managing process:

Although projects to preserve indigenous knowledge must be driven by indigenous communities and serve an immediate benefit to the communities, libraries and information professionals can play an important role in assisting with the management of indigenous knowledge. In partnership with these communities, institutions such as libraries, museums and universities, can provide valuable resources and expertise for collection, organization, storage and retrieval of information. In fact, some institutions are already in possession of indigenous materials that they are repatriating or trying to make accessible to indigenous communities and others are working in cooperation with indigenous communities to establish collections (Stevens, 2008, p. 27-28).

Stevens also notes that there is no one way to help manage indigenous knowledge, as specific needs and acceptable methods vary across communities (Stevens, 2008, p. 28).

This can be applied to digital archival projects as well. Gauthereau gave examples of a few projects that show how digital platforms can be used to give power back to people and serve as places of reclamation.

“Decolonial digital projects do tell stories of pain,” she says, “but above all, they can tell stories of community, celebration, and survival.” 

When discussing Latinx digital humanities online, Gauthereau encourages people to use the hashtag #USLDH.

Works cited:

  1. Stevens, A. (2008). A Different Way of Knowing: Tools and Strategies for Managing Indigenous Knowledge. Halifax, Canada: School of Information Management, Dalhousie University.
Posted on by Drew Stanley 0

Event Attendance: Tour of the Green-Wood Cemetery, 11/2

Introduction

The Green-Wood Cemetery is a historic landmark located in Green-Wood Heights in Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 1838 as a non-sectarian Christian burial site, the cemetery stretches a monumental 478 acres and houses over 560,000 permanent residents. Famous New Yorkers buried there include Leonard Bernstein, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and William ‘Boss’ Tweed. It is also home to approximately 3300 Civil War veterans. I paid the cemetery a visit on the morning of November 2. Later that afternoon, I and a few other students from Pratt’s SAA chapter were privileged to a tour of the cemetery grounds by Green-Wood’s historian Jeff Richman and its records and archival collection by archivist Anthony Cucciara.

The cemetery as a site of information

There is no shortage of information one can find at the at Green-Wood. It prides itself in being not just a cemetery but also a park, an arboretum, a sculpture garden, and a cultural institution where visitors can learn about New York’s history. The cemetery hosts variously themed historical tours, as well as exhibits, lectures, and symposiums on topics revolving around death and the macabre.

The cemetery is exceptionally beautiful during the fall

No institution can survive in the present age without embracing digital technology. Green-Wood goes above and beyond in taking advantage of technology to provide information. An example of this is their meticulous documentation of the various wildlife found on its grounds. Over 8000 trees and shrubs decorate the cemetery, with new species being acquired and planted (under the supervision of Director of Horticulture Joseph Charap) to this day. In addition to having placards attached to each tree identifying their respective species, an app was launched in 2011 that includes a digital inventory and map of every tree planted in the cemetery.

Another example of the cemetery’s use of digital technology is its grave search system. If one wishes to locate a specific person buried at the cemetery, one can simply look them up on Green-Wood’s website and be provided with their burial date as well as lot, section, and grave numbers. One can then locate the lot number to its address using Green-Wood’s comprehensive map. Interactive kiosks can also be used at the visitor center as well as the mausoleums on site to locate a person’s burial place.

On the tour, resident historian Jeff Richman regaled us with stories concerning the cemetery’s illustrious residents, including Rose Guarino—who was rumored to be assassinated by a mafia family but was in reality shot to death along with a servant girl (Annie Tarello) by a male caretaker (Pietro Silverio).

The elegiac Merello Volta is a monument to the deaths of Rose Guarino and Annie Tarello

The cemetery as an archive

After a tour of the cemetery grounds, archivist Anthony Cucciara took us to the administrative offices to give us a look at the cemetery’s archives. Green-Wood’s collection of artifacts consists of artwork made by its residents, photographs, personal belongings and correspondences, as well as published books. The collection is in the process of being digitized and can be browsed online here.

Green-Wood’s records include genealogical charts, family trees, last wills and testaments, death certificates, burial orders, lot records, family correspondence, and affidavit records, as well as architectural blueprints and records of the various day-to-day operations of the cemetery. Volunteers and interns can be found at work preserving and re-housing those documents. A database for these records with finding aids can be found here.

The administration offices are lined wall to wall with paintings made by residents of the cemetery

Reflections

The Green-Wood Cemetery proves itself to be a valuable institution not just because of its basic utility as a burial place but also as a historical and cultural site with educative capabilities. Its archive paints a beautiful and rich picture of the unique history of New York. But as Rilke reminds us in his Duino Elegies, underneath beauty is always terror. Green-Wood exemplifies this not just in the obvious way (it’s a cemetery) but also in the way it belies a sharp class dynamic that was present at the time of its founding (and, we should add, no less present now). In Archives, Records, and Power: The Making of Modern Memory, Schwartz and Cook write, “…archives are established by the powerful to protect or enhance their position in society. Through archives, the past is controlled. Certain stories are privileged and others marginalized.” The largest and most ornate monuments in the cemetery tend to be the subjects of tours, but they also tend to belong exclusively to wealthy families. Thus, the stories of the poor and working class, who often cannot afford a proper burial let alone a monument, are not often told to the public.

At the same time, the cemetery also has the power to recover the previously lost stories of the disenfranchised. An example of this is the mass grave and memorial for 103 people who died in the Brooklyn Theater Fire of 1878. The bodies buried there belonged to those who could not be identified or whose families could not afford a proper grave. But in a blog post entitled Putting a Face on a Tragedy , Jeff Richman was able to put a name and face to one of the buried through historical investigation—Donny Rose.

Preservers of memory are not predestined to always mimic power. They can serve as resistance to power precisely by making its presence known and relating the stories of its victims.

Posted on by Raymond Lei 0

Disrupting the Art World Through Digital Access (And A Lot of Money)

An artist explaining her video projection

This past Tuesday I attended a salon for a museum non-profit called The Current. The salon, which occurs at the founder’s loft quarterly, is meant ostensibly to close the gap between artist and collector by providing a relaxed social setting (shoes off!) against a backdrop of visual and interactive artworks in the museum’s small but growing collection.

The mission of The Current is steeped aggressively in opening access to their collection. For a not-insignificant amount of money, one purchases a membership to The Current, which provides access to a USB Drive that contains the museum’s entire collection, digitized. The member can then share the collection where ever they go. In the founder’s own home, for example, the salon displayed five selected works from artists in attendance via a projector.

Perhaps most important, however, is the intangible benefit of membership to The Current, which is a vote in each discussion surrounding the direction of the museum. Members vote on which works to bring into the collection, as well as details surrounding future events and salons. On this night, the museum announced proudly that they planned to move into a permanent brick and mortar space in the neighborhood, a move that I assume was burnished by a members vote.

It was this emphasis on a sort of direct democracy (along with wine and cheese) that drew me into attending this salon.

Screenshot of the event page

In a welcome toast, the Director made sure to note all of the technologists among its members. I’d spoken with an architect for the City of New York as well as an art collector at the salon by this point. Hearing an emphasis on technologists signaled to me where the money was coming from. This makes sense. The founder of The Current, William Nathan, got his start with Buzzfeed where he coded native advertising and analytical tools for cat video editors. He then founded an interior design startup before landing on The Current, becoming its primary financial provider.

With this context, The Current feels more like a startup than a proper museum. The crowd, which leaned young, affluent, and materially-interested, reflected a strong tech background. I met a guy who’d just gotten his first job out of undergrad coding for a major bank. Another young man who’d purchased a membership that night celebrated his new status by chest-bumping his friend and taking selfies during an artist talk about the video messaging platform Chat Roulette.

There is an element in The Current‘s messaging that implies that this museum exists to disrupt the existing museum infrastructure. On the museum’s landing page in large text laid over a VR piece in the collection, the website informs visitors, “The Current is a non-profit museum with radically participatory patronage.”

The art on display reflected this instinct. There was a piece made for VR in which the user goes through wormholes, for some reason. Another projected piece featured a loop of the artist waxing lyrical on the existential crises of being too connected on social media. Yet another piece was the artist, itself—that is, the artist was a virtual avatar projected on a brick wall. The person who wrote the code to create and project the avatar was not on site. One artist that I found interesting was an Iranian woman who saved, digitally scanned, and 3D-printed cultural artifacts that were targeted for destruction by ISIS.

A 3D-printed bust

But for the most part I walked through the event wondering, why?

As an information professional with a background in tech in public libraries, I was interested to see how a museum, another cultural institution, was utilizing new technologies. In my previous position as a library assistant in the TechCentral department at the Cleveland Public Library, we had access to a number of VR machines and 3D Printers, which we would roll out to the public for open community events, not unlike the salon. As staff, we were tasked to provide context for these new machines for a public that was unfamiliar with the technologies.

After three years of working in TechCentral with these fabrication technologies, our staff still had not landed on a framework around which we would showcase the tech. We would more or less roll out the machines for the public to use, and explain how the tech worked. Beyond that there was no active learning. They were effectively toys.

The writer interacting with art

I encountered a similar attitude among the artists and collectors at the salon. Beyond establishing that, yes, this new tech is cool and interesting, I couldn’t quite find a reason for it all. The same questions remained. How can VR function in the context of art in a museum, or in the context of informing the public at a library? What is a practical reason for a public library to demonstrate VR? The most clear explanation came from the Iranian woman preserving cultural artifacts. It’s a shame she was an outlier.

In a cultural institution, I like having context for learning and for art. I lose interest when something is put on display without so much of an explanation. My experience at the salon was not unlike my time in TechCentral. There’s all this new technology, but to what end? As an information professional, I think about this—why does a cultural institution house new tech if it’s funders or patrons can’t contextualize them?

My career goal is to find a way to contextualize new tech in a way that makes sense for my patron population. If the creators can’t do that, then who can?

 

Posted on by Paolo Balboa 0

NY Art Book Fair 2018 – Event Review

I attended the MoMA PS1’s Art Book Fair on September 21st for my INFO 601-04 event review. While museums are often male and white-centric spaces, the Art Book Fair showcases voices in art and publishing who are often marginalized with one of the most important contemporary art museums as the backdrop. The Art Book Fair is hosted by Printed Matters, a non-profit publishing house who features zines, artists books, posters, and out-of-print material in their repertoire. Although Printed Matters is the headlining host, it is only one of nearly 365 exhibitors which includes small independent publishers, artists, collectives, and illustrators. The Art Book Fair is an event I look forward to every year, and is one of the only major art events that is free and open to the public. As I attended on the first official day, the entire Fair seemed to be buzzing with excitement for the weekend ahead. The tents and galleries were filled with attendees and exhibitors engaging in conversation.  

 

Brochure listing exhibitors

One of my favorite parts of this year’s event was the selection of fair-specific installations. These exhibitions included promotional displays for galleries and presentations of historical materials. In many cases, these exhibitions included space to purchase books and other promotional materials of the artists, publishers, and galleries, but mainly these were traditional gallery spaces.  

One of my favorite installations was a History of Zines!. This was an exhibition detailing the historical background of zines started with underground cultural and science-fictions publications from the 1920s and continued until present-day. The present-day zines were made specifically for the Fair. Zines have long been the format used by counter-cultural movements, including feminist activists, indigenous groups, punk movements, persons of color,  etc. Cheap and easily reproduced, zines have become the main format activists have chosen to relay their messages. I’m glad the fair decided to highlight the history behind zines as many of the exhibitors featured continue to use the zine format to showcase their work. In fact, the Art Fair’s biggest tent is dubbed the Zine Tent as many prominent art collectives and zine creators exhibit in this space.

History of Zines! exhibition area

Another installation I found very compelling was hosted by Martos Gallery which included selected works and notebooks of the artist Dan Asher. Martos Gallery photocopied Asher’s notebooks and made the pages into floor-to-ceiling wallpaper. Many visitors, myself included, spent an extended period of time pouring each page. Asher’s notebooks included diary entries, addresses of clients and friends, musings, and plans for future pieces. This was an interesting way to exhibit archival materials side-by-side with finished art pieces, giving a glimpse into the process of the artist. This was a great choice in the context of the Art Fair, where visitors can speak to the artists and collectives who create work they enjoy in-person.     

 Notebook wallpaper from Martos Gallery exhibit

Events like the Art Book Fair are important, because they allow for the “knowledge and particular needs of communities” to be illustrated and exhibited in contexts or environments traditionally barred to them (Stevens, 2008). It gives MoMA PS1 an opportunity to be actively engaged with queer, POC,  and indigenous communities, and taking the museum off its pedestal. The Art Fair is a necessary step in ushering in more inclusive and intersectional art spaces where all voices feel welcomed and represented.

Conclusions

As an information professional who is interested in creating accessible museum spaces, I believe engaging in the Art Fair is the first step towards creating a more inclusive information community.  I think it is also important to urge other information professionals (librarians, curators, archivists) to also attend this event for themselves. I will try to make a conscious effort to seek out similarly inclusive art, publishing, and information events in the future as I gain more footing in my own information profession.   

Posted on by Grace Poole 0

Innovative Practices in Academic Libraries

On Friday, September 28, 2018, I attended an event entitled Innovative Practices in Academic Libraries, hosted by the Greater New York Metropolitan Area Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRLNY). Presenters reported on initiatives or studies in their respective institutions intended to increase engagement of staff and students or consider little-explored research angles. Since I am considering a career in academic libraries, I was curious to hear current professionals in the field describe the impact these innovations had in their institutions.

 

Using Slack to Improve Staff Engagement – Matthew Pavlick and Lauren DeVoe, Columbia University Libraries

Pavlick and DeVoe described the benefits and challenges of implementing the instant messaging program Slack among staff in their department. In discussing their reasons doing this, they described the lack of communication among different areas of the department before the introduction of this service, which created silos of information. In introducing Slack, Pavlick and DeVoe wanted to increase staff engagement and communication, encourage creativity collaboration, and streamline processes. Slack provides the flexibility to have individual as well as group conversations, and allows for the creation of different “channels,” that is to say, labeled threads of conversation kept separate from one another. Slack conversations are also fully searchable to allow for later information retrieval. The informal nature of Slack made it so that employees didn’t have to interrupt their workflow by physically getting up to ask a question, where they might then be worried about interrupting their colleague’s own workflow.

Although Pavlick and DeVoe described a largely positive experience in implementing Slack, they did mention that accessibility challenges may arise, wherein certain staff members, especially older people, may have trouble adopting this new technology. Others may simply be resistant to it because they don’t want to be burdened further additional forms of communication. Pavlick and DeVoe chose to make implementation of Slack optional for members of their department, but they would like at some point to make it mandatory and expand its use to their entire division.

Slide from Pavlick and Devoe's presentation (via ACRLNY event archives)
Slide from Matthew Pavlick and Lauren Devoe’s presentation (via ACRLNY event archives)

 

Augmented Reality Library Orientation: Planning the “Case of the Missing Laptop” Scavenger Hunt – Samantha Kannegiser and Bill McNelis, Berkeley College

Kannegiser and McNelis related that, since Berkeley College has two campuses several blocks from each other in Manhattan, each with its own library, students are often unaware of or not taking advantage of the unique offerings of both libraries. Additionally, they mentioned the concept of library anxiety, which might keep students from exploring potentially valuable resources, and the fact that some students are first-generation college attendees and may not know about library resources in general. For these reasons, they felt that, as part of student orientation, they needed a way to showcase and explain library resources without having to take students from building to building themselves. Before the introduction of this augmented reality library orientation, library staff had been present at the general orientation, and students had to participate in a mandatory class that gave information on all of the libraries in each of the eight Berkeley campuses, but there was no dedicated orientation activity taking place inside the actual Manhattan libraries.

Kannegiser and McNelis decided on an augmented reality library orientation in the format of a scavenger hunt. They came up with a storyline about a missing laptop that the students needed to find using augmented reality clues. Each clue would take them to a different location in the libraries, where they would scan a “trigger image” using the HP Reveal augmented reality app to enable an informational video to play. The video would describe the resources at that location and provide clues for the next step of the hunt. This new form of library orientation has not yet been implemented in a widespread manner, but Kannegiser and McNelis hope that it will provide a fun alternate way to impart knowledge about each library’s resources.

Augmented Reality orientation brochure
Augmented Reality orientation brochure (scanned from copy distributed by Samantha Kannegiser and Bill Mcnelis)

 

Marginalia, Value and Meaning: a Study – Richard Mako, Queensborough Community College, CUNY

As part of his research, Mako decided to study the marginalia created in books belonging to the library at his institution. While the marginalia of famous people are often studied at great length, people don’t usually consider the meaning behind the marginalia of “regular” people. Mako decided to focus on the fiction section at his library, choosing ten books at random to analyze. He tallied instances of different types of marginalia in each book, including writing words or phrases, underlining, highlighting, encircling or boxing, and other symbols. He stated that he found a total of 2,963 instances of marginalia in these ten books, with 536 different symbols. Mako discussed the potential meaning behind these marginalia, and the possible motivations of students in making these notations, especially knowing they would have to return these library books.

While I found this presentation intriguing, I found it curious that Mako did not once mention the ethical or moral aspects of defacing library books in this way. While he discussed students’ motivations in making certain kinds of markings, he did not mention their motivations or thought processes in choosing to write in library books to such an extent as to interfere with other patrons’ reading experiences. I did bring this up during the question and answer period, but another event attendee disagreed with me, saying that she liked how Mako presented his findings in a manner divorced from ethical implications and more as one might study an art piece.

marginalia slide
Slide from Richard Mako’s presentation (scanned from copy distributed during event)

 

Conclusions

Overall, I found these presentations to be valuable contributions to the field of academic libraries. The presentations on Slack and library orientations provided ideas on how to energize and empower both staff and students in the library environment. The final presentation highlighted (no pun intended) the issue of how students use libraries and library materials. While I am not yet sure whether I will enter the academic library field after graduation, with these thought-provoking presentations in mind, I will be keeping an eye out for future ACRL events.

Posted on by Alicia Hyman 0

Metadata for All Initiative – Event Review

Metadata for All!

I attended “NYC Open Data’s Metadata for All Initiative: Project Presentation” hosted by the Metropolitan Library Council on September 25th for my event review for INFO 601-04. This event presented the Metadata for All Initiative’s results after six months of working with New York City Open Data. The Sloan Foundation  sponsored the project, which was completed in partnership with the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, METRO, Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics, NYC Open Data Team, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn Public Library, Queens Public Library, New York Public Library and Tiny Panther Consulting.

The initiative aimed to help make New York City’s Open Data, which includes more than 2,100 datasets, more accessible to general users through the improvement of metadata standards. Tiny Panther Consulting, a team of data librarians founded by Julia Marden, was brought on board to do a pilot study on how to make the top 100 used datasets more user-friendly. They studied this through discussions with relevant governmental departments, workshops in all five boroughs and the creation of templates for certain metadata documents.

Metadata Improvements

In order to best assess the current metadata quality, Tiny Panther created a dataset documentation checklist. (This was provided as a handout for the audience.) The checklist contained a rubric that verified the overall usability, user guide, and data dictionary. The goal was to determine if a user would be able to understand what was in the dataset, and maybe more importantly was is not in it.

The data dictionaries function like a Rosetta Stones for the dataset and are required for users to understand what is actually in each dataset – for example what all of the rows and columns mean. However currently only 90% of the datasets had a dictionary, and there wasn’t a standard template for them, so they are of varying quality.

In addition to improving the data dictionaries Tiny Panther recommended the creation of user guides tailored to each dataset. These guides would provide a context for the data, let you know when it was last modified, clarify what which data was raw or added by the city, in addition to many other factors. Tiny Panther found that many of the documents associated with datasets used inside lingo that would not be comprehensible to user who were not employed within the departments that created the dataset. The three proposed user guides were provided as handouts as well.

Audience

The most successful aspect of this event wasn’t directly about the initiative. What made this event most noteworthy was its audience. The event was not directed towards librarians and information professionals, who probably already buy into the idea of accessible metadata. About half of the audience was comprised of government workers. (This is based on a show of hands conducted early in the presentation.) These are the professionals who create and maintain the datasets, and did not necessarily have a background in information studies. It was very impactful to hear their points of view. A few members of the panel were representatives of departments Tiny Panther worked with, and discussed their impressions of the challenges around the project. The audience was given an opportunity to ask questions about the project as well.

The only way the metadata standards can be maintained across all of the datasets is if they understand why it is important. They are the ones that will be doing this extra work, on top of everything else they are responsible for. It is not as if each department has a data librarian whose sole role is to maintain their open data. Although there is probably enough work to do that it could be a full-time job! I think the presentation was accessible to them, and hopefully demonstrated the power and utility of comprehensive metadata.

Conclusion

I will be keeping tabs on NYC Open Data, checking what the metadata looks like, as well as the actual data, over the next few ‘data dumps’ to see how their metadata evolves. Open data is a very exciting tool for civic engagement, but only if users can understand what the data are actually telling them.

Posted on by Claudia Berger Image 0