For Module 6 – Hyperlinked Environments & Issues we got to “choose our own adventure” to learn more about a specific topic. I purposely chose to focus my studies on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ChatGTP because I have made a consorted effort to avoid these things in the past because they make me feel uncomfortable. I figured it would be best to “bite the bullet” and start learning more about it!
I think the reason I have avoided these two things is that I am avoiding change, and I also don’t like to jump on board with the popular “thing.” It’s more about being stubborn than anything. I am also very skeptical about this technology and the abuse of it in the educational world. But the logically thinking and reasoning person inside of me knows I need to get over this and adapt it to my world. This module was a great excuse to do this. This was definitely not the “safe” and “easy” topic choice for me!
Today I was struggling with understanding a topic and assignment for a certain class, so I finally gave in and asked ChatGTP about it. It actually helped me better understand the topic and I then had more skills to find the answers I needed within the class text and lectures. This gave me a real-life experience on how this technology can be a great tool, if used wisely.
A lot of what I have done for the first part of my week for school has revolved around doing the reading for “Module 5: Hyperlinked Community” and starting to do research for my final research paper topic for my “INFO285-Historical Research Methods” class. My tentative topic is The WPA Pack Horse Library Project which took place during the Great Depression. The Pack Horse Library Project was started to give access to books to people living in the Appalachian Mountains in Kentucky. Most of these places were only reachable by horseback and so this program began to connect this isolated community to the rest of the world and each other (Pack Horse Library Project, 2024)!
The librarians would bring books, but they also created scrapbooks that included things like sewing patterns and recipes. The items for these scrapbooks would sometimes be contributed by members of the community or from findings by the librarian. People would then check these scrapbooks out. This was just a small portion of what the Pack Horse Librarian did (Vance, 2012).
The reason I brought this up was the connection I could see between this time in history and what is being delved into by this class. The Pack Horse Librarian was creating her own “Hyperlinked Community.” Before technology, communities found alternate ways to connect and interact. Throughout history, the library and the librarian have adapted to their communities needs and gave connection to people that might not have had it otherwise. That is a pretty amazing thing…
Vance, J. (2012). Librarians as authors, editors, and self-publishers: The information culture of the Kentucky Pack Horse Library scrapbooks (1936–1943). Library & Information History, 28(4), 289–308. https://doi.org/10.1179/1758348912z.00000000020
“Self-service libraries provide a quiet, round-the-clock reading space for their users and have transformed libraries’ service model from one of ‘users waiting for library services’ to one of ‘library waiting to service users’” (Zhang, Y. et al., 2022).
“Staff-less library”/ “self-service library” / “unmanned library” there are many different names to identify libraries that now offer self-service hours that let patron access a library after normal service hours. This comes in a couple different forms: The first is access using your library card to the whole library after hours and the second is kiosks that let you do limited library tasks. This has been a service in many European and Asian countries for a long time. This is a new endeavor for libraries in the United States. The first library testing out this service in the US was Gwinnett County Public Library (a part of suburban Atlanta, GA) in 2016 and since then (and especially influenced by the pandemic) more and more libraries across the country are implementing this new service (Bibliotheca, 2021).
Check out this video from Gwinnett County Public Libraries about their experience with this program:
This program is often controversial because some community members are worried about safety for staff and patrons in an empty building. Last year, there was a fight in a Canadian Library when the library was pushing to implement this offering. Some of the negative viewpoints are of the possible reduction of jobs/job security and safety issues mentioned above (Fullerton, 2023). Many libraries that have implemented these programs claim that it is not to reduce employees or open hours, but to create more access for patrons at a lower cost. Time will tell how this will ultimately impact library employees.
Locally, in Woodland, CA at Woodland Library (which is part of the Santa Clara County Library District), they are offering after-hours access using “Open+” in a service called “Open Access”. Woodland Library is the smallest branch in the district, and the only one with limited hours. This gives their community more access to the library (Morgan 2024). Another local library is testing out this service at the Village Square Branch Library of the San Jose Public Library in San Jose, CA (Open+ Library Access, n.d.).
“Open+” from the company called Bibliotheca is the service used widely for this library feature. “Open+” and Bibliotheca offer software, hardware, and physical setup assistance to implement the self-service features for libraries. There is a larger up-front cost, but yearly it is substantially more cost effective then increasing regular staffed open hours of the library (Bibliotheca, 2018; Hendra, 2021).
Check out this video from Bibliotheca on how “Open+” works:
As a future information professional, I think that having this alternate access for patrons is amazing! It feels like the “future” to be able to use self-service capabilities and visit the library with no physical monitoring. Rather than have very limited hours this feature gives patron’s access to books, technology, and a safe space more extensively. This seems like it should put less stress on staff during open hours and incentivize more people to utilize the library who previously could not make the open hours. This is about listening and accommodating the local population’s needs.
Zhang, Y., Chiu, D. K. W., Jiang, T., & Ho, K. K. W. (2022). Patrons’ satisfaction with self-service public libraries: A demographic study. Library Quarterly, 92(2), 188–206. https://doi-org.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/10.1086/718604
