In This Issue

Jump to Page

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

Audio version

2015 ANNUAL HIGHLIGHTS ISSUE COGNOTES • 5

The Library and Information Technology Association Presents Awards

LITA members received awards and were treated to an informative speaker during the LITA Awards Presentation and President's Program on Sunday.

During the event:

The Library Hi Tech Award was presented to David Walker for outstanding communication in library and information technology.

EX Libris Student Writing Award was presented to Heather Terrell for “Reference is dead, long live reference; electronic collections in the digital age.”

The Frederick G. Kilgour Award was presented to Ed Summers for research in library and information technology.

Following the awards, the President's Program featured Lou Rosenfeld, founder of Rosenfeld Media, which publishes materials and produces events on user experience (UX) and coaches and trains user experience teams. Rosenfeld has also co-authored many books including Information Architecture for the World Wide Web; co-founded the Information Architecture Institute and the Information Architecture Summit and Enterprise UX conferences; was a former columnist for Internet World, CIO and Web Review magazines; and has aided many large enterprises in making their information more visible through independent consulting.

Rosenfeld answered numerous questions during the Q&A session facilitated by Rachel Vacek, LITA president, about user experience. He started the session by stating that UX librarians require many skills, but they can't do everything. All librarians have a basic understanding of user experience through cataloging and reference interviews, but UX librarians have the responsibility to make the physical and digital spaces of the library seamless.

Rosenfeld suggested that all libraries can improve their user experience and gave examples of “simple ways to get started.” He suggested starting small; that a librarian can purchase a book and start reading, although he indicated that “learning from a book is not ideal, but it's a place to start” and that all libraries should have more than one user experience librarian.

Vacek asked Rosenfeld his opinion about what librarians are doing well or doing not-so-well and answering hesitantly, he suggested that librarians need to promote themselves more; that they need to tell stories about themselves and the libraries in which they work. Rosenfeld said that technology “should never drive what a library is doing. It is a means to a goal” and suggested that technology shouldn't be front and center in the library — librarians need to create good experiences through technology.


Robots ‘Vincent’ and ‘Nancy’ Interact with Humans

By Robert Manzo, Student to ALA

The audience at the Graphic Novel & Gaming Stage on June 28 found that robots are the not the “next” big disruptive technology; they are the “now” big disruptive technology. That is how Bill Derry, director of innovation, Westport Public Library, Connecticut, described robots before he introduced Vincent and Nancy, two toddler-size robots recently acquired by his library. Unique user groups such as home-schoolers, autistic adults, and teenage girls have engaged eagerly with the two robots. They have proved a successful way to reach out to these ordinarily hard-to-reach groups.

Vincent and Nancy are human in form, with arms, feet, legs, torso, and head, and are manufactured by Aldebaran, a robotics design and manufacturing company based in Paris, France. Alex Giannini, manager of digital experience at Westport Library, helped name the robots. Giannini and Derry explained that Vincent and Nancy are from a proprietary line of Aldebaran robots called “Nao” robots, built about two feet tall, made to be interactive with humans and responsive to questions.

Once purchased, the robots can be programmed to move and talk however the owner desires. Although the underlying programming is written in Python programming code, Aldebaran provides a simple software interface that allows users to create new speech and movement patterns by manipulating a graphic model of the robot on a computer screen. Motion sequences and speech can be saved on a desktop computer, then uploaded to the robot. Therefore, anyone from infants to adults can program the robots.

Attendees of the session went up to the stage and asked him questions, to which he responded. The Aldebaran robots cannot answer just any question, since they have only a limited number of programmed responses. But they will almost always say something if asked, though what they say may not be wholly relevant.

Giannini and Derry unveiled Vincent and Nancy to their community at an event called Star Wars Reads Day on October 11, 2014. They held a contest in which patrons programed a dance, song, or poem in one of the robots, which was won by an elementary-school girl. From October to December 2014, more than 700 people came to Westport Library to see Vincent and Nancy. So far in 2015, there have been more than 1,000 visitors to see the robots. Thanks to an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant, monthly residencies have been made possible, enabling everyone from technicians to schoolchildren to visit Westport Library and experience the robots.

Vincent performed a dance and recited a talk about what he was designed to do. Attendees of the session went up to the stage and asked him questions, to which he responded. The Aldebaran robots cannot answer just any question, since they have only a limited number of programmed responses. But they will almost always say something if asked, though what they say may not be wholly relevant. The Nao line of robots costs in the thousands of dollars to the consumer, a price worth it for the forward-thinking Westport Public Library.