Reflective Blogging- Wild Card: Accessible Technology

Originally I had planned to reflect on the power of stories but I realized I want to address something that has always frustrated me about higher education.

I think it’s pretty cool that students are granted access to archives and databases and journals, and I appreciate all the technology we get to try out and use while we’re students, but what happens when we graduate?

Suddenly those resources are locked behind paywalls or in the case of technology like Adobe products, you’re paying insanely expensive subscription prices AND you’ll be charged a hefty fee for canceling the service if you stop. That’s…not accessibility. That’s actually quite the opposite in my mind- almost predatory to get people used to free systems they will then have to pay (exorbitantly) for later down the line.

In the spirit of my art roots I decided I’m going to provide everyone with some free or low cost alternatives to some of the tech we’re using right now, or will be using. I can’t promise they works exactly the same way some of the industry standard programs do, but they’re accessible and often propped up by communities of like minded people.

I realize the tech industry trying to force their way into the arts probably skews the perception of how artists feel and react to sociopolitical moments like the one we’re in now, but historically times like these produce the most outspoken and counter culture responses in the arts. Sometimes that’s big bombastic movements and sometimes that just means taking care of each other and providing resources when others need them.

For my part today I’m going to show the systems I use to get around “big tech” or at least some of them. Sometimes that means using other big tech in the process but this is about gaining access where it’s indirectly denied, not digging your heels in. I’m a big believer that art and knowledge are the two best tools we have against hate and suppression and both of those things require some modicum of access to resources, so here we go!

This handy chart has been making the rounds in certain circles for years. The one I’m using is by XdanielArt on the site formerly known as Twitter. It gets updated every so often with new programs and this one is pretty comprehensive. It shows mostly Adobe alternatives with a color and shape keys to indicate what programs are free and open source, free of charge, single purchase, and which have subscription options for more functions. You can also see icons showing which systems can operate those programs. For most of us the Ps (Photoshop) alternatives are the most relevant. You can see the programs divided into best use for photography and best use for [digital] painting.

Note: The Ai on this chart is not the same thing as AI. Ai with the lower case “i” is an indicator for Adobe Illustrator.

I’ll plug Clip Studio Paint here. It’s my chosen program and it goes on sale pretty regularly. I got my copy for about $30 and it can do almost everything Photoshop can do. The trick is the layout is different so it has a learning curve. It’s not meant for photo manipulation but you can absolutely use it for most of what we’ll be doing in our classes. There are tons of tutorials online, both from the company and many more from the community. You can also download free assets from the “store” made by other users. Some are paid but most artists don’t charge. It’s an art program first and it feels like it, but you can make it work.

My next suggestion is Readers. Again, adobe is out there but if you need a PDF reader (or frankly most other files) I would suggest Calibre or SumatraPDF. Both programs are free. If you like playing with metadata Claibre is your program. That said, you don’t have to do that. You can just use it to read documents or epub files. The thing is, because of it’s robust capabilities it’s pretty beefy. This is where SumatraPDF shines. It can’t do everything Calibre can do but it’s fast, simple, and it doesn’t take up much space.

Operating systems:

Calibre =Windows, MacOS, Linux, Portable, and possibly support for ios and android but I’m not sure the full extent.

SumatraPDF = Windows exclusive for now (Only one guy maintains the thing so progress takes time)

Supported formats:

Calibre=

Input Formats: AZW, AZW3, AZW4, CBZ, CBR, CB7, CBC, CHM, DJVU, DOCX, EPUB, FB2, FBZ, HTML, HTMLZ, KEPUB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, SNB, TCR, TXT, TXTZ

Output Formats: AZW3, EPUB, DOCX, FB2, HTMLZ, KEPUB, OEB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, PDB, PMLZ, RB, PDF, RTF, SNB, TCR, TXT, TXTZ, ZIP

*Note: Calibre is very useful for file conversion if you can’t do that with any other programs.

SumatraPDF=

Input Formats: PDF, eBook (epub, mobi), comic book (cbz/cbr), DjVu, XPS, CHM, image viewer for Windows.

Output Formats: Unclear, it’s not designed for file conversion but some basics may be possible.

I recommend reading about both programs to see which one fits your needs. Both have resources like manuals and FAQs. In calibre’s case videos and tutorials. You can hit up their Wiki pages if you want more background info.

Audio readers! I’m one of those people who thinks reading is reading, I don’t care how you do it. But more importantly for this post sometimes when you’re exhausted or your brain is bored of one format, switching to another can be the solution. My trick is to listen to articles.

There are programs you can pay for but I use free options. The best one I’ve found (shockingly) is opening your document in Microsoft Edge.

Yeah I know, but it turns out Edge has a really good audio option. You just need to open the document and choose to turn on the audio reader. It’s got a wide variety of voice options, including other languages. They aren’t quite as sharp as AI readers but they’re free and they work. Much better than the old style computer voices from decades past. They do mess up on words and sometimes they’ll read citations etc. but it’s a small thing to deal with.

Steps:

You can see the bar at the top once the reader is on and the voice options off to the right. Clicking this will give you a drop down of voices and you can adjust the speed etc.

Now, if you have Claibre it ALSO has an audio reader. Fewer options than Edge and I found the process kind of hard on my computer, but it’s there and tutorials for making it happen are online already. The thing is, you’ll need to download anything you want it to read. With Edge you can just open the document in the browser. You’ll just have to weigh the pros and cons and consider what your computer can handle.

My final trick is simple. What do you do if you can’t get a document to download or a page won’t let you copy something? Well, you might have the option of a tool on your browser that will copy it for you (I use the screenshot tool on Firefox) but if that isn’t an option or technology is being janky, then what? You can go old school. Use the PRT SC button on your keyboard to take a screen capture or screenshot of your entire screen, toolbar and all. It’s a very basic command but it will do the job. Next after you hit that button you need to open the default paint program that comes with Windows. Mac users I’m sorry I don’t know if this process is similar but there might be a Mac version somewhere.

Okay, once you open paint you hit CTRL (control) and press V to paste the screencap you just took into the program. You need to hold the control button down while pressing V once. Otherwise it will not register as a command.

This is how I made the images of the Edge audio reader instructions. You now have an image of your screen on paint. From here you can drag the image to the top left corner of the screen to cut out any information you don’t need, then you scroll down at click outside the image to adjust the right side. If you don’t click outside of it first you’ll skew the image, which you don’t want. After clicking outside the image you will find a tiny box in the right bottom corner. Hover over it until you see a two way arrow. This is when you drag the corner up and crop the image. Newer paint programs I believe have cropping options so you might not need to do it this way but consider it backup knowledge. From here you can save the image like any other to your computer, with a few different image file options.

I know the instructions sound confusing so I’m going to link to a video I made of myself doing this for an assignment. It should be accessible to everyone signed in with their SJSU email.

Paint Screencap Tutorial

Can you do this with the other programs from the first part of my post? Sure! In fact if you can right click and copy an image you can create a new document in Clip Studio Paint (and many others) from your clipboard which basically fits the dimensions of whatever you copied. Very smooth process. This is for when things aren’t going how you planned. It’s a work around for when all else fails.

That’s it for my most used tips and tricks. There are certainly more but I think these are the most useful for our program. I know this isn’t exactly on topic but if nothing else it’s an example of how I will go about assisting my patrons and my community as an information professional.

Reflective blogging-New Models: Easy Access Cards

For this post I want to highlight a new model that struck me in a particular way.

I love seeing the myriad of different programs being created and enacted by libraries around the world. It gives me so much inspiration for program ideas that I will (hopefully) have the opportunity to create for my own community. Prior to beginning my MLIS journey I did not realize what libraries could do for their communities. I was very stuck in the traditional bubble of “a quiet place to read and/or study”, but seeing the way those stereotypes have been eroded over time really breathes new life into the possibilities of librarianship. It’s that “thinking outside the box” aspect that is continually fueling new ideas and making the impossible seem possible. I see the libraries, both public and academic, in my town and I think to myself, “How could we be doing more?”.

Then I read Mary Rees article, No permanent address? No problem. Berkeley library makes it easier for those without homes to get library cards. It made me take a step back and consider something vital about all of these programs: Who has access.

To be clear I don’t think any of these programs are designed only to cater to certain demographics. In fact I think most are designed explicitly to be as welcoming and inclusive as possible, but when I thought about how I might take a program like Anythink Library or The Kitchen Library and apply that to my own neighborhood, I realized my local libraries would need to expand to include our largely undeserved homeless population.

While everyone in theory can use the library and all of their programs, some even specifically designed to support our homeless citizens, many folks are still othered by their position as a homeless patron. A large part of this is, as Rees points out in the article, their lack of permanent address, which is often one of the necessities to be issued a library card.

“Peterson lives outside and because she doesn’t have a home address she hasn’t been able to get a library card. Instead, to use the computer, she has to go to the Reference Desk for a new numerical code every hour.” (Rees, 2018).

This is troubling. It’s one thing to profess accessibility, inclusion, and equity for patrons but it’s completely different to actually practice it. We can all say nice things but it’s what you do that matters and in this case by virtue of simply not having a permanent address library patrons are being othered, excluded, and essentially punished for using materials that are, in theory, meant to be accessible to everyone in the community.

Berkeley Public Library’s answer to this problem is the Easy Access card, which replaces a regular library card and only requires a photo ID to obtain. This in turn gives regular access to the library and its programs and materials. According to Elliot Warren, director of library services, “The Easy Access Card idea uses a universal design approach that removes any value judgment or need for some institutional authority to approve getting a library card and works for many people under quite varied conditions; homelessness, lack of current documentation, people in transition, teens in foster care, and so on, while also limiting the library’s risk because only three items may be checked out at any given time by people with Easy Access Cards.”

This is a really important step in the right direction for libraries and the communities they serve. Reading about Easy Access cards has led me to consider what else could be worked into a similar system and how my own local libraries could adopt a similar program.

My libraries, for the most part, are small with limited space and resources. This also means limited funding, but having said that I know we have quite a few programs aimed at a variety of demographics from our community. That is, the visible demographics from our community. I will be looking it to our undeserved population because I have a feeling more work could be done there, including a program borrowing from the Berkeley Library system’s Easy Access Cards.

Libraries have so much to give but if not everyone can benefit then we aren’t fully doing our jobs. The mission, as stated by the ALA is “To provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.”

 

It’s the FOR ALL that we need to focus on right along side creating all of these new and exciting ways to benefit patrons, staff, and the larger communities that libraries serve.

______________________________________________________________

References:

Anythink Libraries. (2024). Anythinklibraries.org. https://www.anythinklibraries.org/

Rees, M. (2018, December 3). No permanent address? No problem. Berkeley library makes it easier for those without homes to get library cards. Berkeleyside. https://www.berkeleyside.org/2018/12/03/no-permanent-address-no-problem-berkeley-library-makes-it-easier-for-those-without-homes-to-get-library-cards

The American Library Association. (2008, June 9). Mission & Priorities. About ALA. https://www.ala.org/aboutala/missionpriorities

The Kitchen Library. (2020). The Kitchen Library. https://thekitchenlibrary.ca/

Reflective Blogging – Hyperlinked Environments

I decided to look abroad for inspiration for this blog post and the article on LocHal grabbed my attention right away.

[Photo: Stijn Bollaert/courtesy Civic Architects]
I hadn’t previously considered too much how an abandoned space might be converted into a library or a “third space”, as LocHal has become. The concept introduced here is adaptive reuse. In retrospect it shouldn’t seem like a brand new concept. Most of us are familiar with the idea of reusing spaces or recycling, which is an umbrella this might fall under.

However, I think it’s the commitment to creating a whole new space out of what’s already there and improving on the best features of the space that makes the difference.

When I think of reusing space where I live, that usually means demolition and just more reusing the land than anything else. Or if a building is kept it seems like a lot of effort is put into disguising it’s old purpose. I really like the idea of creating a new space out of an existing one with the intent that the original purpose and features are a boon to be exploited for the benefit of the community around it.

Where I live we have a lot of empty properties that used to be farms or orchards or stables. It’s becoming more modern now but the remnants of that old city are still scattered everywhere. I would love to see something like a stable turned library or maybe one of our historic buildings converted into a space for the community, rather than just sitting empty. I feel hitting the sweet spot between preservation and repurpose would be fantastic. Perhaps along the lines of the Crocker Art Museum.

Original and new Crocker Art Museum Pavilion Design, Crocker, Art And Architecture, 21st Century ...
[photo: Crocker Art Museum official pinterest]
I have thoughts about the design but I think the concept reflects what was done with LocHal pretty well. Maybe a good first step.

References/Inspiration:

The library of the future is in an 80 year old converted train shed

Crocker Art Museum Pinterest

 

Innovation Strategy & Roadmap – YA Book Club

For our strategy & roadmap I decided to lay out how my local library could create a YA Book Club run by teens. My main motivation here is seeing how spaces originally meant for teens seem to be getting either reduced or a bit overrun with patrons outside of the intended demographic.

 

While there’s certainly nothing wrong with enjoying a good YA book no matter what your age is, I think for teens it can feel invasive and uncomfortable to have to share one of the few places specifically set aside for them. I’d like to give them back a space in their local library community AND I want them to have some ownership over it, which is why I think having teens run the book club would be beneficial.

I’ve chosen to use google slides for this project

Link to the Slides

*If access is restricted let me know. It should be public but we all know how that goes.

Reflective Blogging- Hyperlinked Communities

While going through our module on hyperlinked communities I was particularly struck by the idea of a library as being a central “figure” so-to-speak, in a community. I mean, that’s certainly one of the points of the module, right? But to be honest it’s been so long since I’ve seen that concept tackled in any way beyond the theoretical (and frankly romantic), that seeing how a library can really be a pillar of the local community made the possibility of doing so in my own community feel more viable or feasible, if you like.

Singapore’s National Library

The Dokk1 in Denmark really did a lot of heavy lifting here. After our lecture in module 4 I did some digging on my own to learn more and I can see why it’s considered the benchmark for what a modern library can do and be for the community within and around it. I was also particularly intrigued by a few articles in module 5 talking about the positive impact libraries/books have on our physical and metal health. It very much reminded me of the similar studies done proving that spending time in nature can help to reduce stress and anxiety.

This all got me thinking about what I do and don’t find comforting in library spaces. I certainly love to spend any free time I have reading or just in bookish environments, but I realized I don’t tend to seek out my local libraries very often. I spent some time reflecting on this and came to the conclusion that a library space that would help me with my anxiety and and stress would probably need to look different than what is currently available.

Woollahra Library in Sydney

Basically, this all got the creative juices flowing and I started to think about how we might take these ideas and create a community focused library that is built to counteract the immense and unnatural stressors we live with every day, keeping in mind my personal peculiarities because I know I’m not alone in needing gentler spaces. I wanted plants to be a big part of this because I think we can mash them together for something truly special.

This isn’t a new idea of course, I know there are libraries that have already done this work or parts of it. I’ve even seen some bookstores that appear to be working towards a less sterile or industrial feel, which is pretty cool. More plants, more natural light, more personal space.

Bart’s Books- The world’s largest outdoor bookstore

For my part, I decided to create a collage to help solidify some of my thoughts. While I appreciate the strives we’ve made in library design, for me I tend to get medical office vibes. I can’t speak for others of course but as someone who doesn’t thrive in bright artificial light or  empty spaces where people still tend to end up bunched together (I have a big personal bubble), I think there might be room improve these concepts with a more soothing atmosphere.

Museums and aquariums often strike a good balance of selective and/or indirect bright natural light. When light is artificial it’s not bright whites. They’re also often large but they make use of that space to keep people spread out. For me that’s the ticket to keeping my nerves calm. Space and thoughtful lighting.

Concept Collage

Hopefully this collage conveys what I’m talking about. Pretty sure I’m more than over the word limit here but I’d love to read what other people find soothing about libraries or what changes they would make to build a library that might be more universally comfortable for patrons. Sorry if I strayed from the prompt professor, this idea ran away with me.

Sources:

https://bartsbooksojai.com/

https://hk.science.museum/en/web/scm/index.html

https://www.metmuseum.org/

https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/

https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/home

https://www.woollahra.nsw.gov.au/Library

 

INFO 287 Assignment X

Compassionate Librarianship: Dignity and Inclusion

I’ve been reflecting on this assignment as we’ve been doing our readings and completing our modules. For me the thing that truly stands out in my mind, and is reflected in my memories from childhood, is the importance of making people feel included and dignified in the library space, whatever form that might take.

I’ll explain further. One of my most enduring memories from childhood is the scramble at the end of the year to get yearbooks and pay back library fees. This being school libraries the fees generally weren’t exorbitant amounts(unless a student lost or damaged a book beyond saving). Still, it was part of the closing events of every school year. The reason I think this stuck with me so much is the way it highlighted students who could not afford the fees or who were in circumstances that made borrowing books from the library harder for them to manage.

Though I don’t remember the exact reactions of my classmates I do remember how it made their personal business and financial/home lives very public and I’m quite sure it was humiliating. These students were often reluctant to use the library unless class required it, and I distinctly remember this as a thread reaching from elementary school all the way up through high school when I used to assist in the library for open period.

I feel strongly that a library should be a space people feel excited to visit. Certainly nobody should dread the experience or worry about what it will do to their social standing in society. Doing away with late fees is a huge first step in making that a reality, I believe. Monetary concerns are often the first level of gatekeeping in information institutions, taking on many forms but late fees are a huge and universal one. In The Last Taboo: Abolishing Library Fines (2009) Daniel Sifton explains that fines have a huge impact on how people perceive the library- often one most of us do not want to foster in the community. Sifton states,

“Rather than talking about “getting” patrons as though they were villains or bandits, we should reframe the conversation and focus on why they are not coming into the library.

Surely the presence of fines plays a role in this. Not all fines stories invoke hysteria but it is surprisingly easy to find tales of families being denied mortgages, facing arraignments (Siegler), or even prison sentences (“Serious About Overdues”30), all stemming from overdue library books. The fact that we tend to laugh at them only highlights how outrageous they are.

These examples, although extreme, detract from the image of the library. Here the shushing librarian becomes an enforcer, a new taxman or bad cop to be feared.”

They seem like such little things, but fines and fees are capable of swiftly undoing all the goodwill, trust, and comfort librarians often work so hard to establish in their communities.

Another step in the right direction is to provide other services that help build community and a sense of belonging/familiarity. My local branch has a seed library and while that’s not particularly unique I’ve noticed and uptick in patrons since the seed library began. It’s a way for people who don’t typically think about the library as a resource to realize there is more to a library than simply borrowing books, as much as many of us may enjoy that. I’ve even seen patrons teaching each other about the seed catalogue, which makes me extremely happy. There are those tendrils of community beginning to grow thanks to a subject that is more relaxed and familiar to many people than a library might be on its own. While I and many of my peers might feel comfortable in a library, for many folks they can conjure images of stuffy outdated spaces where you’re expected to be very academic and buttoned up. That’s not what we want, and seed libraries are a great way to introduce people to what we’re really all about

For a previous class I used my local seed library as inspiration for a mock poster. I didn’t stray from the text on the library’s website to keep it as true to their vision as possible, but it was nice to create a more soft and friendly image that I hope would catch the eye of someone going about their day. This is the feeling I want other to experience at the library.

Like many of my peers and professionals in the field I’ve seen the need for programs specifically geared at teens. We have plenty of events and programs for children and older folks, but for some reasons teens seem to get left out of the conversation, possibly because there is the assumption that they would have little interest anyway- or the common complaint that they are loud and disruptive.

Personally, I feel the right response to this is to create a place where teens can practice communication and engage their minds where they will not be made to feel like burdens or somehow less-than. Michael Casey explains it well in Embracing Services to Teens (2008) during a conversation with Michael Stephens, “…teens will be teens-they need to talk and socialize-so don’t expect a library with a lot of teens to be quiet. Carving out a teen area is great, if you have the room. If not, try to find an area that can be kept relatively quiet and offer it to those users who need a sanctuary.

Issues with teens are often larger community challenges. Kids need interesting and safe things to do. The entire community should be a part of the solution.”

And this right here is where we start. Creating programs and a safe space for teens to spend their time, be that busy with projects or just spending time in a space that is not hostile. Each library will of course be limited by space or funds or whatever other challenges they have to work around, but something as simple as a movie night or sleep over at the library can make a world of difference in inviting teens to become part of the library community. Art is another very simple yet accessible pastime that libraries can provide for teens. Journaling, drawing, teen book clubs, many more things that don’t require the same level of investment that something like a gaming system might. I think in today’s techy world there is the expectation that all teens require state-of-the-art technology to be entertained, and we need to work beyond that to see teens and people, not stereotypes. A gaming system might be fun, but they become obsolete at a ridiculously fast pace. Pens and paper aren’t going anywhere. Conversation isn’t going anywhere. I think scaling back to basics a bit and focusing on creating a comfortable environment is the first step. We can do that for our teens the same way we do it for any other demographic we serve.

References:

SACLib. (n.d.). Sacramento Public Library – seed libraries: Grow a local garden. Sacramento Public Library- Books are just the Beginning. https://www.saclibrary.org/Books-Media/Specialty-Checkouts/Seed-Libraries-en

Sifton, D. J. (2009). The last taboo: Abolishing library fines. Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.21083/partnership.v4i1.935

 Stephens, M. (2008, May 15). Embracing service to teens. Tame the Web. https://tametheweb.com/2008/05/15/embracing-service-to-teens/

 

Introduction

Hello everyone!
Welcome to my blog. 

My name is Brianna (technically Brianne) but please feel free to call me Brie. Yes like the cheese. At least it’s easy to remember.

I chose this course because I’ve heard good things and it felt up my alley. I feel like it’s important to go into the field as up to date with current standards and technology as possible. If nothing else it also makes me feel more confident in what I have to offer as a librarian. I will be taking this course along side digitizing and my e-portfolio. Busy busy.

That said, I’m interested in a few different areas under the MLIS umbrella. I really like archival work so that’s a possible avenue although I’ve heard it’s popular and hard to break into. I also like cataloguing and I’ve been told I’d make a great reference librarian, so we’ll see where I end up. I don’t live in a small city by any means but I also don’t live in the major hubs of California, so I think my job is going to depend on what’s here when I finish my masters-which will happen this summer!(fingers crossed)

A little more about me. I like to read (a LOT), play video games, listen to podcasts, goof off with friends, and casually study anything that interests me. One particular thing I’m interested in is horse populations. I like to follow a few HMAs (herd management areas) and I find coat genetics fascinating. It does mean you become hyper aware of people using images that don’t quite work and/or you can pick out false claims pretty fast. 

For example, these are images from Misty’s Heaven which is a fansite for Misty of Chincoteague (remember those books?). Supposedly this is her possible half sibling named King.

However, if you know what you’re looking for it’s clear these are two different animals. The one on the left is a Grey (which for horses means he’s got a modifier that makes his coat fade to white over time) while the one on the right is a Cremello (meaning this animal carries two copies of the cream gene). You can see the darker points on the face (muzzle, eyes) on the left, which is our hint that despite the poor quality of the image it’s not the same animal as the photo on the right, where you can see there are no dark points on the face. Even the eye is pale. That tells you it’s a horse showing double cream genes. Based on the info on the website it’s just a mistake but it makes the credibility of the claims even less stable.

So that’s basically the kind of leaps my brain is doing at any given moment.

I don’t have a photo of myself to share as a closer but how about a fun video related to one of my favorite movies!

Timely…