Oooh, talk about slack! Since I've been at Yarra I've posted 5 blog posts. That should equate to nearly one a month, but seeing as the last one was July...it doesn't. Now, at prompting from Heather about being slack, here's a brand new post!
Big news from me; I'm leaving City of Yarra Libraries to go work for the University of Canberra. Woo me!
Hopefully (and I cannot guarantee anything) I will post more from Canberra. After all, I currently know 2 people up there and what else will I spend my time doing? Chances are I'll become addicted to TV shows about crime (CSI, CSI:NY, CSI:Miami, NCIS, NCIS:NY, Law & Order, Law & Order:SVU, Law & Order:The Other One, etc) and my only salvation will be writing on my blog about them. Ooh, maybe my blog can go from being a whingey librarian one to one complaining about episodes of CSI! I might have to start liking CSI though. I could even go as far as getting Foxtel so I could watch the Crime and Investigation network and have even more crime shows, except real life crime ones.
Somehow I don't think any of that will happen. I'll try and think of something interesting to post for the next installment of my life though.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Statistics: What to collect?
As Technical Services Team Leader, one of my jobs is to gather the statistics we collect to prove that we are doing our job well (or not so well). 
When I started at my last job, statistics was one of the very first projects I was given. Basically I was told 'We don't trust these numbers, make some better ones'. After talking to everyone in management about what they wanted to collect, I designed a series of linked spreadsheets which all fed in to each other. It was quite complex and one little nudge would break them all. Also, if someone went in and fiddled, it would upset the numbers on other sheets. As a way around this, I ensured that the linked sheets and the LMS all fed in to one 'collection' sheet. This collection sheet was used once per month to copy the gathered statistics together. These would then be manually copied to a separate data spreadsheet using the 'Paste Special'. These figures were then 'prettied up' with charts and whatnot in a linked summary spreadsheet which divided up between the 5 physical branches, the virtual branch and CALD data. It also meant that management would only ever access one spreadsheet, the one that was pretty and had all the correct figures on it.
Moving to my new job, I have realised that, although the library branches are very separate from each other, there are library 'teams' that mean that the above approach will not work as well. Previously, if someone was at a branch and hosted an activity or program, they would then go straight to the branch report spreadsheet and enter the details and figures. Here, they don't do that. Everyone keeps an individual report of what he or she does and, every quarter, they are all collated together. This may be collated through the team leader in charge of the team (ie Reference or CALD) or through the manager in charge of collections. Having separate teams can cause some duplication. To me, a bilingual children's storytime should be counted in both CALD and children's areas. It should be marked so that we don't count the figures twice when totalling, but it should still go towards both areas. Here, because of the different teams, it depends on who initiated the event.
That being said, it seems that very little in the way of stable statistics has ever been kept here. I have historical figures for the KPIs here, but nothing else to support these. The only collection figures are high level loans and reservation numbers (I know that xxx CALD items were loaned this year, but I cannot tell in which language sets). This is all changing.
When I am back from Europe in September, I will be re-working nearly all of the statistics. I have already started by creating the data and summary sheets for people to view. Management seem to be interested in having a single point of reference for all statistics and everyone has given me ideas. The information that is needed here is somewhat different to what I would have thought, but I can see how it is needed. I will also be working on a list of sheets which measure the 'flow' of each of our collections (do our Junior Chinese DVDs move at all or are we wasting money? are they being used more at one branch than another? do we even have Junior Chinese DVDs?)
I would absolutely love to know how everyone else organises their statistics. Actual examples of the sheets would be even better. If people are interested, I can post our data/summary sheets so you can see how things are organised.
When I started at my last job, statistics was one of the very first projects I was given. Basically I was told 'We don't trust these numbers, make some better ones'. After talking to everyone in management about what they wanted to collect, I designed a series of linked spreadsheets which all fed in to each other. It was quite complex and one little nudge would break them all. Also, if someone went in and fiddled, it would upset the numbers on other sheets. As a way around this, I ensured that the linked sheets and the LMS all fed in to one 'collection' sheet. This collection sheet was used once per month to copy the gathered statistics together. These would then be manually copied to a separate data spreadsheet using the 'Paste Special'. These figures were then 'prettied up' with charts and whatnot in a linked summary spreadsheet which divided up between the 5 physical branches, the virtual branch and CALD data. It also meant that management would only ever access one spreadsheet, the one that was pretty and had all the correct figures on it.Moving to my new job, I have realised that, although the library branches are very separate from each other, there are library 'teams' that mean that the above approach will not work as well. Previously, if someone was at a branch and hosted an activity or program, they would then go straight to the branch report spreadsheet and enter the details and figures. Here, they don't do that. Everyone keeps an individual report of what he or she does and, every quarter, they are all collated together. This may be collated through the team leader in charge of the team (ie Reference or CALD) or through the manager in charge of collections. Having separate teams can cause some duplication. To me, a bilingual children's storytime should be counted in both CALD and children's areas. It should be marked so that we don't count the figures twice when totalling, but it should still go towards both areas. Here, because of the different teams, it depends on who initiated the event.
That being said, it seems that very little in the way of stable statistics has ever been kept here. I have historical figures for the KPIs here, but nothing else to support these. The only collection figures are high level loans and reservation numbers (I know that xxx CALD items were loaned this year, but I cannot tell in which language sets). This is all changing.
When I am back from Europe in September, I will be re-working nearly all of the statistics. I have already started by creating the data and summary sheets for people to view. Management seem to be interested in having a single point of reference for all statistics and everyone has given me ideas. The information that is needed here is somewhat different to what I would have thought, but I can see how it is needed. I will also be working on a list of sheets which measure the 'flow' of each of our collections (do our Junior Chinese DVDs move at all or are we wasting money? are they being used more at one branch than another? do we even have Junior Chinese DVDs?)
I would absolutely love to know how everyone else organises their statistics. Actual examples of the sheets would be even better. If people are interested, I can post our data/summary sheets so you can see how things are organised.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Upgrade upgrade upgrade
Well we performed Yarra's fastest ever IT upgrade this week. After some mis-communication (I read something differently to my boss, and we were both wrong with how we read it anyway) we found out on Thursday afternoon that our library system's database was going to be upgraded on Tuesday morning. This meant we had to install a brand new library program on every library computer across our council (about 50 or so). And as I am not allowed to install/uninstall/touch anything on the computers, I told the IT guys they had to do it.
Our timeline kind of went like this (you need to imagine the annoying music from 24 playing).
Thursday
2.45 - Christian hears 'bing' and notices there's an email
2.46 - Christian reads the email saying "I hope you've all upgraded your software because this is happening" and thinks a bunch of words starting with F.
2.47 - Christian realises that the library system won't work at all without the upgrade and says the bunch of words starting with F and decides to go speak to his boss.
2.50 - After explaining the situation, Christian's boss says a few words (none starting with F) and rings anyone with any IT skills who she knows.
3.00 - IT ring back and we explain the situation
3.05 - Still explaining, stressing that the library cannot function with no system
3.10 - Still explaining, this time just stressing
3.11 - IT mentions that the last upgrade took a month of testing before it could be rolled out
3.12 - End of phone call with a meeting booked for 9am next morning.
Queue the tense music from 24 that probably plays when someone is about to have a meltdown (having never watched more than 2 minutes of 24, I am assuming this exists, they can't just play that tick-tock countdown sound for an entire show, can they?)
Skip ahead to 9am the next morning. Both Christian and his boss now have stomach ulcers.
Friday
8.55am - Arrive at Collingwood town hall (where the department is located)
9.00am - Arrive at the IT area after getting lost going through 53 flights of stairs and 218 office spaces (some in cupboards)
9.01am - Begin grovelling to IT manager
9.05 - still grovelling
9.06 - he gets sick of grovelling and sends us off with an IT bloke
9.07 - I hand over the software upgrade for them to install on a test machine
9.10 - Software installed, so I start testing
9.11 - Check out a book. Check in a book. Place a hold. Add a user. Change some details. Perform a search. Catalogue an item. Check our home library service users. Run some reports.
9.30 - Testing finished (note how this didn't take a month).
9.31 - Leave office.
(more dreadful music, this time showing a montage of a drive back to Collingwood with my boss, then more statistics and some budget forecasting)
11.00am - IT bloke arrives with install disk and starts testing the install in the live environment on one of our PCs.
11.15 - Install finished, PC up and running, everyone happy.
(more music)
5.00pm - Install completed on the front desk at Fitzroy and on the front desk at Collingwood.
Monday
8.30am - Arrive at work to find that the computers that were upgraded could not access circulation over the weekend
8.40am - Figure out that I need to physically go to every computer and change a setting because I'm the only one with the admin password
9.00am - Realise I cannot be bothered doing that and give the admin password to the IT guy who is installing stuff on every PC (I'll change it later)
9.02am - Watch IT guy begin to install on the backroom computers at Fitzroy
10.00am - IT guy says 'bye' and heads off to another location to install.
(music)
5.15pm - Finally decide to call IT guy to see if he's finished.
5.30pm - After talking to staff at every branch (4 of which I now know are upgraded, 1 who are unsure), call the IT department to find out where he is.
5.31pm - He's gone home.
5.32pm - Decide to go home myself.
Tuesday
8.15am - Arrive at work and put things on every computer so noone logs in.
9.00am - Tell a staff member off who logged in and buggered their computer.
9.15am - Receive a message that it should all be good.
9.16am - Discover I cannot log in but everyone else can.
9.17am - Begin to call branches to let them know.
9.25am - Finally talk to them all.
9.26am - Find out Richmond hasn't been upgraded, frantically call them to tell them to log out.
9.27am - Call IT, get hold musak.
9.30am - On hold.
9.31am - Find out person is in a meeting and leave an urgent message.
9.32am - Call Richmond to get them to ring IT because I'm supposed to be in training.
9.55am - Call Richmond because training was a bit boring and find out that they will have to go in to offline mode until IT show up (he's on his way).
9.56am - Find out that computers at Fitzroy, Carlton and Collingwood are also not working.
9.57am - Decide that training is slightly more fun than this and let my second in charge know that she'll be doing the ringing around to get IT to come out and fix those computers as a matter of urgency.
All through that there was the annoying music from 24.
And you all thought I was being slack with my posts...look how long this one was?
All in all, the upgrade went fairly well (especially given our limited timeframe). It would have been much easier if I was able to install the software myself, but, over time, IT may relax around me and allow me to do some things.
Finger's crossed.
Our timeline kind of went like this (you need to imagine the annoying music from 24 playing).
Thursday
2.45 - Christian hears 'bing' and notices there's an email
2.46 - Christian reads the email saying "I hope you've all upgraded your software because this is happening" and thinks a bunch of words starting with F.
2.47 - Christian realises that the library system won't work at all without the upgrade and says the bunch of words starting with F and decides to go speak to his boss.
2.50 - After explaining the situation, Christian's boss says a few words (none starting with F) and rings anyone with any IT skills who she knows.
3.00 - IT ring back and we explain the situation
3.05 - Still explaining, stressing that the library cannot function with no system
3.10 - Still explaining, this time just stressing
3.11 - IT mentions that the last upgrade took a month of testing before it could be rolled out
3.12 - End of phone call with a meeting booked for 9am next morning.
Queue the tense music from 24 that probably plays when someone is about to have a meltdown (having never watched more than 2 minutes of 24, I am assuming this exists, they can't just play that tick-tock countdown sound for an entire show, can they?)
Skip ahead to 9am the next morning. Both Christian and his boss now have stomach ulcers.
Friday
8.55am - Arrive at Collingwood town hall (where the department is located)
9.00am - Arrive at the IT area after getting lost going through 53 flights of stairs and 218 office spaces (some in cupboards)
9.01am - Begin grovelling to IT manager
9.05 - still grovelling
9.06 - he gets sick of grovelling and sends us off with an IT bloke
9.07 - I hand over the software upgrade for them to install on a test machine
9.10 - Software installed, so I start testing
9.11 - Check out a book. Check in a book. Place a hold. Add a user. Change some details. Perform a search. Catalogue an item. Check our home library service users. Run some reports.
9.30 - Testing finished (note how this didn't take a month).
9.31 - Leave office.
(more dreadful music, this time showing a montage of a drive back to Collingwood with my boss, then more statistics and some budget forecasting)
11.00am - IT bloke arrives with install disk and starts testing the install in the live environment on one of our PCs.
11.15 - Install finished, PC up and running, everyone happy.
(more music)
5.00pm - Install completed on the front desk at Fitzroy and on the front desk at Collingwood.
Monday
8.30am - Arrive at work to find that the computers that were upgraded could not access circulation over the weekend
8.40am - Figure out that I need to physically go to every computer and change a setting because I'm the only one with the admin password
9.00am - Realise I cannot be bothered doing that and give the admin password to the IT guy who is installing stuff on every PC (I'll change it later)
9.02am - Watch IT guy begin to install on the backroom computers at Fitzroy
10.00am - IT guy says 'bye' and heads off to another location to install.
(music)
5.15pm - Finally decide to call IT guy to see if he's finished.
5.30pm - After talking to staff at every branch (4 of which I now know are upgraded, 1 who are unsure), call the IT department to find out where he is.
5.31pm - He's gone home.
5.32pm - Decide to go home myself.
Tuesday
8.15am - Arrive at work and put things on every computer so noone logs in.
9.00am - Tell a staff member off who logged in and buggered their computer.
9.15am - Receive a message that it should all be good.
9.16am - Discover I cannot log in but everyone else can.
9.17am - Begin to call branches to let them know.
9.25am - Finally talk to them all.
9.26am - Find out Richmond hasn't been upgraded, frantically call them to tell them to log out.
9.27am - Call IT, get hold musak.
9.30am - On hold.
9.31am - Find out person is in a meeting and leave an urgent message.
9.32am - Call Richmond to get them to ring IT because I'm supposed to be in training.
9.55am - Call Richmond because training was a bit boring and find out that they will have to go in to offline mode until IT show up (he's on his way).
9.56am - Find out that computers at Fitzroy, Carlton and Collingwood are also not working.
9.57am - Decide that training is slightly more fun than this and let my second in charge know that she'll be doing the ringing around to get IT to come out and fix those computers as a matter of urgency.
All through that there was the annoying music from 24.
And you all thought I was being slack with my posts...look how long this one was?
All in all, the upgrade went fairly well (especially given our limited timeframe). It would have been much easier if I was able to install the software myself, but, over time, IT may relax around me and allow me to do some things.
Finger's crossed.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Wasting time on YouTube
I'm sitting here at home a bit bored and thought I would post onto my blog. This is totally non-librariany but it's my blog so I don't care.
I've just spent the last few hours searching YouTube for clips of old songs I like from obscure artists who noone really cares about. And I found some!
Móa (or Móei∂ur Júníusdóttir) was an Icelandic electro-funk-ish singer in the 90s. Joy and Pain was a song I heard once (just once) on MTV about 10 years ago and periodically get it stuck in my head. I have finally found a low quality version of the clip and am hooked again. Imagine the love child of Bjork and Shirley Bassey. See below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf8Yt4gLDnc&feature=related
Another I found was a clip by Sissel and Warren G called Prince Igor. It was on the Rhapsody album that was, supposedly, a cross of rap and classical music. The clip is brilliant; a story of a woman found singing on the moon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XceVdo9IVQo
Gosh, I just realise that I spent hours looking at two songs (okay, and I may have watched an episode of Lady Lovely Locks and a few episodes of Superted but that's due to boredom, honest).
Also, as a plug for a mate, have a look at his daily twitter posts. He is doing a twitter story a day based on a picture that is stored at TwitPic. http://twitpic.com/photos/hiddensounds
I've just spent the last few hours searching YouTube for clips of old songs I like from obscure artists who noone really cares about. And I found some!
Móa (or Móei∂ur Júníusdóttir) was an Icelandic electro-funk-ish singer in the 90s. Joy and Pain was a song I heard once (just once) on MTV about 10 years ago and periodically get it stuck in my head. I have finally found a low quality version of the clip and am hooked again. Imagine the love child of Bjork and Shirley Bassey. See below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf8Yt4gLDnc&feature=related
Another I found was a clip by Sissel and Warren G called Prince Igor. It was on the Rhapsody album that was, supposedly, a cross of rap and classical music. The clip is brilliant; a story of a woman found singing on the moon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XceVdo9IVQo
Gosh, I just realise that I spent hours looking at two songs (okay, and I may have watched an episode of Lady Lovely Locks and a few episodes of Superted but that's due to boredom, honest).
Also, as a plug for a mate, have a look at his daily twitter posts. He is doing a twitter story a day based on a picture that is stored at TwitPic. http://twitpic.com/photos/hiddensounds
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Dealing with IT departments
Well my first whingey post at my new job. I have to say that it is incredibly frustrating dealing with an IT department that do not want to let go of control.
I understand that security is of high importance. I also understand that some staff should not be trusted to install local software (I've seen cases of people screwing up their computers by installing things they shouldn't have, I also know that people are likely to install illegally acquired software if they can). These things aside, it is frustrating as heck to me that I am not allowed to even install an update to the library system.
Being part of a consortia, an upgrade to the library system's database means that the new software needs to be rolled out as close to the upgrade as possible. Using old software on a new database (with a potentially new data structure) is potentially dangerous to the database. Having to schedule someone from IT to physically come to each computer to upgrade it seems to me to be an incredible waste of time, especially as the library network is totally seperate to the staff network and the PCs are unable to have software installed remotely.
I think that I am going to have to demonstrate to our IT department that the library is not only forward-thinking in terms of computing, but also that we have a high level of skill in this area and certain people can be trusted to install software.
That being said, it is actually quite exciting for me. I think that the library here has never really shown what we are willing to do in this field. With my boss (who is new) and myself here, I really think we'll be demonstrating a much higher level of IT expertise to the IT department than ever before, and developing a higher level relationship will probably mean we'll be given more lee-way to do the kinds of things we should be doing.
As an aside, does anyone have any ideas on how to butter up a bunch of people to get them to do stuff? ;)
I understand that security is of high importance. I also understand that some staff should not be trusted to install local software (I've seen cases of people screwing up their computers by installing things they shouldn't have, I also know that people are likely to install illegally acquired software if they can). These things aside, it is frustrating as heck to me that I am not allowed to even install an update to the library system.
Being part of a consortia, an upgrade to the library system's database means that the new software needs to be rolled out as close to the upgrade as possible. Using old software on a new database (with a potentially new data structure) is potentially dangerous to the database. Having to schedule someone from IT to physically come to each computer to upgrade it seems to me to be an incredible waste of time, especially as the library network is totally seperate to the staff network and the PCs are unable to have software installed remotely.
I think that I am going to have to demonstrate to our IT department that the library is not only forward-thinking in terms of computing, but also that we have a high level of skill in this area and certain people can be trusted to install software.
That being said, it is actually quite exciting for me. I think that the library here has never really shown what we are willing to do in this field. With my boss (who is new) and myself here, I really think we'll be demonstrating a much higher level of IT expertise to the IT department than ever before, and developing a higher level relationship will probably mean we'll be given more lee-way to do the kinds of things we should be doing.
As an aside, does anyone have any ideas on how to butter up a bunch of people to get them to do stuff? ;)
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Job change - starting again
I've been away for a little while from my blog (mostly being a slacker). But I'm back!
I've recently changed jobs and said goodbye to Brimbank Libraries. I'm now working in technical services at the City of Yarra in Melbourne's northern suburbs. Yarra is a very small municipality with a very different demographic to Brimbank; lots of rich people and lots of not so rich people in public housing.
Currently I'm finding out about getting the following for our libraries:
Wireless internet with authentication. Yarra currently offers wireless for the public through wireless routers in the libraries - no authentication or any kind of limiting. I'm suprised we can afford it (must be a great deal).
A computer booking system for the computer. Yarra currently has no real system. They use an online database to book the computers, but there is no control software at all on the computers.
An events booking system. There is currently one in place but I'm implementing a new one (it was purchased before I started).
Plus all the usual stuff like building a relationship with IT (called Information Systems or IS just to confuse me), moving servers and dealing with the company that runs our ILS. More about the ILS another day though (Sirsi-Dynix's Symphony system).
Just thought I'd post an update for you all!
I've recently changed jobs and said goodbye to Brimbank Libraries. I'm now working in technical services at the City of Yarra in Melbourne's northern suburbs. Yarra is a very small municipality with a very different demographic to Brimbank; lots of rich people and lots of not so rich people in public housing.
Currently I'm finding out about getting the following for our libraries:
Wireless internet with authentication. Yarra currently offers wireless for the public through wireless routers in the libraries - no authentication or any kind of limiting. I'm suprised we can afford it (must be a great deal).
A computer booking system for the computer. Yarra currently has no real system. They use an online database to book the computers, but there is no control software at all on the computers.
An events booking system. There is currently one in place but I'm implementing a new one (it was purchased before I started).
Plus all the usual stuff like building a relationship with IT (called Information Systems or IS just to confuse me), moving servers and dealing with the company that runs our ILS. More about the ILS another day though (Sirsi-Dynix's Symphony system).
Just thought I'd post an update for you all!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
RFID Wand / Magic Wand Comparison
We are currently testing a magic wand (aka RFID wand) from FE Technologies. I have also tested the one from 3M and seen one from Bibliotheca and one from QLS (which was made by a Scandinavian company whose name I cannot remember).
It is interesting how the different companies have designed their magic wands.
Bibliotheca Wireless Inventory Wand
Bibliotheca have had their wand around for a while and you can see that in the design. Bibliotheca's design incorporates a giant battery pack which has a strap so that you can carry it like a handbag (if your handbag was filled with bricks). It then has a funky little PDA containing the software and a paddle that you wave at the books to detect it. Depending on which way you hold the paddle determines how accurate the scan will be, using the flat side gives you a wider scan, the sharp side (or even the point) gives you a more detailed scan.
Pros: PDA means that it could easily be installed on any kind of wireless computer device (or a laptop if it comes down to it). The software is easily updated by docking the PDA. Also, the wand is quite long which means you don't have to bend down to reach books on the bottom shelf or reach high to get ones at the top, you just wave it like a light saber.
Cons: Big-arse heavy bulky battery pack.
(note: I didn't actually get to use this as Bibliotheca were not currently supporting my tag format, the usability of the program did seem quite logical though...even if it was in German due to being the test model)
3M Handheld Inventory Tracker /Digital Library Assistant
This was the first RFID wand I had used and I was suitably impressed at the time. It is compact, light, and quite easy to use. It is an all-in-one unit that does not need any external battery support or even an external computing device (ie a PDA). You install a program onto a computer, upload a file of the items you wish to find to that location, it then pulls the items into the RFID wand and away you go. The file format is simple, comma seperated file with 4 options. First one was the barcode. Third was the call number. Fourth was the title. The second allowed you to enter something 'secondary', ie, the word missing if you wanted the device to tell you that the item went 'beep' because it was missing. It was a while ago now, but I do remember it being easy.
Pros: Lightweight. Easy to use, the screen was easily visible.
Cons: The size meant that you had to bend to do books on lower shelves and reach up to do higher ones. Battery life wasn't great (although you could have multiple batteries and they were very easy to change).
FE Technologies Portable Scanning Unit
This is my most recent device for testing and is quite new to FE, I don't know if they've actually sold any off yet and I know that they are very interested in the results of my testing to find out how to improve the unit. The unit itself is a swish looking black box with a screen. Attached to this box is an RFID antenna that looks like a handle with a squared off piece of metal attached. The box is operated by means of a special pen (which retails at $75 so I warned all of my staff that they'd better not lose it). The device itself contains a computer, battery and small RFID reader inside the black box (I asked). It can be set to run through a wireless network and will automatically download the update files that you ask it to. This was the only one of the units which I have seen which will actually update the status of items that it wands (if you want it to). For example, I could use this unit to change the security status of my DVDs to 'secure' if I was so inclined. It also works very fast, a heap faster than the 3M one did.
It operates in an interesting way. It has a dump file of all of the LMS items in it and uploads updates to the device overnight. When it scans items, it checks this dump file to see if the item is included and, if we wanted it to, it checks to see if the item is within a certain call number range, location or collection. It works with all/any of our collection codes too, very fancy (also very useless for our library service which has floating collections so nothing is really located in only one spot). It will also alert you to tags which are not 'in' the dump file. This would mean that they had previously been withdrawn and were still sitting on shelf. You can turn this off.
You upload items into it by means of a CSV file, similar to the 3M method it allows you to enter a reason that the item is being detected, unlike the 3M method you don't enter any title details, these come from the local dump file.
Pros: Fast and accurate. The antenna/aerial allows you to stand at one height and scan items on the top/bottom shelves. The thin design allows you to 'shove' the antenna between books to get greater scanability on thin items (where the RFID tags shield each other to a greater degree). Also, being in production means that if I have any issues at all then I ring them and they alter the software for us...I love testing.
Cons: Still quite heavy, similar to the Bibliotheca model (although not that cumbersome). We got around this by placing the device on a small trolley. Also, the device has no way of attaching a keyboard, mouse or, well, anything. This means that the only methods of altering stuff on there is either via the annoying Windows On-Screen Keyboard or via a network. If they gave it a USB key and allowed me to upload the CSV file from there, I would be happier.
It is interesting how the different companies have designed their magic wands.
Bibliotheca Wireless Inventory Wand
Bibliotheca have had their wand around for a while and you can see that in the design. Bibliotheca's design incorporates a giant battery pack which has a strap so that you can carry it like a handbag (if your handbag was filled with bricks). It then has a funky little PDA containing the software and a paddle that you wave at the books to detect it. Depending on which way you hold the paddle determines how accurate the scan will be, using the flat side gives you a wider scan, the sharp side (or even the point) gives you a more detailed scan.Pros: PDA means that it could easily be installed on any kind of wireless computer device (or a laptop if it comes down to it). The software is easily updated by docking the PDA. Also, the wand is quite long which means you don't have to bend down to reach books on the bottom shelf or reach high to get ones at the top, you just wave it like a light saber.
Cons: Big-arse heavy bulky battery pack.
(note: I didn't actually get to use this as Bibliotheca were not currently supporting my tag format, the usability of the program did seem quite logical though...even if it was in German due to being the test model)
3M Handheld Inventory Tracker /Digital Library Assistant
This was the first RFID wand I had used and I was suitably impressed at the time. It is compact, light, and quite easy to use. It is an all-in-one unit that does not need any external battery support or even an external computing device (ie a PDA). You install a program onto a computer, upload a file of the items you wish to find to that location, it then pulls the items into the RFID wand and away you go. The file format is simple, comma seperated file with 4 options. First one was the barcode. Third was the call number. Fourth was the title. The second allowed you to enter something 'secondary', ie, the word missing if you wanted the device to tell you that the item went 'beep' because it was missing. It was a while ago now, but I do remember it being easy.Pros: Lightweight. Easy to use, the screen was easily visible.
Cons: The size meant that you had to bend to do books on lower shelves and reach up to do higher ones. Battery life wasn't great (although you could have multiple batteries and they were very easy to change).
FE Technologies Portable Scanning Unit
This is my most recent device for testing and is quite new to FE, I don't know if they've actually sold any off yet and I know that they are very interested in the results of my testing to find out how to improve the unit. The unit itself is a swish looking black box with a screen. Attached to this box is an RFID antenna that looks like a handle with a squared off piece of metal attached. The box is operated by means of a special pen (which retails at $75 so I warned all of my staff that they'd better not lose it). The device itself contains a computer, battery and small RFID reader inside the black box (I asked). It can be set to run through a wireless network and will automatically download the update files that you ask it to. This was the only one of the units which I have seen which will actually update the status of items that it wands (if you want it to). For example, I could use this unit to change the security status of my DVDs to 'secure' if I was so inclined. It also works very fast, a heap faster than the 3M one did.It operates in an interesting way. It has a dump file of all of the LMS items in it and uploads updates to the device overnight. When it scans items, it checks this dump file to see if the item is included and, if we wanted it to, it checks to see if the item is within a certain call number range, location or collection. It works with all/any of our collection codes too, very fancy (also very useless for our library service which has floating collections so nothing is really located in only one spot). It will also alert you to tags which are not 'in' the dump file. This would mean that they had previously been withdrawn and were still sitting on shelf. You can turn this off.
You upload items into it by means of a CSV file, similar to the 3M method it allows you to enter a reason that the item is being detected, unlike the 3M method you don't enter any title details, these come from the local dump file.
Pros: Fast and accurate. The antenna/aerial allows you to stand at one height and scan items on the top/bottom shelves. The thin design allows you to 'shove' the antenna between books to get greater scanability on thin items (where the RFID tags shield each other to a greater degree). Also, being in production means that if I have any issues at all then I ring them and they alter the software for us...I love testing.
Cons: Still quite heavy, similar to the Bibliotheca model (although not that cumbersome). We got around this by placing the device on a small trolley. Also, the device has no way of attaching a keyboard, mouse or, well, anything. This means that the only methods of altering stuff on there is either via the annoying Windows On-Screen Keyboard or via a network. If they gave it a USB key and allowed me to upload the CSV file from there, I would be happier.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
RFID self-check machines
I have been analysing our brand new RFID self-check machine that we are planning to install at our latest library to be RFID'd. It is quite interesting how the different vendors program their RFID machines to work. I know that we have some say on what screens come up and in what order, but some of the vendors offer more options than that.
We have used 3 RFID companies in our libraries. Checkpoint were our original RFID vendor, we then moved to 3M and we now use both 3M and FE Technologies. It is funny, FE are a relative newcomer to the RFID world and, probably because of this, are more than happy to alter things for us. 3M, not so much. They have a huge market share so don't really see any point in changing software that works for the masses, I understand their outlook actually, why change something that works?
With the FE RFID self-check machines we have near total control over the interface. Each page of the sequence is an html page with javascript buttons. We can add buttons and remove them, totally revamp the interface if we want and they even have an option so we can translate everything - pages, RFID popups, even the messages coming through the SIP connector. Quite powerful actually.
Even so, there are some things with FE's self-check that are irritating. What will be good though is their responsiveness. We're only just starting our look into altering the interface though so I don't know if they'll be as quick to make changes as we'd like, but here's hoping!
We have used 3 RFID companies in our libraries. Checkpoint were our original RFID vendor, we then moved to 3M and we now use both 3M and FE Technologies. It is funny, FE are a relative newcomer to the RFID world and, probably because of this, are more than happy to alter things for us. 3M, not so much. They have a huge market share so don't really see any point in changing software that works for the masses, I understand their outlook actually, why change something that works?
With the FE RFID self-check machines we have near total control over the interface. Each page of the sequence is an html page with javascript buttons. We can add buttons and remove them, totally revamp the interface if we want and they even have an option so we can translate everything - pages, RFID popups, even the messages coming through the SIP connector. Quite powerful actually.
Even so, there are some things with FE's self-check that are irritating. What will be good though is their responsiveness. We're only just starting our look into altering the interface though so I don't know if they'll be as quick to make changes as we'd like, but here's hoping!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
m-Cat - a view to the future?
Following on from my post about my mobile library catalogue the other week, I had comments that some screenshots may be nice. Now I warn you, it ain't pretty. Being a catalogue for a mobile device, my entire aim was to make it:
a) fit on a small screen
b) resize if they had a larger screen
c) use very little bandwidth (which ain't cheap in Australia for mobile devices)
Problems I am having are mostly resulting in 'set' code from our library management system. Code is spat out of the system that I cannot change (ie on the patron details page, I cannot change the default text that is generated).
1. Search window
2. Results window
3. Availability window
4. Customer details window
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
"For Librarians" page
I was sitting around the other day and thinking "I know a bunch of libraries that provide fantastic open-source software and enhancements but I cannot find anything on their websites about it" and then decided I'd make a page for librarians who were looking at us.
On this page I am going to release a bunch of stuff that we make/edit/create so that anyone can download it and have a play around. This will include:
Our facebook application to search an Amlib catalogue.
Any/all of our customised Amlib reports including the RSS reports and data export reports.
Our booking system for events (which also keeps our info request statistics).
Any/all of our Joomla! enhancements.
I do not know if this would be of use to anyone, but I would be interested in making this page as a kind of "look at what we do" page for other librarians. Offering the software and also some instructions on how we did things may also be a drawcard to the site.
Does anyone else know a library that offers this kind of information on their website? It doesn't have to be in English. Anyone? At all?
On this page I am going to release a bunch of stuff that we make/edit/create so that anyone can download it and have a play around. This will include:
Our facebook application to search an Amlib catalogue.
Any/all of our customised Amlib reports including the RSS reports and data export reports.
Our booking system for events (which also keeps our info request statistics).
Any/all of our Joomla! enhancements.
I do not know if this would be of use to anyone, but I would be interested in making this page as a kind of "look at what we do" page for other librarians. Offering the software and also some instructions on how we did things may also be a drawcard to the site.
Does anyone else know a library that offers this kind of information on their website? It doesn't have to be in English. Anyone? At all?
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
m-Cat - the mobile device catalogue
Although I have not posted for 2 months, I haven't actually been on holiday. No, I have been working so hard I haven't had time to post.
A few things have been going on which are very uninteresting to people outside Brimbank: new multi-function devices (which I got roped into organising), an sms/email notification system for our patron reservations/overdues, testing and installing of the RFID self-check system (still underway) and just general 'fix this' type stuff.
One of the projects I have been working on in my spare time (aka the 30 minutes before I go home when I am bored with the above work) is a mobile device catalogue. This catalogue would work on PDAs, mobile phones and the like. To download the entire site (including all pictures and the like) would be 22.8kb, it is as streamlined as possible.
I am hoping to get a test version of it up and running within the next week so that I can test it on as many mobile devices as possible (and see if it actually works, until I get access to our public web server, it is all currently theoretical).
I thought some of you may have been interested in hearing about that.
A few things have been going on which are very uninteresting to people outside Brimbank: new multi-function devices (which I got roped into organising), an sms/email notification system for our patron reservations/overdues, testing and installing of the RFID self-check system (still underway) and just general 'fix this' type stuff.
One of the projects I have been working on in my spare time (aka the 30 minutes before I go home when I am bored with the above work) is a mobile device catalogue. This catalogue would work on PDAs, mobile phones and the like. To download the entire site (including all pictures and the like) would be 22.8kb, it is as streamlined as possible.
I am hoping to get a test version of it up and running within the next week so that I can test it on as many mobile devices as possible (and see if it actually works, until I get access to our public web server, it is all currently theoretical).
I thought some of you may have been interested in hearing about that.
