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Contents
DECEMBER 2024 • Volume 44 • Number 10
HIGH PRIORITIES

features
4 Academic Streaming Video: Challenges,
Lessons, and Best Practices in
Collection Development
BY THERESA CARLSON AND RITA BALADAD

8 Improving Audio Recording

4 8
Spaces for Usability
BY MICHAEL STANDARD

12 Using LibGuides for Outreach and

Instruction at a Small University
BY SADIE DAVENPORT

21 How to Respond Safely and Sanely

to a Library Bomb Threat
BY STEVE ALBRECHT
12 21
30 EDTECH
Tips for Helping Little Computer Scientists
and Little Hackers
BY JULIE DARLING

columns
17 The Systems Librarian
Tech to Serve Academic and 30 36
Research Libraries: The Dynamics
of Expanding Platforms
BY MARSHALL BREEDING

19 BiblioTech
Vision Aids for Archive Patrons
BY SUZANNE S. LAPIERRE feature
36 Frameworks for Analyzing the Use of Generative
Artificial Intelligence in Libraries
departments BY MARGARET HELLER

2 Editor’s Notes columns

Achieving Diverse Library Goals 35 Voices of the 41 AI Corner 43 The Dollar Sign
BY DICK KASER
Searchers EBSCO Integrates Can Chatbots Do
26 Noted & Quoted From Boolean AI Into Its Search Financial Analysis?
BY ALISON A. TROTTA to Bots Solution and BY MARYDEE OJALA
BY MARY ELLEN BATES Research Platform
28 News Desk BY BARBIE E. KEISER
BY ALISON A. TROTTA

infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 1

 Editor’s
by
dick
kaser

Notes X letter from the editor

EDITORIAL
Executive Editor........................................................................................Richard T. Kaser
[email protected]
Editor, Online Searcher...........................................................................Marydee Ojala
Editorial Services Manager ..............................................................Lauree Padgett
Managing Editor............................................................................................Alison A. Trotta
Production Editor ...............................................................................................Terri Koenig

MAIN & EDITORIAL OFFICES

Achieving Diverse Library Goals 143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford, NJ 08055
(609) 654-6266; (609) 654-4888 • Fax: (609) 654-4309
Web: infotoday.com
This issue contains case studies and best practices articles by librarians
DESIGN & PRODUCTION
who were aiming to achieve their library’s top priorities. Production Manager.........................................................................Tiffany Chamenko
Health sciences librarian Sadie Davenport (Blaisdell Medical Library at Senior Graphic Designer............................................................... Jennifer Burmood
the University of California–Davis in Sacramento) talks about how she uti- Senior Graphic Designer................................................................... Jackie Crawford
lized the LibGuides platform and developed a set of resources for instruc-
ADVERTISING SALES
tion and outreach. Davenport found that LibGuides could do much more Account Executive..................................................................................LaShawn Fugate
(859) 278-2223 X 104 • [email protected]
than she imagined.
Solving a digital content delivery challenge, Theresa Carlson and Rita MARKETING
Baladad (librarians at Northern Arizona University’s Cline Library) dis- Vice President, Marketing
cuss the issues and best practices involved in acquiring streaming media & Business Development...............................................................Thomas Hogan, Jr.
Circulation Manager ...................................................................................Janeen Welsh
resources to support academic curriculum, often one item at a time. [email protected]
Improving the usability of the library’s recording studio was the aim
of Michael Standard (University of Tennessee), who shares his advice for EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT
President & CEO,
better assisting library users in podcasting and other recording projects. Information Today, Inc. ....................................................................Thomas H. Hogan
Intrepid library security expert Steve Albrecht discusses how to keep Chairman of the Board ......................................................................... Roger R. Bilboul
your library secure after receiving a bomb threat. You may be surprised at CFO...............................................................................................................................Mike Flaherty
his practical and logical advice for responding safely without panicking. Vice President, Information Technology.........................................Bill Spence

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 gɔ
orthern Arizona University (NAU) is a public uni- The project placed the collections and discovery servic-
versity serving approximately 27,000 students, with es (CDS) unit at the center of this transition. With a small
Cline Library being the sole campus library. NAU of- staff of six and limited experience in streaming media, the
fers a diverse array of courses across various disciplines, CDS unit had to quickly adapt and learn how to manage the
which integrate video content into lectures and assign-
new landscape of digital media acquisitions. This includ-
ments. While the library’s DVD collection served these
ed navigating the many nuances of video licensing agree-
needs for years, it was no longer sufficient. In response,
Cline Library initiated a project in 2023 to expand stream- ments, pricing models, and hosting options, all while con-
ing video access, addressing the rising demand for digital tinuing to serve the immediate needs of faculty members
content while navigating complex challenges such as copy- and students. Despite the challenges, we successfully cre-
right, licensing, and digital rights management. ated and marketed a new streaming collection.

4 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 Unlike traditional library acquisitions in which
established channels and vendors facilitate
access to books or journals, streaming video
often involves a convoluted web of production,
distribution, and licensing entities.

ACADEMIC
STREAMING VIDEO:
Challenges, Lessons, and
Best Practices in Collection
Development

By Theresa Carlson and Rita Baladad

Challenges in Expanding Streaming Video Access established channels and vendors facilitate access to books
Our experience in expanding streaming video access re- or journals, streaming video often involves a convoluted
vealed a wide range of challenges, many of which are shared web of production, distribution, and licensing entities. In
by academic libraries globally. One of the most significant many cases, mergers, acquisitions, or changes in distribu-
barriers is the inaccessibility of streaming licenses for in-
tion agreements make it nearly impossible to identify the
stitutional purchase. This is a complexity arising from the
current rightsholder. Acquiring foreign films adds anoth-
distribution and licensing practices of video content, which
are largely designed for individual consumers rather than er layer of difficulty. Many films produced outside the U.S.
the educational sector. may only be distributed domestically for a limited time.
Locating and identifying rightsholders can be an obsta- Once these films are out of circulation, acquiring them for
cle in itself. Unlike traditional library acquisitions in which institutional use becomes even more challenging.
X

infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 5

COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Academic Streaming Video: Challenges, Lessons, and Best Practices in Collection Development

Perhaps the biggest challenge is that many films are of- Workflow Design
fered exclusively through direct-to-consumer streaming The CDS staff developed a workflow to handle faculty
services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime, whose business member requests for streaming video, which streamlined
models cater to individual subscribers rather than institu- the acquisition process and ensured that communication
tions. Despite the high demand for certain films, these ser- was clear at each step. The workflow begins when a facul-
vices rarely license their exclusive content to libraries. As ty member submits a request via the Course Reserves re-
a result, even if a faculty member requests a popular film quest form. Reserves staffers check if the requested video
or critically acclaimed documentary, there may be no legal is available in the library’s subscriptions and share the link
way for the library to acquire it. This inability to meet user if found. However, if the video is unavailable, the ticket is
demand often leads to frustration and dissatisfaction from passed to the CDS staff to determine if an acquisition is
both faculty members and students. Faculty members, un- feasible.
aware of the complexities involved in video acquisition, may CDS staff then search for the film in a digital format to
perceive the library’s inability to provide specific titles as see if it can be purchased as a perpetual license (preferred)
a lack of support. or an annual license (1–3 years). Communication with the
In addition to these external challenges, our unit also faculty remains ongoing throughout the process in order
faced significant internal obstacles. One of the most imme- to manage expectations regarding potential delays, which
diate was limited staffing. The process of acquiring, imple- may be caused by the complexity of identifying rightshold-
menting, and maintaining streaming video access required ers, negotiating terms, or working within the constraints
substantial time and effort, given the specialized nature of of NAU’s purchasing processes. The final component of the
this content. This created an internal dilemma: determin- workflow is the purchase and hosting of the video. When
ing who within the team would assume these new respon- the library hosts the film, CDS staffers upload the file to a
sibilities and which existing tasks could be deprioritized streaming site after receiving it via email or cloud storage.
or delayed. Moreover, while CDS staffers had experience Metadata is then added to ensure proper cataloging and dis-
managing commercial streaming video packages, expand- coverability. While this workflow successfully streamlined
ing into single-title acquisitions presented new challenges. acquisitions, it also revealed several challenges in navigat-
Unlike the bundled licensing models of commercial pack- ing streaming media licensing.
ages, acquiring individual films required a deeper under-
standing of licensing terms, distribution chains, and tech- Best Practices
nical specifications such as hosting requirements and access One of the best practices we identified was the impor-
restrictions. tance of documentation. The CDS staff uses a ticketing
system—Springshare’s LibAnswers—to
track all media requests, ensuring that
each request is recorded and any actions
taken are documented. This system helps
build a history of each acquisition, offer-
ing insights for future decisions and en-
abling staff to capture workflow patterns
that will inform best practices moving
forward.
Another best practice is developing
clear guidelines for video acquisition.
Workflow for acquiring specific streaming video titles
To reduce decision-making complexity,
we follow a consistent approach: acquire
Ensuring accessibility and compliance was also crucial. streaming videos with perpetual rights (if available) on a
For instance, non-English-language films required careful vendor-hosted platform. It is also important to pay atten-
consideration regarding whether they included language tion to vendor terms and conditions, such as whether public
captioning or dubbing. Additionally, compliance with acces- performance rights (PPR) are included or if the video is li-
sibility standards, such as closed-captioning, became a key censed for the whole campus or limited to a certain depart-
concern in maintaining equitable access to content. Finally, ment. Make sure that all terms are documented in writing
securing the video was only one part of the challenge. There so that both the library and vendor have the same under-
was also the issue of discoverability. Students and facul- standing as well as for the historical record. We record li-
ty members needed seamless ways to access these videos, censing terms in the video’s item bibliographic record for
whether through the library’s catalog, course management future reference.
systems such as Canvas, or a dedicated video portal. Ensur- Flexibility and adaptability are also key. As staffers gain
ing that the content was easily accessible and well-integrat- more experience, we continue to refine procedures and roles.
ed into these platforms was essential to maximizing its use. We emphasize staff involvement, allowing team members

6 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 Academic Streaming Video: Challenges, Lessons, and Best Practices in Collection Development | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

to voice their opinions on procedural changes and ensuring

that workflows are realistic and manageable for those han-
dling the daily work. Additionally, a vital takeaway from the
first year was the ability to balance faculty member requests
[I]f a faculty member requests
with available resources. While academic libraries strive to
meet faculty demands, it is sometimes necessary to say “no” DSRSXODUࢆOPRUFULWLFDOO\
if a request is outside the scope of the library’s funding,
technical capabilities, or licensing agreements. Striking a acclaimed documentary, there
balance between meeting faculty needs and adhering to the
may be no legal way for the
library’s priorities and resources is an ongoing challenge.
library to acquire it.
Lessons Learned
Initially, the CDS unit adopted a flexible approach in
which any staff member in the unit could manage video re-
quests. However, we found that consolidating responsibili-
ties to one dedicated individual, supported by a backup, re- we hope to gather feedback that will guide future acquisi-
sulted in quicker response times and streamlined workflows. tions and help determine whether our current packages are
While the idea of cross-training multiple staff members meeting the needs of the university community. We hope
seemed promising, it introduced inefficiencies. We decided these efforts will not only inform acquisition decisions
that since the material was needed quickly for a class, time but also serve as a way to raise awareness of the library’s
took priority over cross-training, at least for the first year streaming collections.
when we were starting this project. As we recognized the
value of having a dedicated specialist, cross-training took Conclusion
a back seat to turnaround time. This strategy enabled us to Cline Library’s first year of acquiring and managing
swiftly acquire requested videos and effectively meet curric- streaming video resources has been both challenging and
ulum needs. Another major takeaway was the importance of rewarding, offering many learning opportunities and in-
managing external factors, such as vendor response times, sights into the growing demand for streaming media. This
university payment processing, and university contract re- shift required rapid adaptation to new formats, platforms,
view. These factors were largely beyond the library’s con- and licensing complexities. Despite initial resource con-
trol, but effective communication with faculty members was straints, the library successfully responded to faculty and
key to mitigating frustrations and managing expectations. student demand by developing structured workflows, build-
ing staff expertise, and maintaining clear communication.
Next Steps However, the project also highlighted the need for ongoing
We learned quite a bit in the first year of acquiring investment in staff skills and realistic communication with
streaming media. Having addressed initial challenges, our faculty members and students about outside constraints
next steps focus on expanding staff expertise and stream- on our ability to purchase desired video content. Looking
lining acquisitions. To start, we aim to expand expertise ahead, the library remains focused on enhancing staff ex-
by cross-training additional staffers, ensuring continuity pertise, refining workflows, and assessing its resources to
and coverage. Although we put this on hold for the first ensure its streaming video offerings remain accessible and
year while we formulated a plan, we now have procedures valuable for faculty and students alike. Q
in place with which to cross-train other staffers.
We also aim to improve communication with faculty
members. By developing better communication channels, Theresa Carlson
the library can keep faculty members informed about up- is the head of collections and discovery services at
dates to the status of their requests. Clear and proactive Northern Arizona University’s (NAU) Cline Library.
communication helps align faculty expectations with the She focuses on all aspects of library collection
library’s capabilities and ensures that everyone is on the management, including acquisition, assessment,
same page regarding what can be acquired and within what and weeding. Carlson is committed to improving the library’s
time frame. We are also focusing on reviewing and stream- resources for the NAU community.
lining acquisition procedures to reduce turnaround times
and make the process more efficient. This will involve re- Rita Baladad
visiting policies and practices that worked well and modi- is the e-resources librarian at Northern Arizona
fying those that need improvement. University’s Cline Library. She oversees the entire
Finally, we recognize the need for a formal assessment lifecycle of e-resources management: acquisition,
of our current streaming video resources. By conducting implementation, troubleshooting, and evaluation. Baladad is
surveys or focus groups with faculty members and students, committed to sustainable stewardship of library resources.

infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 7

 Imp
rovi
Aud ng
Reco io
Spac rding
es
Usab for
ility

Podcasting is the most popular usage of our audio suite, but the space
is also equipped to accommodate basic music production. …

T
he managers of creative technology spaces focus on a computer lab, an audio recording room, a video recording
the multimedia creation process, and they develop room, and a room dedicated to 3D printing. The computer
opportunities for patrons to produce their own con- lab contains 12 Mac computers and 12 Windows comput-
tent using library resources. Audio recording spaces are ers. They are equipped with expensive creative software for
becoming increasingly common in libraries, and patrons video editing, audio editing, 3D modeling, and more. The
can use them to develop all sorts of creative projects. An 3D printing space contains three MakerGear 3D printers
audio recording space can take the form of a podcasting and assorted filament colors. The video suite contains pro-
studio, a music studio, or some combination of the two. Our fessional cinema lights, backdrops of assorted colors (blue,
studio at the University of Tennessee–Chattanooga (UTC) gray, black, white, and gold sequin), and a wall that is paint-
was opened in its current form in 2017. The space features ed green for chromakey compositing.

8 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 Our studio

Recording room

Simple signage helps avoid dangerous audio feedback.

music. While this flexibility is valuable, it can be dangerous

because the recording microphones and a pair of monitor
speakers exist in the same room. In a professional recording
studio, the tracking room is where the microphones record
sound, which is separate from the monitor room (the room
where a recording engineer can hear the recorded sound).
When both the microphones and the monitor speakers are in
By Michael Standard the same space, there is a serious risk of feedback with both
of these devices turned on. We created signage that guides
patrons in order to discourage the use of the technology in
a manner that is dangerous to their hearing.
UTC’s audio suite is the space that is designated for re- A podcasting studio can be as simple as a microphone,
cording sound. It contains elements of podcasting studios an interface, and a computer. These devices could be set
and music studios. Our space has two Rode NT-1 condens- up in a closet somewhere in the library, but many librar-
er microphones, a Scarlett 18i8 audio interface from Fo- ians elect to design sound-isolated spaces that serve as re-
cusrite, a Keylab 88 MkII MIDI keyboard from Arturia, cording studios for podcasting. All that is needed for the
and a Mac desktop computer. Because our audio suite has podcast recording is a sound-isolated space, adequate re-
elements of a podcasting studio and a music studio, it is a cording equipment, and a good story. There are popular
uniquely flexible space. and widely distributed podcasts that have been produced
Patrons use the room to record spoken voice, singing, and in isolated studios, music studios, or even apartment clos-
musical instruments. They can edit audio recordings and ets. The primary requirements for an audio studio are the
X

infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 9

COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Improving Audio Recording Spaces for Usability

sound isolation, the microphones, and the recording soft- Podcast Editing
ware in the computer. One of the major concerns of a podcast-focused project
At UTC, we provide lots of guidance on the thought pro- is squaring the recorded voice with other recorded sounds.
cess of creating a podcast. We guide the scripting process, Whether it is background music, Foley sounds, or various
and we give lots of thoughts about recording strategies, other added sound files, the podcast developer has to work
the number of participants, and the content. If patrons are to make sure that the recording foregrounds the storytell-
searching for a podcasting studio, they often behave in the ing and that the other elements do not overpower this el-
following way: They enter the space, record themselves, and ement of the work. Sometimes, this can be accomplished
then save it. They walk out with a saved audio file, which can with fade-ins and fade-outs. Software tools are often criti-
be used in multiple contexts. The audio suite in our library is cal in resolving this issue. Using software, one can inde-
primarily designed for this kind of work; however, we have pendently adjust the volume levels for each of the elements
developed the space to support any number of audio-forward in the podcast. This is immensely valuable for storytelling,
projects. These can include podcasts, music recordings, or because the creator has control over what is the area of fo-
PSAs. It is our hope that when patrons arrive in our space, cus for the listener.
they have an understanding of what it can do for them. We Before we updated our audio suite, the space was slight-
attempt to keep the space as flexible as possible to support ly too modular for the kinds of recordings it was set up
these diverse audio-forward projects. for. The recording volume could be adjusted on the micro-
UTC’s audio suite is designed to accommodate several phone itself, on the audio interface, and in the recording
kinds of audio-focused media projects. As noted earlier, it- software. Patrons would begin turning knobs at random
contains an 88-key MIDI controller, two large-diaphragm in an attempt to troubleshoot. Through no fault of their
condenser microphones, a Mac computer, and an 18i8 au- own, the patrons would be put in a situation in which the
dio interface from Focusrite. By far, the largest number of input volume on the interface was turned up, but the gain
patrons working in our audio suite are working on podcast on the microphone itself was turned all the way down. For
recording. Some patrons use the space to record acoustic in- the purposes of voice recording, the gain knob on the mi-
struments (such as guitars) or singing. Others use the space crophone itself is not necessary. It is also more confusing
for music production and audio editing. The room itself is for patrons without experience in recording. So, changing
also treated with sound-absorption materials, both within the microphones was the single most useful and meaning-
the walls and on top of the painted drywall. However, the ful fix in this update process.
space is not soundproof. There are study rooms on the op-
posite side of one of the walls, which means that students Upgrades to UTC’s Audio Suite
are not allowed to produce sound at a volume that can be The updates described in this article are fairly straight-
heard outside the room. forward. UTC’s audio suite was moderately functional be-
fore the update, but it had some ongoing usability issues.
The updates include new versions of the interface, new mi-
crophones, and signage that guides patrons who have no
The primary low-hanging fruit experience with audio recording. Over the course of the
2023–2024 academic school year, the audio suite update
for getting patrons started in was completed in multiple phases.
our audio suite is consistently The first phase was ordering a new third-generation Fo-
cusrite Scarlett 18i8 interface. This update involved install-
making sure their recordings ing the interface, as well as downloading Focusrite’s soft-
ware, Focusrite Control. Focusrite Control is necessary to
are successful. change input and output routing in the interface, which is
different from previous generations of this interface. This
poses a few problems that would not have existed in previ-
Podcasting is the most popular use of our audio suite, but ous generations. For instance, the settings in the interface
the space is also equipped to accommodate basic music pro- are software-dependent, which means that changes in the
duction, with both a keyboard and relevant software. The Focusrite Control app are sometimes reset to defaults by
music production element of the audio suite is addressed in the computer.
our instructional materials, but it is understood to demand The second phase of the upgrade involved purchasing and
scaffolded knowledge, so we do not necessarily work to re- installing new microphones. Previously, the microphones
move barriers to students’ interest in music. The primary in this space were Yeti stereo microphones with separate
low-hanging fruit for getting patrons started in our audio left and right outputs. These microphones produced rea-
suite is consistently making sure their recordings are suc- sonable recording quality, but their construction and fea-
cessful. If they can record their voice successfully, this skill tures posed several operational problems. The mics had
can apply to both podcasting and music. two physical outputs (for left and right channels), which

10 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 Improving Audio Recording Spaces for Usability | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

required a proprietary five-pin podcast, and we are able to pro-

cable connector rather than an vide both the audio suite and a
industry-standard XLR cable. series of strategies for thinking
The Yeti mics also have their and planning. We run assign-
own volume control. With our ments that are embedded in Eng-
setup, which included the Yeti lish classes, in which podcasting
mics and an audio interface with is an opportunity for students
an input gain control on the first to practice communication and
four channels, this Yeti volume planning. So, we encourage pa-
control caused confusion for pa- trons to consider both our audio
trons, as they would default to suite and our circulating micro-
changing the volume on the mi- phones for their recording proj-
Rode NT1 condenser microphone
crophone. Depending on the gain ects, depending on availability
level on the interface, they may and the patrons’ needs. They can
not have been actually changing choose whatever solution works best
the gain in a way that was audible. for their situation.
To simplify this workflow, we pur- At UTC, our academic library also
chased two Rode NT1 condenser mi- works very closely with the English
crophones, and we installed them on rhetoric faculty, who assign multi-
boom arms in order to give patrons modal projects to students. These
the flexibility to move them to a com- projects often take the form of in-
fortable spot. fographics, video essays, podcasts,
The third and final upgrade in- and more. When students are as-
volved creating signage and guid- signed podcasts, they work closely
ance materials to help patrons get Instructive signage with our library studio for recording
started. Regardless of whether or equipment and guidance.
not a patron has experience with audio recording, the sig- In conclusion, there are different strategies for creat-
nage is designed to encourage them to understand sever- ing podcast studios, audio recording studios, or music pro-
al key principles as they are attempting to record for the duction studios within libraries. The development of an au-
first time. These principles include gain staging, signal dio recording can seem like a large investment of time and
flow, microphone proximity, and preparation procedures money, because of the technology involved. But with a small
for recording. However, I made an effort not to use jargon number of devices that have a relatively low cost, a func-
in any of the materials. I created a sign that showed the tional space can be created. The needs of academic librar-
color-changing that occurs on the Scarlett interface when ies and public libraries are different in some respects, but
it is receiving sound. The relationship between a distorted there is some overlap. A successful audio recording studio
recording and the red color on the gain halos is indicated on can facilitate the ability of patrons to tell and document
the signage (it is also indicated in an instructional video). their stories in the way that is most appropriate for them. Q
In addition, I created a graph that correlates which device
should be turned on for which purpose. This was guided by
the kinds of work that students often perform in the audio
suite (podcasting, audio recording, and music production).

After the Upgrades

Since these upgrades have been implemented, the diffi- Michael Standard
culties in this space have been drastically reduced. The pri- serves as studio librarian at the University of
mary issue—patrons reducing the gain on the Yeti mics— Tennessee–Chattanooga, where he teaches
has been removed, and patrons have generally been able to creative technology and collaborates with faculty
complete podcasts and music production projects with a rea- members across the campus to foster students’
sonable amount of time and effort. The technical compli- scholarship and curiosity. His background as a
cations have been largely remedied. Our patrons have been musician, recording engineer, and educator informs his teaching
able to easily direct technical issues to our library workers, and his academic work. Standard’s position involves guiding
who can field simple questions about microphone recording. students in technology-focused creative projects, and he works
closely with faculty members to address technology needs
Using the Audio Suite throughout their curricula. Standard is an active composer, with
Most patrons in our space at UTC are students at the works performed by the U.S. Air Force Band, Atlantic Brass Quintet,
university. They often ask about strategies for starting a Four Corners Ensemble, and more.

infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 11

 n fall 2022, our library team at California
Northstate University (CNU) purchased
LibGuides. We didn’t have a learning
management system prior to this, so we knew
this platform would make a difference in our li-
brary. However, we couldn’t have anticipated all of
the different ways this platform would help us over
the past 2 years. The eagle-eye perspective of Lib-
Guides I have received has taught me that the platform
serves as a valuable communication tool for library in-
struction and outreach purposes.
CNU was established in 2007 and has two campuses:
Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova, Calif. It offers termi-
nal degrees in dentistry, pharmacy, medicine, and psy-
chology, as well as other degrees in the general health

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infotoday.com
sciences, nursing, and healthcare administration. About Research and Design
1,200 students attend these various programs. The decision to purchase a subscription to LibGuides
Our library team includes two librarians: the director was made based on the results of our research and our
of the library and learning resources and the associate li- free trial. The most useful research tool we found was
brarian. There is a library and one librarian at each cam- an online workshop led by Talia Richards, a librarian
pus. As a team, we conducted research and made decisions and now Springshare VP, called Best Practices for Build-
about overall design. Then, as the associate librarian, I was ing LibGuides, which is available on YouTube through
tasked with creating the individual LibGuides. The conse- ACRL Choice (youtube.com/watch?v=FNgsuCwdeBc&ab_
quent crash course in web design that I received has rede- channel=CHOICEMediaChannel).
fined my view of LibGuides and its potential in supporting From this workshop, we learned the importance of con-
library instruction. Additionally, the LibGuides platform sistency across guides, clarity and connectedness in guide
has made our attempts at outreach more effective: With a navigation, and selectivity when including informational
larger online presence, our library has been able to build content on guides. Arguably, the most useful guidance from
better, lasting connections with our student population and this online workshop was to create a style guide. This style
establish connections with other libraries. guide serves as the standard layout for each LibGuide we
X
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DECEMBER 2024 | 13
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Using LibGuides for Outreach and Instruction at a Small University

produce and as a protocol for creating new LibGuides. Fre-

quently reused content (text, links, media) is stored in this
style guide, allowing users to edit content once for all in-
stances where it is used.
Through researching other LibGuides, what I found par-
ticularly effective was their shared universal design, which
can be found in all LibGuides’ general webpage structure,
URL stanza, and search result appearance. This univer-
sal design has great potential to students and the public in
quickly signaling with one glance that here is a reliable, li-
brarian-approved list of resources on this topic. This signal-
ing has the ability to cut down on information overload and
to increase and support digital and information literacy. Style guide

Establishing the Structure of Our LibGuides Platform Example 1: Adding an Interactive

With a standard LibGuide design established, we, as a Component to Library Instruction Sessions
library team, needed to decide what LibGuides to create and The first example is a LibGuide I made with a professor in
how they would be categorized on our platform for people to fall 2023 to find supporting materials for her service learn-
navigate. Initially, I thought this would be straightforward. ing course. After locating books, organizations, and news
But the list of LibGuides we wanted to make kept changing articles and starting a LibGuide with her permission, the
because the list had to be finite but comprehensive, and each professor and I agreed to turn this into an activity the stu-
guide had to be distinct and relevant. Over time, our list was dents could participate in. Our plan was to have students
turned into reality. I’ve made 56 LibGuides over the past search for information on a service learning topic and email
2 years, some better than others. I’ll share a few examples the library a list of three to five sources. Then, we would
of LibGuides that our library has deemed successful, be- post links to those sources to their course LibGuide (cnsu
cause they either have a lot of views or they accomplished .libguides.com/service-learning-practicum/overview).
a task or service we couldn’t have accomplished otherwise. There were nine students split into three groups, so this was
feasible for us. Each group is listed on its own page: nutri-
tion education, nutrition education for kids, and community
kitchens (cnsu.libguides.com/service-learning-practicum/
nutritional-education, cnsu.libguides.com/service-learn
ing-practicum/nutritional-education-for-kids, and cnsu.lib
guides.com/service-learning-practicum/group-3).
Not everything went to plan: The three student groups
found their resources around the same time—toward the
end of the library instruction session—so I had to finish up-
loading all of the links once their class was over. I managed
to get two links up for each group by the end of the class
so that they could see proof of concept, and I promised to
Service learning groups LibGuide
have the rest uploaded within the hour—this was easy. One
group, nutrition education, particularly liked
its webpage and continued to submit more links
to be added to its page over time.
The goal was to see if creating a LibGuide with
student input would encourage them to use it af-
ter the library instruction session was over. The
LibGuide received 48 views last year, distribut-
ed equally between September, October, and No-
vember. This indicated that students revisited
the LibGuide after the instruction session.

Example 2: Club Outreach,

Advocation, and Support
Also in fall 2023, I made a LibGuide called
Herbal Medicine (cnsu.libguides.com/herbal-
Service learning groups’ contributions medicine) for CNU’s Latino Medical Student

14 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 Using LibGuides for Outreach and Instruction at a Small University | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

Association (LMSA). This started as an idea

that was the outcome of one of our library coffee
hours, an outreach event at which my supervisor
and I brought coffee—and sometimes donuts—
on campus and chatted with students passing by.
One student told us excitedly that she was the
president of our LMSA chapter and that she was
heading to a chapter meeting after getting cof-
fee. She asked if we had any books about curan-
deros (specialists in herbal medicine), and we
did. Rather than send a list of book titles and
resources through email, I decided to share the
materials via a LibGuide. She and the other
group members remarked that the LibGuide was
easy to navigate and use. The students asked us
to attend a chapter meeting to share more about Herbal Medicine LibGuide
the LibGuide. Since that meeting, the curande-
ros LibGuide has been renamed Herbal Medicine
and now includes medicinal practices from other
parts of the world.

Example 3: Connecting With Other

Libraries Through Conferencing
Another insightful experience was creating
a LibGuide called Essential Tools for Online
Research (cnsu.libguides.com/essential-tools-
for-online-research/overview). This LibGuide
got started in summer 2023 as a result of ref-
erence questions I received from students, and
it served as an easy link I could forward after Essential tools LibGuide
answering a student’s question, if helpful. My
goal was to help students feel confident that they could try The A–Z Database List
something on their own after asking me about it. With this We have also created an A–Z Database list that has con-
guide, they could still have some support, but they would be tributed to our online presence and outreach efforts. Our
navigating the sites and making decisions by themselves. I goal for the A–Z list was to add more OA and government-
had the opportunity to share this guide at the Lifelong In- provided content. I had visited several other database lists
formation Literacy (LILi) Conference (lili.libguides.com/c from other universities and saw that many of the databas-
.php?g=1386213&p=10427674) in summer 2024, in which es they linked to were publicly available too. I also discov-
I connected with other librarians and shared LibGuides ered some new OA and publicly available databases (such as
tips with other libraries. This experience was invaluable Ensembl and Frontiers) and added them to our list. Seeing
in building an online presence and learning new LibGuides our database list develop helped me feel confident that our
techniques. The LILi conference even uses LibGuides to library was fitting the standards and expectations of aca-
house its free, virtual conference content. demic librarianship.

Example 4: Connecting With the Blogging: Dispelling the Collection’s Iceberg Illusion
Public Through Linked Web Tools The blog functionality that came with LibGuides (cnsu
The last experience I have to share is a LibGuide that .libguides.com/blog) started as a fun side project for me,
I hastily made in one day and that caught more attention but soon became another outlet for highlighting what our
than any other guide we created: Zines (cnsu.libguides.com/ library had to offer. I had received offhanded comments
zines). I believe that it is used frequently by people who are that our library didn’t have many books. Despite my ef-
reusing the Canva zine template I created, which is linked forts to motivate people to browse our ebook collection or
in the guide. When I check on it, there is always a differ- to really look at our physical collection, these comments
ent zine in progress. It is fun to get to snoop on this work. persisted. The blog changed this for me, unexpectedly. By
The reception to zine-making has also been better than an- highlighting one book at a time—and showing where the
ticipated. We’ve since added PDF downloads of zines that book was available—I was finally able to effectively illus-
CNU students have created. trate the depth of our library’s coverage.

infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 15

COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Using LibGuides for Outreach and Instruction at a Small University

LibGuides more and share content (media, presentations,

text) in new, creative ways (adaptable carousels, interactive
buttons, etc.). I think if combined with the classic LibGuide
look, these additional modifications have great potential to
improve the user experience and to more easily embed in-
formation literacy skills into LibGuides.

Final Thoughts
Over the past 2 years, my concept of what constitutes
a LibGuide has changed, but what has stayed the same is
my appreciation for LibGuides. At other institutions, I’ve
had librarians share their skepticism of LibGuides with me,
stating that they don’t want to make a guide for a class in
which they’re leading a library instruction session. These
librarians said, “I know that students aren’t going to look
at it once it’s done, so what’s the point?”
I think there are several reasons for making a LibGuide
that go beyond library instruction sessions. To start, Lib-
Guides are publicly available. On internet searches, they
appear alongside other search results. The information lit-
eracy skills of the public stand to benefit from these guides
as waypoints amid online searching sessions. Additionally,
LibGuides can be about any topic, not necessarily academic
ones. Compelling guides I’ve seen tackle source types, gov-
ernment resources, news and current events, misinforma-
tion, and history. Few groups are more trusted than librar-
ies to provide balanced, reliable information, and this role
is too important to neglect by not creating guides. And the
last reason is for myself: Many of the online tools, govern-
ment sites, and paid resources that I’ve found useful have
been kept organized and managed with LibGuides. Since
these tools are organized through the library, sharing this
information reflects well on it.
There are other methods of sharing information and in-
creasing a library’s presence online, including social me-
dia platforms, blogs, and webpage development. What I
like most about LibGuides compared to these other meth-
ods—which I’ve also tried—is that LibGuides places the re-
sponsibility of navigation onto users. Sure, not all students
or members of the public will view a LibGuide repeatedly.
LibGuide on zines, including a template and downloadable zines However, the right LibGuide can help someone strength-
en their own information literacy skills on their own time.
Moving Forward This creates a relationship between a patron and their on-
I know there is more to LibGuides than what I’ve done so line library. Q
far. One of the next steps for me is to use more of the HTML,
CSS, and Bootstrap coding that I had used in my M.L.I.S.
program at San Jose State University. What transferred
best from my coding experience to LibGuides was the in- Sadie Davenport
sight into what makes a website good. The structure, con- is a health sciences librarian at Blaisdell Medical
tent, navigation, and color palette of a website or webpage Library at the University of California–Davis in
can make it easy or difficult to read. There’s a Bootstrap/ Sacramento. She was formerly a librarian at
HTML administration section on LibGuides that we made California Northstate University, where this LibGuides
limited use of early on in our LibGuides platform to create a project took place. Davenport obtained her M.L.I.S. in 2022 and
unique guide template with a specific font size and typeface. has a background in the health sciences and in history. Outside
Beyond this, we put the Bootstrap section aside. With CMS librarianship, she enjoys writing science fiction as part of the
and Bootstrap-modded LibGuides, we could customize our Warped Spacers, a writing group based in Sacramento.

16 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 The Systems
by
marshall
breeding

Librarian
X Independent Consultant and Founder of Library Technology Guides

Tech to Serve Academic and

Research Libraries: The Dynamics
of Expanding Platforms
I ANTICIPATE THAT OVER

A
cademic libraries face incredible ILSs built to manage print collections to
challenges in forming strategies library services platforms (LSPs) designed
THE NEXT FEW YEARS, that best serve their institutions for a more comprehensive approach to re-
broadly and meet the specific needs of fac- source management. These products pro-
THE MOVEMENT OF
ulty members, students, alumni, and other vide workflows and knowledgebases that
ACADEMIC LIBRARIES members of their community. They must are able to efficiently manage e-resources
be well-aligned with the priorities articu- in addition to print books and ebooks. The
TO [LIBRARY SERVICES lated by the administration of the college transition to LSPs is not universal, with a
or university and responsive to the needs of modest contingent remaining on ILS prod-
PLATFORMS] WILL
faculty members, other staffers, and stu- ucts. The emergence of the comprehensive
PROCEED EVEN MORE dents. The dynamics of building collections management model offered by the new
and delivering services aren’t static, but category of LSPs can be seen as a decade
QUICKLY. morph over time according to shifting in- overdue relative to the already changed re-
stitutional priorities, changes in the realm ality of academic library collections. The
of scholarly communications, budget con- quick adoption cycle reflected the pent-
straints, and the technologies available to up frustration of academic libraries that
support library efforts. Managing collec- were already struggling to manage grow-
tions has always been one of the primary ing proportions of e-resources with inad-
roles of academic libraries. These collec- equate tools.
tions must be honed to serve the diverse in- The consolidation of the library technol-
formation and research needs of all aspects ogy industry has also played a role in the
of the educational institution. Academic li- movement toward LSPs among academic
braries maintain large and complex collec- libraries. Mergers and acquisitions have
tions of materials spanning many formats. reshaped the library technology industry.
Today, academic libraries acquire prod-
The Emergence and Ongoing Adoption ucts and services from a relatively small
of Library Services Platforms cadre of providers. Some of these provid-
One of the key technology trends in aca- ers have built or acquired multiple product
demic libraries for a decade or so (2012– families. These vendors have worked hard
2024) has been the migration from legacy to maintain multiple products knowing
X

infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 17

COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | The Systems Librarian

that abruptly discontinuing any stra- layers of functionality might include as providers demonstrate their com-
tegic product imposes disruption on li- resource sharing, management of ma- mitments to deliver valued products
braries. In the very long term, we can terials for academic courses, enhanced and services. These relationships also
anticipate that at least some of these analytics, and management of digital depend on libraries and vendors nego-
products will eventually fall out of use collections. tiating reasonable prices. Fortunately,
as libraries move to newer systems that The LSP has generally gained accep- multiple vendors and open source alter-
are more suited to their needs. tance as an efficient model for manag- natives persist in each major category
I anticipate that over the next few ing the print and electronic collection of technology products, giving libraries
years, the movement of academic li- of academic libraries. Extending these alternatives should costs become unrea-
braries to LSPs will proceed even more platforms to also manage digital collec- sonable.
quickly. Many of the ILS products that tions of images, video, sound record- These partnerships between librar-
remain in use in academic libraries are ings, and related formats seems like a ies and their strategic technology pro-
long past their life expectancy. Not only natural progression. Similar efficien- viders require a deeper level of trust in
do they not offer robust functionality cies may be gained through bringing the ability of those providers to deliv-
for managing e-resources, but they the management of digital materials er and support high-quality products.
also may be difficult to operate within into the scope of the LSP, as was gained They also need alignment between the
the enhanced security environments with published e-resources. These long-term strategic expectation of the
required as cyberattacks become more strategies for expansive, integrated library and that of the vendor. They
frequent and more sophisticated. platforms do not mean the demise of require assurance that the vendor has
third-party products. Libraries will sufficient stability and resources to
Integrated Discovery continue to need many products and fulfill its responsibilities for the long
It has already become a reality that services beyond those provided and may term. These partnerships may endure
academic libraries mostly work with a choose alternatives to those offered by for decades. When libraries acquire
single provider for both resource man- their core LSP vendor. multiple layers of products and ser-
agement and discovery. The moment vices from a single strategic vendor,
has passed when academic libraries the complexity and cost of changing
would acquire discovery products sep- will be high.
arately from their core resource man- These alliances and partnerships
agement platform. These two areas of cannot be taken for granted. Although
[LIBRARY SERVICES
functionality have become tightly in- any partnership comes with occasion-
terrelated. Any benefits in using a dis- PLATFORMS] SERVE AS al missteps, major failures can lead to
covery service other than the one deliv- drastic measures. Despite the high cost
ered by the provider are overwhelmed A FOUNDATION FOR AN of change, libraries must be prepared
by the challenges of integration. The to reassess their relationship with their
main exception can be seen in libraries EXPANDING ECOSYSTEM strategic technology vendors should
that develop their own customized dis- major problems arise. Vendors must
covery interfaces, using tools such as OF SERVICES TO SUPPORT continually earn the business of their
Blacklight. However, most of these con- library customers to maintain close
tinue to use the API from the discovery ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH partnerships with them. Q
service of their LSP provider to search
LIBRARIES.
and access scholarly content from their
e-resource collections.

The Expanding Role of the LSP

LSPs serve as a foundation for an
expanding ecosystem of services to Library Partnerships With
support academic and research librar- Technology Vendors Marshall Breeding is an
ies. A variety of optional components These dynamics mean that libraries independent consultant, writer, and
or products can be layered on them to will engage in developing deeper rela- frequent library conference speaker and
address additional areas of library ac- tionships with a small number of tech- is the founder of Library Technology
tivities. These optional components nology providers rather than assem- Guides (librarytechnology.org). His
take advantage of data, services, and bling an environment with components email address is marshall.breeding@
APIs available in the LSP and may be from multiple vendors. With these rela- librarytechnology.org.
able to provide services more efficient- tionships also come dependencies. Plac-
ly than integrating with third-party ing all of your eggs in one basket is a
products. Some of these additional valid concern that can be mitigated only

18 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 BiblioTech
by
Suzanne S.
LaPierre

X Everyday Library Technology

Vision Aids for Archive Patrons

VISION IMPAIRMENTS

Y
ellowed paper, faded text, irregular is housed serves a higher percentage of old-
handwriting on manuscripts, and er customers, who are statistically more
AFFECT ALMOST teeny-tiny map details: Some of the likely to have eyesight challenges.
items in an archive will give even research-
20 MILLION ers with normal vision a headache. How can Budget
we make the library’s archival collection Budget, of course, was a factor for
AMERICANSABOUT more accessible to patrons with vision chal- the toolkit. Fortunately, we found use-
lenges? That question resulted in a new vi- ful tools across a broad price range, from
8% OF THE U.S.
sion aid toolkit for patrons at the history $8 to about $150. We opted for some off-
POPULATION … AND and genealogy archive where I work, which brand products that had the same features
is part of a large public library system. The as more expensive versions. Luckily, there
THAT’S NOT EVEN Virginia Room collection is noncirculating were enough funds in our supply budget
and includes records in multiple formats, to cover seven tools for our kit. However,
INCLUDING PATRONS many of which have not been digitized. I going to our Friends of the Library group
consulted our access services staffers for with a special funding request was anoth-
WHO SIMPLY FORGOT assistance with compiling a list of tools er option.
that may be useful to people with vision
THEIR READING impairments who are using our collection.
Helping patrons see our materials better
GLASSES.
was especially important for various rea-
sons, which I’ll discuss.

Unique Collection
The Virginia Room has a great variety of
materials that can be difficult to read due
to the age of the paper and print. Addition-
ally, they are in unusual formats such as
maps, handwritten letters, manuscripts,
and scrapbooks. The vision aids toolkit

Access What’s in the Box?

Virginia Room materials do not circu- The result of the project is a kit with
late, and much of them are not digitized. seven tools, six of which fit in a box be-
Researchers typically must be on-site to hind the Virginia Room’s reference desk.
view materials. Therefore, having vision As previously mentioned, the cost of the
aids on-site is important for inclusivity. tools varied from $8 to about $150. Let’s
take a look at what we have.
User Demographics A portable digital zoom video magni-
Compared to the library system’s other fier capable of magnifying text and images
branches, the branch where Virginia Room between 4x and 32x is the most powerful
X

infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 19

COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | BiblioTech

A visual tracking bar magnifier or ing collection. In addition, any staff

RESOURCES magnification ruler can help some peo- member, volunteer, or Friends of the
ple with sight difficulties or dyslexia Library member who might need them
There are several free and low-cost
apps that can also help with a variety read text line by line. A tracking bar for a specific task is welcome to borrow
of vision challenges. made specifically for people with vision them. We take an ID or library card be-
impairments is available, but a low-bud- fore lending out items, so patrons can
The American Academy of
get tool that can serve a similar purpose use the tools anywhere in the building
Ophthalmology has a list of apps for
people with low vision at aao.org/ is a magnification ruler. and return them to the Virginia Room
eye-health/tips-prevention/ Color acetate sheets come in inex- reference desk to retrieve their card
low-vision-impairment-apps-tech- pensive variety packs. These are helpful when done. Another consideration is
assistive-devices. for some individuals with color-vision keeping the digital tools charged. We
deficiencies (formerly referred to as col- check them once a week and recharge
The American Foundation for the
Blind has a list of accessible apps in or blindness) and some with dyslexia. them when they are below 50% power.
alphabetical order at afb.org/ The transparent sheets can be laid over Vision impairments affect almost 20
blindness-and-low-vision/using- maps or other paper materials to im- million Americans—about 8% of the
technology/assistive-technology- prove contrast between colors or reduce U.S. population (hpi.georgetown.edu/
products/mobile-apps. distractions. Additionally, white paper visual)—and that’s not even including
can produce a glare effect for some in- patrons who simply forgot their reading
dividuals with low vision, and color ac- glasses. Vision impairments are defined
tool we have for patrons with low vi- etate overlays can help with that. as limitations that cannot be correct-
sion. It has 17 color modes. Changing A rectangular page magnifier with ed with ordinary glasses, contact lens-
the color of the background and/or font multiple color lighting modes (warm, es, medications, or surgery (hpi.george
can be helpful to some people who have cool, and neutral) can be more effec- town.edu/visual). In addition to those
specific eye conditions. This device can tive than a round handheld magnify- with permanent disabilities, some ex-
also be used to transfer text and im- ing glass. The shape covers more of the perience temporary eyesight problems
agery to digital format. I recommend page when reading books, and adjust- due to relapsing conditions or while
purchasing a larger device for easi- able lighting is helpful to many people awaiting or recovering from surgery.
er readability, even though they cost with vision challenges. The more we can do to expand access
more. We purchased one that is 5", and OCR digital pens can read text to our collection, the better—whether a
I wouldn’t recommend going any small- aloud, translate, and scan printed ma- patron has a disability, accidentally left
er than that. These are specifically de- terial to digital format. However, the their glasses at home, or has a tempo-
signed for people with low vision, so the OCR pens aren’t primarily designed rary vision issue that might not qualify
operating buttons are larger and are for people with low vision. The instruc- them for other services. The same tools
different colors and shapes for easier tions on the device are small, and some can also be used by people with 20/20
distinction. people with low vision may not see well eyesight who wish to examine archival
A desktop hands-free lighted magni- enough to position the cursor precise- items more closely. In the true spirit of
fier is especially useful for researchers ly. We need to experiment with using universal access, vision aids benefit dif-
who are sifting through a lot of items, this as a shared library tool. Currently, ferent people for different reasons. Q
such as manuscript collections or clip- the best feature for our purposes is the
ping files. It has two bases so it can ei- read-aloud function.
ther clamp to the side of a table or stand
on a desk. The three-diopter magnifier Raising Awareness
lens enlarges 1.75x, and there is a five- With the tools assembled, the next Suzanne S. LaPierre
diopter mini lens inset for additional challenge was to publicize their avail- ([email protected]) is
a Virginiana Specialist Librarian
magnification. The base has a recessed ability. We held a petting zoo for pa-
for Fairfax County Public Library in
area for examining small objects, such trons to experiment with the tools and
Virginia and co-author of the book
as coins. This item is too large to fit in demonstrated them to all employees at
Desegregation in Northern Virginia
our vision aids toolbox, so we have a a staff meeting. We put out fliers and Libraries (The History Press 2023).
photo of it in the box with a note tell- social media posts and notified access LaPierre has worked in public library
ing staffers where to find it in the back services to share the information with information services for more than
room. their patrons. 17 years, with prior experience in
A compact handheld magnifier can While the tools were obtained spe- academic libraries, archives, museums,
be useful for searching call numbers in cifically with archives patrons in mind, galleries, and special collections.
the stacks. Ours has a 2x main magnifi- we can also lend them to customers Opinions expressed are her own.
cation with a 4x bifocal inset and a fold- who visit the lower level of our public
able handle. library, which contains the circulat-

20 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 HOW TO RESPOND
Safely and Sanely to a
Library Bomb Threat

By Steve Albrecht

L
et’s start by saying something bold and true: In the
U.S., bomb threat makers make bomb threats, and
Our responses to bomb bomb makers make bombs. Thankfully, for the safe-
ty of our country, they are not usually the same person.
threats must be measured This is not the case in other countries, but it is here. In

and must take in the possibility the U.S., actual bombs that explode are exceedingly rare.
The ongoing reality is that bomb threats aimed at public
that the event is a hoax and businesses—such as libraries or city or county buildings—

then initiate safe, practical, and X

realistic security responses.
infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 21
COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | How to Respond Safely and Sanely to a Library Bomb Threat

political rallies, community gatherings, K–12 schools, and tation or customer service issue that the sender is still an-
even charity events are still far too common. gry about or, more concerning, as a result of a stalking or
Here’s the main problem: A bomb threat emailed to your domestic violence issue.
library creates a highly personal, heavily intuitive response Check the timestamp. If someone sends a bomb threat
that sounds logical (“We need to evacuate!”) and that’s ac- email at 2:00 a.m., then it’s probably safe to consider that
tually an overreaction. It’s better to stay put, investigate the threatener didn’t really want anyone to be there in per-
fully, and make a careful plan to respond based on what is son when it arrived. Bomb threats via email that arrive dur-
known about both the threat and the threatener and what ing library business hours are similar to when a threatener
is found (a real or suspicious device)—and not shut down calls in a bomb scare to the main library number and speaks
the business based on what is most certainly a hoax. (I’ve to a library employee. The goal is to create fear, disrupt the
been studying violence since 1992, and I’m not aware of a business operations, tie up police and fire services with a
bomb ever detonating inside a U.S. library.) multiple-agency response, and even get the library to shut
This is not to say we don’t take bomb threats seriously; down a planned program, author’s visit, or oth-
we do, as they are a crime and create fear and disruption er politically identified activity at the facility.
for everyone at the targeted location. Our responses to
bomb threats must be measured and must take in the
possibility that the event is a hoax and then initiate

Searching Your
safe, practical, and realistic security responses. We’ll need
to evacuate only in those rare possibilities in which an ac-
tual or a lookalike bomb device is discovered.
The reason bomb threat makers do what they do is not Library for a Suspicious
to blow up buildings and kill people. Despite what might be
easily found on the internet, it’s not that simple to make a
Package, Box, or Device
bomb that can do that much damage. There are plenty of What follows is not designed to turn you into an
stories of nitwits who blow themselves up in their garages
expert on bombs; it’s about how to use a selected
or basements because they don’t understand the chemistry,
physics, and electronics necessary to make a bomb. team of library leaders to (quietly, carefully, and
The goal of bomb threat makers is not mass destruction— skillfully) search your entire library for any item
it’s fear. Our response to these electronic threats should in- that looks unusual, like it shouldn’t be there, and
clude managing the fear of our employees and patrons and could be dangerous.
the community near the library. Most people don’t under-
stand threat assessment and threat management princi- Three-Height Search Technique
ples, so they believe that every bomb threat is real. Unfor-
tunately, this can include responding police and sheriffs,
Using a team approach, each person should first
fire chiefs, library leaders, and board lawyers. look from ground-level to waist-level. Next, look
from waist-level to head-height. Lastly, look from
head-height to ceiling-level. It should go without
saying not to open, touch, nudge, or move anything
Their weapons are words— with your foot that you find on the floor, a table,
not bombs, guns, or violence— or a shelf. But if you find something, you’ll need to
block access to the area and evacuate all patrons
aimed directly at their targets. and staffers to a location at least one-quarter
mile (about 1,300') from the library.
It’s critically important that you only call for
Dissecting the Threat the bomb squad (most often staffed by the county
Let’s consider the usual components of a bomb threat
sheriff’s department, the fire department, and/
coming into your library by email and then look at sugges-
tions for a better response. Starting with the electronic ar- or the state police) from this far-off position,
rival of a bomb threat, an important first issue to consider not from inside the building. It’s rare to hear of
is who it was addressed to. Did it come into the library as bombs being detonated from inadvertent cell-
a general delivery email? Was it addressed to the director phone or landline calls, but we never want to take
or a specific staff member? Targeting the director may be the chance that the bomb maker has the sophis-
because the threatener wants to reach an authority figure,
ticated knowledge of how to do that.
whom he has no specific beef with. Sending it to an identi-
fied staff member might be because of a previous confron-

22 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 How to Respond Safely and Sanely to a Library Bomb Threat | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

The specificity of the language in the electronic bomb We can categorize bomb threat makers (the aforemen-
threat is significant, not so much because it proves the va- tioned howlers) as these possible suspects:
lidity of an actual bomb inside the building, but because it
will suggest that the threatener has a familiarity with the
•Kids, especially in a group, on a dare, who may want to
disrupt a library activity or something they don’t want
library, its operations, its building design, and the activ- to attend as a student
ities of the staffers. One example is someone saying this
in an email: “I’ve hidden a bomb in the drop ceiling in the •Alcohol or drug users
children’s section on the second floor. It’s set to go off in 15 •People with untreated mental health issues, especially
minutes, and don’t bother calling the police because there’s those having psychoses, being out of touch with real-
nothing you can do. If you don’t evacuate the library, then ity, or dealing with rage, revenge, or conspiracy theo-
you’ll have blood on your hands.” ries about the government that they believe the library
To start, we need to call the police immediately, because caused
what the person just sent us is a crime. Second, we need to
verify a few obvious clues: Is our children’s section even on
•Recently terminated, demoted, or transferred employ-
ees from the library or nearby city or county govern-
the second floor? (Do we have a second floor? And if the an- ment offices
swer is no, we know even more that the threat is a hoax.) Is
there a drop ceiling above this area? Does it look like it has •An angry vendor who has not been paid on time or enough
for their services
been recently disturbed? Can we have a carefully worded
discussion with key staff members to see if they’ve seen or •An angry, disgruntled, disturbed patron who is furi-
witnessed anything unusual with recent patrons? The more ous about how they or a family member was treated at
specific the language in the emailed bomb threat, the higher the library
the likelihood the threatener is either known to us, is one
of our patrons who has exhibited mental health struggles
•Threateners from outside the U.S., which could include
bots, AI-created impersonations, or people who want to
before, or has made similar verbal or electronic threats. extort ransoms from the library before they stop mak-
Review the email threat for its specificity: Who is being ing threats
targeted? Where is the supposed device? Why is this threat
All that said, you should see the sidebar on the prior page
being made? What’s the motive? When will the device go
for some helpful advice.
off? How are we supposed to respond (warnings by either
doing or not doing something, to make it more likely the
person will detonate the bomb)? What must we do to pre-
vent it from happening?
The goal of bomb threat makers is
Hunters vs. Howlers
Here’s a model that may help us understand bomb threat
not mass destruction—it’s fear.
makers versus actual bombers. It was created by Frederick
S. Calhoun, based on “Hunters and Howlers: Threats and Protecting Cyber-Evidence
Violence Against Federal Judicial Officials in the United Most responding patrol officers will know how to inter-
States, 1789–1993” (cdn.fedweb.org/fed-96/2/Hunters_ pret bomb threats, but they won’t always understand IT evi-
and_Howlers.pdf), his 1998 report for the U.S. Marshals dence or how to collect or capture it. Get IT support to cap-
Service in assessing threats of harm against federal judg- ture the bomb threat message. Take screenshots or photos,
es and federal courthouses, whom the marshals protect. and print them out as well so you can show them first to re-
Calhoun describes “howlers” as people who make threats sponding law enforcement officers and later to detectives if
designed to create fear, but they have no real intention of they do a follow-up investigation. You’re most likely to talk
carrying out the threats. They threaten people directly, ver- with police investigators if they find a suspicious device or if
bally, over the phone, or electronically, and their language is this is a serial case, meaning that the threat maker is mak-
intense, frightening, sinister, and ominous. Their weapons ing threats all over town to various public entities, schools,
are words—not bombs, guns, or violence—aimed directly or popular businesses. Ask the police, “Has this happened
at their targets. before at other government businesses? Is the threatening
By stark contrast, “hunters” do not warn their targets. language the same? Do you have an idea who is doing this?”
They operate in stealth and strike without notice. They don’t Help them figure out who it is if you can.
make bomb threats; they plant working bombs that deto- Despite their best intentions, firefighters and police of-
nate. (Consider this parallel: The U.S. Secret Service talks ficers may overrespond—meaning they will order an evacu-
to howlers, who have threatened the president in a variety ation of the library to err on the side of caution. But bomb
of ways; they look for hunters, who have a secret plan and threateners respond to our response. When we overreact
want to take action, not just write or say words.) and close the library (including all of the other branches,
X

infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 23

COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | How to Respond Safely and Sanely to a Library Bomb Threat

even if they have not had a similar threat), the message to Concluding Remarks
the threat makers is that they won, and they are more like- Being the shepherds of our facilities sometimes means we
ly to do it again, at random times, to prove they can shut have to make hard decisions on behalf of a group of people
down a public agency with a few keystrokes. we deeply care about, because we know more about the total-
ity of the issue and the best response than they do. We rec-
ognize the seriousness of this crime. We recognize we have
Review the email threat a duty to protect patrons, staff, and the library building.
We will have discussed our response with our first respond-
for its specificity. … ers. We also know that bomb threats are not the same as an
actual discovered bomb. We must not allow people making
bomb threats to shut down our libraries. Q
If You Have to Evacuate
There are no perfect, fast, or easy ways to evacuate a pub-
lic facility. If it has to happen, once the building is verified
as empty, the local police—or more likely the sheriff’s of- Steve Albrecht
fice—will send in a bomb dog with its handler. If they find is nationally known for his library service,
what looks like a real bomb, they will send in a robot or a safety, and security programs. He has worked in
team of experts to defuse and remove it. workplace and school violence prevention since
Do not stage staff or patrons near any part of the library 1992. Albrecht’s books include Ticking Bombs:
(the flagpole, the parking lot, the loading dock, in front of Diffusing Violence in the Workplace (Irwin
the building, along the side of a fire truck). The first re- 1994), The Safe Library: Keeping Users, Staff,
sponders probably won’t allow you to do this anyway, but and Collections Secure (Rowman & Littlefield 2023), and Library
it’s important to get everyone as far away from the library Security: Better Communication, Safer Facilities (ALA Editions
building as possible. 2015). He can be reached at drstevealbrecht.com.

Managing Reactions, Fears, and Feelings

of Staffers, Patrons, and the Media
Let’s look at what will often be asked of library leaders if news gets out that there was a bomb threat (often
leaked by anxious staffers). It’s likely patrons or staffers will say, “We need to do something!” THE ANSWER:
“We are doing something. We are assessing the threat, in terms of its validity and likelihood.”

“Why won’t you evacuate the library? Don’t you care “We’ll get sued if something horrible happens!”
about the lives of our patrons, the children, and THE ANSWER: “We should not use the fear of litigation
employees?” as a reason to overreact.”
THE ANSWER: “Yes. We are taking all possible steps to
ensure the safety of everyone here. We will close the “Why won’t you close the library until the investigation
library for a bomb threat if there is either a suspicious into this threat is completed?”
package or device or an actual bomb found on the
THE ANSWER: “Because we don’t want to encourage
property.”
more copycat threats.”
“But what if you’re wrong?”
“The media wants a comment!”
THE ANSWER: “We make our decisions based on the
THE ANSWER: “The library
strongest likelihood that this is a hoax designed to
director or their designee
shut us down and create fear. If we get evidence that
will provide a response, only
this is a real event, we will take urgent safety steps.”
after talking with the first
responders and other safety
and security stakeholders.”

24 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

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 Noted & Quoted
by
alison a.
trotta

X people • libraries • awards • promotions

‘I’ve had the privilege of visiting libraries all over the world. Libraries are as
diverse as you can imagine[,] from boat libraries carrying materials to remote
parts of the world to advanced medical and technological libraries.’
—‘29 Quotes About Libraries,’ Skip Prichard, skipprichard.com, April 4, 2022

Cactus Communications has an- Five high school students were se- European Growth and Income, PLC),
nounced that Akhilesh Ayer is its new lected to serve as National Student and Russell Schofield-Bezer (founder
CEO. Abhishek Goel, founder and out- Poets, which is the country’s highest and CEO of RSB Advisory Ltd). They
going CEO, will continue to serve as a honor for youth poets presenting origi- are replacing outgoing members John
board member and will transition into nal work. The National Student Poets Fingleton, Ian Boyd, and Anthony Fin-
the position of chief mentor. Created Program (NSPP) is a collaboration of kelstein.
in 2002, Cactus Communications has IMLS and the nonprofit Alliance for
Young Artists & Writers, which pres- •••••
grown under Goel’s leadership, team-
ents the Scholastic Art & Writing
ing up with researchers, institutions,
Awards, the longest-running scholar- ByWater Solutions has announced
and publishers globally to accelerate re-
ship and recognition program for the that Alyssa Drake is now part of its
search publishing and its impact. Ayer support team. Previously, she worked
nation’s young artists and writers.
has more than 25 years of leadership Those chosen this year are Robert Gao for Jackson County Library Services,
experience helming global businesses, (University Laboratory High School Ledyard Public Library, and the Public
managing clients, and heading up in Champaign, Ill.), Marcus Burns Library of New London. Drake brings
transformation programs throughout (St. Johnsbury Academy in St. Johns- an extensive history of leadership
a variety of industries, products, and bury, Vt.), Nadia Wright (Murrah High with innovative library programming,
services. Previously, he held leadership School in Jackson, Miss.), Sofia Kamal training staffers on ILSs and provid-
positions at WNS, GE, Crisil, and more. (Racho Solano Preparatory School in ing customer service. Her background
At WNS, he was EVP and head of the Phoenix), and Anya Melchinger (Mid- in circulation services, social media
data, analytics, AI, and research unit. Pacific Institute in Honolulu). They management, and community engage-
In this role, Ayer “successfully trans- represent the Midwest, Northeast, ment will enhance the level of support
formed the business unit by adopting a Southeast, Southwest, and West re- that ByWater supplies globally. Ac-
gions, respectively. cording to a press release, Drake “be-
differentiated go-to-market strategy,
gan working in libraries as a shelver
re-imagining the product-service mix,
••••• at her college library in Connecticut
building a best-in-class operational
but she didn’t fall in love with them
ecosystem and bringing in industry-
UK Research and Innovation’s until she worked at a public library in
leading people practices that helped (UKRI) Science, Innovation, and Tech- Oregon. It was there that she really un-
achieve stellar results. He also played a nology secretary, Peter Kyle, has ap- derstood the depth and breadth of what
key role in the business unit’s [mergers pointed four non-executive members to a library does for its community.”
and acquisitions] strategy, leading suc- the UKRI board: Annie Callanan (CEO
cessful acquisitions and integrations,” of EBSCO Information Services), Jane •••••
according to a press release. Norman (deputy vice chancellor and
provost at the University of Notting- The Library of Congress added
••••• ham), Rita Dhut (chair of JP Morgan new members to the Copyright Public

26 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 Noted & Quoted | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

Modernization Committee, which has gy. “[Dewey’s] vision aligns seamlessly gree in library science from Indiana
been renewed for a second 3-year term: with Nexbib’s proactive approach, le- University.
Sara Benson (University of Illinois), veraging technology to enhance library
Todd Carpenter (National Information services and accessibility. This focus •••••
Standards Organization), Terrica Car- aims to strengthen the role of public
rington (Motion Picture Association), libraries within their communities The Association of Research Librar-
Susan Chertkof (Recording Industry while supporting academic institutions ies (ARL) has elected its board of di-
Association of America), Shanna Hol- in their essential missions,” according rectors. Beginning Jan. 1, 2025, Rhea
lich (Creative Commons), Becca Jones to a press release. Ballard-Thrower, dean of libraries and
(Anthem Entertainment Group), Roy university librarian at the University
Kaufman (Copyright Clearance Cen- ••••• of Illinois–Chicago, will start a 1-year
ter), Keith Kupferschmid (Copyright term as ARL president, serving on the
Alliance), Melissa Levine (University The Center for Research Libraries executive committee of the board of
of Michigan Library), Joe Naylor (Ima- (CRL) announced that it has appointed directors along with the VP/president-
geRights International, Inc.), Trevor Jacob Nadal as president. He will suc- elect, past-president, and treasurer.
Owens (American Institute of Physics), ceed Greg Eow. Nadal, most recently di- Ballard-Thrower succeeds Trevor A.
Jeff Sedlik (Picture Licensing Uni- rector for preservation at the Library of Dawes, who will serve as a member of
versal System Coalition), and Regan Congress, is an expert on preservation, the board of directors and the executive
Smith (News/Media Alliance). “Mem- having served in various leadership committee as past-president through
bers of the public were invited to ap- roles at independent, academic, and Dec. 31, 2025. Melissa Just will serve
ply for Copyright Public Modernization government organizations. He brings as VP/president-elect for 2025, before
Committee membership in a Federal to CRL his expertise in collections becoming ARL president on Jan. 1,
Register notice earlier this year. Com- management and a thorough knowl- 2026. Joseph A. Salem Jr. will be ARL
mittee members were selected from a edge of shared print initiatives and treasurer for 2025–2027. Additionally,
pool of applicants for their ability to digital preservation, which includes five new board members will serve from
represent a broad cross-section of the wide experience with digitization pro- 2025 to 2027: Simon Neame (dean of
copyright community and other inter- grams with global reach, such as Google university libraries at the University
ested groups. They will provide feed- Books. “Nadal’s commitment to infor- of Washington), Brent Reidy (Andrew
back to the Library on both Copyright mation access reveals itself equally in W. Mellon director of research librar-
Office technology systems and broader his fieldwork and his policymaking: His ies at the New York Public Library),
Library technology systems that inter- work on recovery after conflict or natu- Claire Stewart (Juanita J. and Robert
face with and/or support Copyright Of- ral disaster, for example in Liberia, in E. Simpson dean of libraries and uni-
fice operations. Discussion will cover partnership with the Liberian Collec- versity librarian at the University of
the development of the new Enterprise tions Project and the Carter Center, has Illinois–Urbana-Champaign), Stanley
Copyright System, which includes the helped to restore access to information Wilder (dean of libraries at Louisiana
Copyright Office’s registration, recor- and cultural materials with real human State University), and Shali Zhang
dation, public records, and licensing and social impact. Similarly, his activi- (dean of libraries at Auburn Univer-
IT applications,” according to a press ties with the HBCU Library Alliance, sity). O
release. The first meeting was hosted the Held in Trust program, and inter-
by the Library of Congress on Oct. 10, national exchange programs promoted
2024. The committee will hold at least equity of access and professional op- Does your library
two virtual or hybrid open forums portunity. The importance of coali-
yearly through 2027 in order to share tion-building for Nadal and his wide-
have a special
information and answer questions. ranging experience in crafting policy announcement
•••••
are both reflected in his membership
on the U.S. Cultural Heritage Coordi-
to make?
nating Committee and in his role as the CIL is always looking for
Nexbib announced that it has ap- Library of Congress representative to more items to include in the
pointed Regan Dewey as sales director the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commis- Noted & Quoted section.
for North America. With more than 10 sion,” according to a press release. At So if you have something
years of experience with public and aca- the Library of Congress, Nadal oversaw to share, please send it in.
demic libraries, Dewey has a thorough more than 200 staffers across four divi-
understanding of the library sector’s sions. Previously, he held the position Contact: Alison A. Trotta
changing needs. In addition, she has of executive director of the Research CIL Noted & Quoted Editor
an extensive background in digital Collections and Preservation Consor- [email protected]
transformation and library technolo- tium (ReCAP). He has a master’s de-

infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 27

 News Desk
by
Words of Wisdom
alison a.
trotta ‘To add a library to a
house is to give that
house a soul.’ X news • announcements • updates
—Cicero

Code Ocean and Springer Nature protocols, Protocol Exchange,” a press Jan. 1, 2024, and will run through Dec.
Broaden Partnership release states. 31, 2026, covering OA publishing in
Authors who are submitting pri- The Company of Biologists’ journals
mary papers to Springer Nature’s Na- CSP and RSC Expand (Development, Journal of Cell Science,
ture-branded journals are now able to Their Partnership Journal of Experimental Biology, Dis-
share their code and data via the Code Canadian Science Publishing (CSP) ease Models & Mechanisms, and Biolo-
Ocean platform as part of the manu- and the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) gy Open). According to a press release,
script submission process. This expand- are broadening their collaboration by this allows “corresponding authors at
ed partnership between Code Ocean inviting multidisciplinary contribu- all ten UC campuses to publish an un-
and Springer Nature lets more authors tions that are relevant to the social capped number of research articles
benefit from improved reproducibility, sciences and via the establishment of a immediately Open Access. The agree-
transparency, and research efficien- board of RSC peer reviewers. The board ment also provides researchers on all
cy. Code Ocean is a computational sci- will be supported by the RSC in con- UC campuses with unlimited access to
ence platform for researchers that al- junction with CSP’s FACETS, which is Development, Journal of Cell Science
lows them to start, scale, collaborate, the official journal of the RSC’s Acad- and Journal of Experimental Biology
and reproduce computational research emy of Science. “This voluntary pro- and their archives dating back to 1853.”
that’s essential to their work. As part gram will gather experts from across UC libraries will automatically pay the
of the integration, Nature journals will the RSC who are interested in being in- first $1,000 of a discounted OA fee or
let authors who have other methods of vited to serve as peer reviewers several article-processing charge (APC) for all
sharing code—such as via GitHub—to times per year, to contribute to the pub- UC authors who opt to publish in one
supply that information directly via the lication of rigorous, high-quality re- of The Company of Biologists’ journals.
journal submission platform. Through search. Together, the RSC and FACETS “Authors are asked to pay the remain-
this integration, editors can track the are dedicated to growing a communi- der if they have research funds avail-
sharing of code directly on the submis- ty of skilled and knowledgeable review- able to do so. Authors who do not have
sion platform and can automatically see ers,” according to a press release. Board research funds available can request
the relevant information and instruc- members will serve a 3-year term, with full funding of the APC from the li-
tions to reviewers to peer review the an option for extension. The RSC and braries. This ensures that lack of re-
code. “Springer Nature has long been CSP are not-for-profit organizations search funds does not present a barri-
committed to advancing reproducibil- that have a common goal of support- er for UC authors who wish to publish
ity and open research practices. This ing and promoting Canadian research Open Access in The Company of Biolo-
includes steps taken to improve repro- within Canada and worldwide. gists’ journals.”
ducibility of published research by the
Nature portfolio journals, the first of The Company of Biologists PolicyMap Integrates With
its kind pilot exploring reproducibili- and UC Extend Deal OpenAthens to Future-Proof Access
ty on highly selective titles, the intro- The Company of Biologists and the PolicyMap is now providing custom-
duction of Springer Nature Data poli- University of California (UC) have ex- ers with simple and secure access to its
cies and continued support for protocol tended their OA agreement for an addi- mapping and analytics platform via
sharing, including through our open tional 3 years. On the heels of a previ- OpenAthens single sign-on. This will
repository for community-contributed ous 3-year deal, this agreement began future-proof access to the platform as

28 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 News Desk | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

PolicyMap commits to an overhaul of affordable learning experience, acting ence works together, Wiley’s SDGs site
its platform and upgrades to the latest as an essential resource for the Freder- offers a central space for knowledge
mapping technologies. “PolicyMap em- ick community in Maryland. FCC is now and research insights related to all 17
powers over 1,000 organizations with leveraging FOLIO’s modular design, al- SDGs. Key features of the site include
unparalleled access to comprehen- lowing colleges of varying sizes to im- a page dedicated to each goal, curat-
sive mapping and data analytics tools. plement their wanted and needed fea- ed content (selected research articles,
Based in the US, its services are used tures, eliminating unnecessary costs themed collections, etc.), and resourc-
across a variety of industries including that are associated with forced pack- es for researchers (such as tools and in-
academic, banking and lending, gov- ages. EBSCO supports a community of formation for those who want to align
ernment, health, tech, non-profit, pub- more than 200 libraries and library sys- their research with the SDGs).
lic library, real estate, and retail,” ac- tems globally via FOLIO. FOLIO evolves
cording to a press release. “The benefit to meet the needs of libraries around
Taylor & Francis Launches
corporation is one of a growing num- the world, and its modern construction
First S2O Pilot
ber of data analytics services that have is also able to support third-party appli-
Taylor & Francis announced its first
joined OpenAthens in recent years to cations, allowing for integration with
Subscribe to Open (S2O) pilot. S2O en-
enable a more seamless access experi- new and existing FCC systems. Accord-
ables a journal’s subscribers to support
ence on their platform. No technical ing to a press release, “In addition to
its conversion to OA, which makes new
skills are needed to access the user- FOLIO, FCC will adopt BiblioGraph and
articles available to readers. Taylor &
friendly interface which makes power- EDS to enhance the experience for its
ful data visualization accessible to all end users. This will provide improved Francis is allowing existing subscribers
users.” access and discovery of scholarly con- to renew their subscriptions for 2025 by
tent through EDS, enhanced by Biblio- March. “If enough institutions support
Frederick Community College Graph’s ability to make library catalogs S2O in this way, all articles published
Selects FOLIO and EDS accessible from major search engines.” in the 2025 volume will be open access.
Frederick Community College (FCC) This process can then be repeated, one
has adopted the FOLIO library servic- Wiley Rolls Out SDGs Website volume at a time, for the following
es platform (LSP) and EBSCO Discov- Wiley launched its new Sustain- years. If the required level of support is
ery Service (EDS). Through technical able Development Goals (SDGs) web- not achieved for any of the pilot titles,
expertise, hosting services, and sup- site during the United Nations’ Glob- they will remain as subscription jour-
port, the implementation was seam- al Goals Week 2024, an annual week of nals (with a hybrid OA option),” accord-
less, with the transition to the LSP go- action, awareness, and accountability. ing to a press release. “S2O introduces
ing live in August. FCC serves more With an aim to bring Wiley’s journals, an additional equitable route for mak-
than 15,000 credit and non-credit stu- research articles, special issues, virtu- ing trusted knowledge available to all.
dents and aims to provide a quality and al collections, book chapters, and refer- Under S2O’s collective funding mod-
el OA publishing costs are covered by
subscribers, which means there are no
Propose your case studies, Breakthroughs and
Cutting-Edge Tech article publishing charges for authors.
best practices, how-to TOPICS This makes it a promising solution for
Digitization, Access,
articles, research results, INCLUDE and Preservation journals in fields where researchers are
and opinion pieces on any CMSs and Websites
less likely to have access to OA funding,
tech-enabled effort that ILS/Discovery
/Search such as Humanities and Social Scienc-
helped your library
Catalogs, es, and for authors based in low-income
achieve its purpose, Collections,
and Metadata regions.” This pilot aims to set a path
vision, mission,
Web Resources to OA for three journals: Technical Ser-
or mandate.
E-Resources vices Quarterly, Legal Reference Ser-
Edtech and vices Quarterly, and LGBT Issues in
Instruction
Counseling. Taylor & Francis’ other

WRITE
Platforms and
Library Systems open research options include Pledge
Data Management to Open, a collaborative funding ini-
FOR CIL IN and Metrics
tiative for OA books; Critical Insights,

2025! an OA journal series for influential re-

search on contemporary challenges;
and VeriXiv, a verified preprint plat-
Submit your story proposals using our query form at form launched by F1000 in conjunction
infotoday.com/cilmag.
with the Gates Foundation. O

infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 29

 Tips for Helping
EDTECH

Little Computer
Scientists and
Little Hackers
By
Julie
Darling

I’ll share some actionable tips

from my guidebook for teaching
computer science concepts to your
early childhood learners.

30 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 EDTECH
The set of books
discussed in this
article includes
two picture books
for youth and a
guidebook for
teachers and
parents.

L
ibrarians are uniquely positioned to reach kids.
School and public libraries, in particular, are ha-
vens for developing a love of learning and reading.
Between storytimes and classes, librarians have
the power to teach kids about the world around them. This
includes using books to help them build vocabulary, con-
sider others’ perspectives, and encounter role models that
look like them, as well as those who don’t. Rudine Sims
Bishop’s “Windows, Mirrors and Sliding Glass Doors”
elucidates this (youtube.com/watch?v=_AAu58SNSyc).
Selecting books to read to early childhood learners is
powerful work. It’s important. If you’re in this role, con-
sider also integrating computer science books and activ-
ities into your programming. I wrote the picture books
Little Computer Scientists (a.co/d/9wct534) and Little
Hackers (a.co/d/dnArMKA) specifically to combine win-
dows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors with computer sci-
ence activities and vocabulary. They (and the companion
guidebook—Supporting the Development of Computer

infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 31

 COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Tips for Helping Little Computer Scientists and Little Hackers

Science Concepts in Early Childhood; a.co/d/3yrOlOJ) such as, if you built a castle with sand and someone came
EDTECH

were developed by my illustrator and me with input from by and kicked it over.
my Young Fives—8th grade students. With slightly older learners, you could pause a moment
after each round to talk about a specific type of malware,
Computer Science and Early Gender such as a virus, spyware, a worm, a Trojan horse, or ran-
Stereotypical Beliefs somware. This teaches kids specifics about what to be
Exposure to diverse role models, paired with computer careful of when using devices and gives them the vocabu-
science concepts (aka computational thinking), is impor- lary for productive discussions. Don’t be surprised if they
tant to introduce in early childhood, because this is also want to talk about situations in which someone they know,
when gender stereotypical beliefs begin to form. Studies or even they themselves, was hacked. Kids have an innate
indicate that stereotypical beliefs start around ages 4–6 fascination with hacking and hackers. Beforehand, con-
and are a deterrent for girls encountering STEM and com- sider how much time you want to devote to these discus-
puter science curriculum (Elsesser 2024 and Master et al. sions.
2021). “The more that individual girls endorse gender-in- This interest in hackers and hacking was part of my mo-
terest stereotypes favoring boys in computer science and tivation in writing the picture book Little Hackers. Ad-
engineering, the lower their own interest and sense of be- ditional factors included teaching kids pertinent vocabu-
longing in these fields,” the Master et al. article specifies. lary and showing how hacking isn’t always malicious—it’s
However, most computer science curriculum doesn’t start
until age 8. This makes sense. That’s when much of this
curriculum is developmentally appropriate. This is also
at the heart of the guidebook, which I wrote in order to
Be the
give parents and educators the tools to show all learners Tech Boss
how fun and creative computer science can be and to pro-
vide kids with the foundational knowledge to be success-
ful when they encounter curriculum aimed at age 8 and
up. This is the first robust curriculum for early childhood
learners comprehensively mapped to the Computer Sci-
ence Teachers Association (CSTA) K–12 Standards. In this
article, I’ll share some actionable tips from my guidebook
for teaching computer science concepts to your early child-
hood learners.

Tip #1—Use Games to Make It Fun

If you want to encourage your early childhood learners
to take an interest in computer science, make sure to lean
into early childhood education methodologies and make it
fun. For the guidebook, I wrote songs, games, and activi-
ties. Many of these simply leverage traditional childhood
games and reframe them for use in teaching computer sci- “The Debugging Song”
ence. docs.google.com/document/d/1fzcuavgbvFZ4Tgd8R7
For example, instead of playing Duck, Duck, Goose! cDyaypMxKdacdK8qscJ9KdLNQ/edit?usp=sharing
You could play Click, Click, Malware! This iteration of the
game uses the same structure: Kids sit around in a circle, “The Silly Password Song”
and the person who’s “it” taps students’ heads as they pass docs.google.com/document/d/1OLqDvbYvH2TUOFL0
the players. Instead of saying “Duck,” they say “Click” to D5G7rHRLcrQeWXrzC9TxDBxU9ro/edit?usp=sharing
mimic clicking on websites and links. By changing the
language, it’s now become an educational game. Once the Robot Dance Party Activities
person who’s “it” chooses someone, instead of tapping docs.google.com/document/d/1oxdG0NfEJBpTV4gp
their head and saying “Goose!” they say “Malware!” In the dwDAWh245AoxBoN4skUmG20_Yyc/edit?usp=sharing
simplest version, with younger learners (K–1st grade), the
teacher/librarian explains that clicking on a website that Tech Boss T-Shirt
you’re not familiar with could cause you to download mal- cottonbureau.com/p/BHCEXJ/shirt/rainbow-tech-
ware (malicious software) to your computer, which can boss#/19890975/tee-men-standard-tee-light-pink-
“mess things up” and cause your device to not work the 100percent-cotton-s
way you want it to. I’ll sometimes use a relatable analogy,

32 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 Tips for Helping Little Computer Scientists and Little Hackers | COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

actually part of cybersecurity, specifically, finding vul- about what kinds of tasks the robot can accomplish. Leave

EDTECH
nerabilities (hacking) and fixing them (cybersecurity or time to ask your learners to tell you about their robots. I’m
white hat hacking). always impressed by how imaginative and innovative their
robotic inventions are. The lesson is concluded with a ro-
Tip #2—Use Music bot dance party. If you’d like to have a robot dance party
Anyone who’s worked with early childhood learners too, follow the link in the sidebar on page 32.
knows that inviting kids to sing instructions, engage in
call and response (where you say something and they re-
peat it back), or dance to music creates instant buy-in. When working with early elementary
This is why I wrote songs for the guidebook, specifically,
“The Debugging Song” and “The Silly Password Song.” learners, start small and include
“The Debugging Song” pairs nicely with the biography
Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code. Not only is Grace games, songs, and activities.
Hopper a fantastic role model—a pioneer in computer sci-
ence—but she’s also credited with popularizing the term
“debug.” Legend says that a moth was discovered in the Tip #5—Call Kids Tech Bosses
computer that she and her team were working on, causing Adults and kids alike have a tendency to use a generic
error messages (National Geographic). term for all of the issues they are having with their devic-
es. Often, that’s a word such as “glitch.” However, using
Tip #3—Start Small catchall terms like this makes these problems mysterious
Many equate teaching computer science to just coding. and unsolvable, something the computer is doing instead
Coding, even with fantastic beginner block-based cod- of a problem that you can fix. In the guidebook, I discuss
ing resources such as Scratch (scratch.mit.edu) and Alice how to reframe this: “Computers don’t have any feelings
(alice.org/get-alice), works best for kids who can read flu- about what they’re told. They don’t forget and they don’t
ently and effectively use a keyboard and mouse. These are have to practice. They just follow instructions. With a
skills that kids begin to master around ages 8–10. The computer, you get to act like you’re the grown-up, and you
scaffolding to this (computational thinking aka computer get to tell it what you want it to do. You get to be the boss.
science concepts) is important to put in place much earli- Isn’t that fun?! First, though, you have to learn how to
er so kids have a solid road map for how everything works boss the computer. You need to know what it can and can’t
once they begin coding. do. A computer can only do what it’s programmed to do.”
For example, coding uses algorithms, which at their Reframing in this way gives your learners ownership
simplest are a series of steps completed in a certain or- and agency and makes them feel powerful and competent.
der. To start teaching about algorithms, consider making It teaches them to be in charge of navigating and trouble-
a recipe. With pre-K learners, this could be a four-ingredi- shooting their devices, instead of immediately asking for
ent trail mix recipe in which you assemble the ingredients, help. It takes practice (for them) and redirection (from
call it your algorithm for making trail mix, and then put it you), but it’s worth it. One technique to try is when kids
in a portable container to take out on an adventure. In a li- ask how to navigate or fix something, you respond, “What
brary, you could also create an algorithm for getting ready do you think you could try? Try it and see what happens.”
to listen to a story. In my space, I do a call and response, di- If they seem nervous, you can also reassure them that
recting kids to sit, turn their listening ears on, turn their they can navigate back or undo it if it doesn’t work or if it
bodies to face me, and turn their voices off. This is our sto- wasn’t what they intended.
rytime listening algorithm. You could also just start with When I’m working with a bigger group of kids, I have
a game, song, or activity and build from there. There are a them help each other before asking for me to step in, but I
lot of choices in the guidebook, including a coloring page always emphasize that they should not take over the other
reproduced (with permission) from U.K.-based author and person’s computer when they’re helping. Instead, the kid-
computer science teacher William Lau’s Computer Science mentor (tech boss) should talk the learner through what to
Colouring Book (a.co/d/7laqSeo). do and let the learner click and navigate their own device.
In this way, the person who was having trouble is more
Tip #4—Pick An Activity You’ll Enjoy Too likely to remember what to do next time and can gradu-
Make sure to pick an activity that you and your learn- ate from learner to tech boss (now that they better under-
ers are going to enjoy. In my library, we love having dance stand how to boss their tech). My illustrator took this a
parties, so why not incorporate robots? I start by reading step further and made a real version of the shirt that our
Robots, by Dinah Williams (a.co/d/eaVoyhz), which has ex- main character, Zuri, is wearing in the picture books, with
cellent examples of different types of robots. After read- the words “Tech Boss” written across it to reflect this mes-
ing the book, I invite my learners to draw a robot of their sage from the guidebook. I wear mine all of the time, espe-
own invention and draw or write (depending on their age) cially when I’m teaching or giving presentations.
X

infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 33

 COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES | Tips for Helping Little Computer Scientists and Little Hackers

Conclusion
EDTECH

It’s important to introduce computer science concepts

(aka computational thinking) starting at ages 4–6 in an
age-appropriate, inclusive way that also integrates win-
dows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. Teacher/librarians
are well-positioned to do this. When working with early el-
ementary learners, start small and include games, songs,
and activities. Teach kids to be tech bosses, and maybe
even consider having your own robot dance party. Q

Photo by Nate Hatt

Resources
Bishop, R.S. (Jan. 30, 2015). “Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Glass Doors.”
youtube.com/watch?v=_AAu58SNSyc. Reading to the kids

Computer Science Teachers Association (June 29, 2023). The CSTA K–12
Standards. csteachers.org/k12standards/interactive. Julie Darling has more than 20 years of experience teaching
Elsesser, K. (Sept. 13, 2024). “Gender Bias in STEM May Start in technology to ages 4–adult in community colleges, K–12 public
Kindergarten, Study Says.” Forbes. forbes.com/sites/ and private schools, and public libraries. She’s the author of the
kimelsesser/2024/09/13/gender-bias-in-stem-may-start-in- newly released three-book set, Developing Computer Science
kindergarten-study-says.
Concepts in Early Childhood, which comprises two picture books,
Master, A., Meltzoff, A., and Cheryan, S. (Nov. 22, 2021). “Gender Little Computer Scientists and Little Hackers, and a companion
Stereotypes About Interests Start Early and Cause Gender Disparities
guidebook, Supporting the Development of Computer Science
in Computer Science and Engineering.” Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences (PNAS). pnas.org/doi/10.1073/ Concepts in Early Childhood: A Practical Guide for Parents and
pnas.2100030118. Educators. Darling’s been on NPR and has presented at ISTE,
National Geographic. (n.d.). “Sep 9, 1947 CE: World’s First Computer Bug.” National Children’s Book Week, and A2SF. You can follow her for
education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/worlds-first-computer-bug. news and updates on her website: authorjuliedarling.com.

34 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

voices of the
searchers
From Boolean to Bots
Mary Ellen Bates
WE LIBRARIANS HAVE ALWAYS stood with one foot in the past • We understand how information is structured and how to
and the other boldly striding toward new technologies. Back when I access it most effectively. In the days of Boolean logic, we were
was in library school in the early 1980s, when Earth’s crust had not the ones developing complex search strategies and arcane
yet fully hardened, we had a great schism between the students who approaches; now we work as in-house AI prompt engineers
were focused on computer science and those focused on children’s and ethical AI advocates.
literature. We each thought the other group was missing the point of • We are always bringing in new information discovery tools.
getting a master’s in library science. It wasn’t pretty. Libraries drove the introduction of digital content to users and
Fast-forward 50 years, and I am seeing a similar conversation. As patrons back in the 1980s; today, we are being brought into
I write this, I am waiting for a call from a local university professor project teams to support text and data mining initiatives and
who would like my thoughts on how she can teach her students to curate high-quality datasets.
best use ChatGPT for their research. When she initially approached • We continue to find new ways to enhance reference services.
me, I demurred, saying that my advice to her students would be Discovery tools such as libguides and OPACs are being overtaken
to use generative AI before and after the search, but to leave work by custom-designed chatbots and language models comprising
that requires a human’s discernment, judgment, and intuition to libraries’ special collections.
humans. She persisted, so we will be having a conversation about
AI literacy, the difference between a response that sounds plausible Whenever I read the weekly Department of Data column in
and the correct answer, and a chatbot’s inability to think outside the The Washington Post, I am reminded of where we humans far
box to identify new insights. I will remind her of the value-added surpass AI. As Andrew Van Dam, a data nerd and self-described
databases the university library subscribes to and why her students “libraryphile,” describes it, he takes “overlooked and underap-
will be better prepared for life after graduation if they know how to preciated data sets in search of hard truths and keen insights that
evaluate information sources, identify bias, and spot gaps in what is will help make you smarter, better-looking and more fun at par-
known about a topic. And I will recommend that she introduce her ties.” In a recent column, Vam Dam looked at how to use Google
students to Google’s NotebookLM and Claude projects—AI tools Trends to figure out what bugs people are trying to irradicate by
that enable the students to query the results of their research for season and region. By looking for the frequency of the phrase
deeper analysis. “how to kill [ants/fleas/fruit files],” he graphed out where we’re
As I give workshops and presentations about the role of informa- trying to kill which insects. I can skim the maps to see that car-
tion professionals in the new world of ubiquitous AI, I am struck by penter ants bug people in Maine and boxelder bugs are annoy-
the need for info pros to lean into our core gift of being information ing residents in North Dakota. Knowing an insect’s geographic
whisperers—people who understand how information is organized range is one thing; seeing where people are irritated enough to
and accessed, how and when their users are likely going to be seek- Google how to kill them is another.
ing information, and what information technology is most appro- This kind of curiosity about what unexpected insights and cor-
priate for each information need. We have to become as proficient relations might be unearthed from a dataset is second nature for
in using AI tools as we are with using professional databases and info pros but is beyond the capacity of most AI tools. The core
other resources for information discovery. skills of professional librarians remain as crucial and relevant in
The more I reflect on how librarians and info pros can keep our today’s digital age as they have ever been.
professional skills updated and relevant, the more I see that the guid-
ing principles of librarianship I learned decades ago still apply today:
• We have always focused on enabling critical thinking and Mary Ellen Bates ([email protected], BatesInfo.com) has written
teaching users how to evaluate information sources and tools. a column for Information Today, Inc. since 1994 and believes that 30 years
Previously, that took the form of teaching information literacy; is sufficient.
today, we teach AI literacy (and AI skepticism). Comments? Email the editor ([email protected]).

infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 35

 Frameworks for Analyzing the Use of
Generative Artificial
Intelligence in Libraries
36 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com
 by
Margaret
Heller

In 2008, Marshall Breeding delivered

a talk at the NASIG (North American
Serials Interest Group) conference (“Next
D uring the next 5 years, web scale discovery became a stan-
dard feature in libraries, but the mergers have only contin-
ued. The ability to go your own way on discovery became
increasingly less feasible. The explosion of generative AI (gen AI)
into the popular consciousness happened at a faster speed than
Generation Library Automation: Its Impact
when discovery layers became the norm, but looking back at how
on the Serials Community,” The Serials those discovery layers were implemented and what choices we
wish we had made differently at that prior inflection point can
Librarian, v. 56, n. 1–4, 2009: pp. 55–64;
help us make better decisions now. Note that while various large
doi.org/10.1080/03615260802679028) languages models (LLMs) and machine learning (ML) have been
around for a long time, this article will focus on the commercial
describing the next stage of library
chat-style generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) tools, al-
automation and its implications for though without discussing any specific engine or approach.
serials librarians. He noted a need for
THE OBSCURITY OF VOLUME
more complex tools that would meet Librarians are trained to understand how information sources
are created, described, indexed, and distributed. As the volume
the realities of the information scale
of information increased, the tools to process and distribute that
that libraries faced as they shifted to a information grew more complex. Where prior adoption path-
ways might have required learning a new controlled vocabulary
hybrid digital and physical environment.
or indexing codes, systems such as discovery layers and now gen
His comments were in the context of an AI tools have made it possible for researchers to find their own
information. However, they have made it more challenging for
increasingly homogenous market with
librarians to assist those users or explain search results. Special-
venture capital and private equity firms ized research skills only take you so far with the increased vol-
ume of what is available and the obscurity of the tools.
behind the systems, although some
Using computing scale and indexing technologies that had
open source tools existed. previously been inaccessible to most libraries, discovery at web
X
infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 37
 scale allowed indexing and searching the full text of materials Technical factors include such considerations as data sources, al-
and combined all types of resources into one set of results. While gorithms, and user interfaces. Data sources may be licensed vendor
far more convenient in some ways than using multiple systems content, historical corpus collections, the open web, or another
and learning how different material types are indexed in dispa- combination. For tools produced by vendors, ensure the documen-
rate databases, the convenience obscured the true complexity of tation includes (and ask if needed) which LLMs they are using,
what was happening. The algorithms that combine and rank re- which specific data sources they are including in the dataset, and
sults are obscure even to their creators, which means that even what sort of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is taking place in
expert librarians are not experts when explaining to researchers the process. Library data that includes patron information should
why a particular result appears where it does. never be used in data that could be used to train models, and care
The importance of information literacy in this over-rich infor- should be taken when testing tools that license agreements are fol-
mation environment is not in dispute, but knowing the value of lowed. Getting to the point where you can even understand the an-
the tools and how best to deploy them requires more technical swer to these questions requires some willingness to learn and ex-
acumen and flexibility than our older systems did. Librarians periment, especially if groups include staff for whom this is all new.
could, and did, become expert searchers in older systems that, Analysis should also include understanding commercial factors
with experience, would return results for everything on a particu- such as additional costs that may eventually be passed along to the
lar topic the index contained. Piling billions of records with dif- customer, how the tool fits into the marketplace outside of librar-
ferent controlled vocabularies, metadata schema, and obscure ies, incentives for the pathways to profitability for the vendor, and
indexing on top of each other makes comprehensive retrieval a customer voice in the future of the tool. In the same way that dis-
much harder job, even assuming that this is desirable, given the covery layers encouraged homogeneity because of the challenge
proliferation of information. Understanding how to approach in obtaining the indexed data, using third-party AI tools on li-
specific research questions can be overwhelming and leaves re- censed content will likely be a challenge. We want to support a va-
searchers susceptible to manipulation—or giving up. riety of business models and diverse outlooks in making technol-
But there is no going back. Even recognizing the downsides, ogy purchase decisions just as we do in resource purchases.
what we have now is a basic expectation. The irony is, of course, While libraries face evaluating AI tools created by vendors on
that the downsides of a huge volume of largely undifferentiated top of their existing products as well as add-ons, avoiding such
information is exactly the utility that gen AI tools seek to provide. tools is another choice. This choice must be understood in light
The scale requires topic modeling and ML to categorize what ex- of what researchers who want or need to use AI tools will do.
ists and bring together logical groups. The generative aspect is Libraries that never adopted a discovery tool may find that their
largely a marketing ploy to encourage comfort with tools that are researchers rely on other commercial options such as Google
raw computing but with a veneer of entertainment. Understand- Scholar or perhaps something more nefarious. Libraries who do
ing what is really going on is impossible, but we can, just as we not adopt an AI tool on top of their licensed data may face issues
continue to do with our previous tools, start to analyze and then with researchers using this material against terms of license in
make ethical decisions based on that analysis. other systems. There may be elements of a new system that are
worth introducing for educational purposes, even if they are not
ANALYZING THE FACTORS OF A SYSTEM recommended for serious use. In addition, adopting gen AI tools
The frameworks in which libraries usually adopt new technologies on top of open data or special collections will require guiding
often involve a department or role that is tasked with evaluating researchers on their best use.
emerging trends along with working groups for cross-departmental AI tools designed to process library, archives, or museum col-
collaboration. Such groups may make recommendations for policy, lections are a slightly different question, but they have the excit-
become standing committees, or eventually become new depart- ing potential to increase discoverability of materials that have
ments. Discovery layer committees required cross-departmental ef- remained unprocessed or lack full descriptions. Libraries plan-
forts. The exercise of merging and viewing the library’s data across ning adoptions of AI tools may want to focus on using these on
systems eliminated silos that may have existed among cataloging, data and processes they control rather than adopting and teach-
e-resources management, and user instruction. ing commercial products.
Similar exercises are necessary for adopting new AI tools. Dur-
ing the past 2 years, libraries have established AI working groups of MAKING ETHICAL CHOICES
various sorts. The first iteration of these groups was largely reac- The reality is that for libraries within higher education institu-
tive: understanding how the new popular chatbot gen AI services tions that view the AI explosion as a new pathway to relevance
were going to change how instructors found plagiarism, figuring and revenue, there is a strong incentive to adopt and promulgate
out ways of rewriting assignments to use these tools rather than such tools and to be part of emerging AI research groups. The
avoid them, and educating about the hallucinatory citations these pressures come from all sides, and with a societal level change of
tools produced. The second phase can be more proactive, spend- this magnitude, spending time considering the ethical implica-
ing time on careful analysis. Analyzing new systems requires un- tions of decisions is an important measure to counter the short-
derstanding them from both a technical and commercial per- sighted following of immediate incentives.
spective, as well as within the context of professional ethics and While the move to the internet and digital resources for librar-
institutional values. ies was a massive technical and logistical change in services, the

38 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 Explaining clearly to
researchers how a system
gets its data and interprets
it can be a good avenue for
discussing concepts that
were always an issue in
discovery layers as well, such
as algorithmic bias, which is
just as prevalent but possibly
more obscure in an AI tool.

ethical considerations for the move to gen AI are just as great, if phase, as the library makes clear decisions that are in the best
not greater. For some, the current answer to adopting this tech- interests of its stakeholders.
nology is a clear, “No, not worth it.” The technology is too tainted A phased adoption approach requires the ability to opt out or
by the perceived or real misuse of intellectual property, has nega- adjust as testing uncovers issues, which can be a challenge when
tive environmental impacts, and does not meet a real need. working with commercial products. While the discovery market
For most, avoiding the technology wholesale is not a real op- has become increasingly homogenous, the overall pressure to
tion, but it is worth establishing firm parameters for what is ac- bring gen AI into discovery layers or other search tools means that
ceptable and in which direction development should go. Just as companies, however mission-driven, will follow the market first.
the Open Discovery Initiative (ODI; niso.org/publications/rp- For customers lacking the capacity to be a development partner or
19-2020-odi) helped establish a shared set of principles among early adopter for testing new tools, it is crucial to find other cus-
discovery vendors, professional communities can work together tomers in the user community to share results of testing and dis-
to establish these for gen AI tools. ODI is currently looking at the cuss the implications of adopting the tool, as well as to participate
state of gen AI in discovery layers. At the same time, larger librar- within any formal feedback mechanisms. Consortiums or regional
ies that are working with AI researchers or working on LLMs to networks can also be important communities from which to draw
process their own collections need to establish a set of ethics as expertise. Libraries do not have identical ethical frameworks, but
part of this research. they can begin to establish good professional norms.
The Library of Congress Labs Artificial Intelligence Planning In adopting an ethical stance, it will be necessary to think about
Framework (blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2023/11/introducing-the-lc- what the understanding phase will mean. Before dismissing or
labs-artificial-intelligence-planning-framework) is one such mod- adopting a tool, we should complete the technical assessment
el, although it can work for any adoption of new technology. Un- above and be able to speak critically about the advantages and dis-
derstanding is the first phase, in which we can evaluate use cases advantages. Explaining clearly to researchers how a system gets
for tools and how these fit into existing systems as well as the risk its data and interprets it can be a good avenue for discussing con-
in the tool, especially considering the complexity of library or ar- cepts that were always an issue in discovery layers as well, such
chive data. Experimenting is the next phase, in which tools are as algorithmic bias, which is just as prevalent but possibly more
put to the test using objective, predefined metrics to ensure that obscure in an AI tool. This will, of course, require learning tools
the tool meets the need it is intended to fill at a high enough ac- and being ready to teach several different systems that research-
curacy rate to be useful. Lastly, implementation is the slowest ers may already be using.

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infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 39
 Libraries will be
inundated with new
tools in the coming
years, and assessing
all of the new trends
and adapting to the
massive changes that
will inevitably occur are
going to take planning
and commitment.

Ultimately, when refusing to use a system you believe to be un- layer of obscurity on top of that, but increasingly, these will be
ethical, and therefore not bringing to an implementation phase, available in what we might think of as a traditional abstracting and
you should be able to understand why you made the choice and indexing database. The more technically minded among library
what is lost, or gained, by that decision. Libraries do not have to staff will have to continue to build their own knowledge and evince
fill all technical niches or adopt technology beyond their ability empathy for their colleagues to help them meet new challenges.
to support it. However, understanding what needs people are fill- It may well be that before much longer, societal barriers will be
ing with AI tools may allow libraries to introduce different meth- in place for people without access to AI technology, just as people
ods. For example, given that chat gen AI tools can create false cita- without access to a computer or internet currently face difficulties
tions, librarians can teach how to search library systems to find the for their basic life needs. Libraries could fill this gap in the same
appropriate, correct citations. Open data and open source tech- way that they provide public computers and digital literacy train-
nology may likewise fill specific needs. Open source LLMs and ing. OA initiatives created and funded by libraries have gone a
GPTs are available; many are already in use in academic research long way to making information more widely accessible. Using
or library projects. The shift to AI at a societal level will not allow some of the same shared infrastructure that have made other large
anyone to remain ignorant, however. Learning the tools and being technology collective projects possible may be possible for provid-
able to recommend the appropriate approach for each research ing more equitable access to this emerging technology.
problem with the most ethical approach are going to be the most Inflection points in our professional lives should invite reflection.
realistic ways that libraries move forward. Knowing what we know now about how discovery layers changed
our relationship with library data, what choices do we wish we had
THE NEXT FEW YEARS made at that time? We can project ourselves in the future 15 years
Libraries will be inundated with new tools in the coming years, and imagine a future where AI works for us, not against us, and the
and assessing all of the new trends and adapting to the massive obscurity of the technology does not cloud judgment.
changes that will inevitably occur are going to take planning and
commitment. Ongoing analysis and integration across the library
will be important, and those AI task forces or working groups Margaret Heller ([email protected]) is head of digital services
springing up in many libraries will need to create flexible struc- at DePaul University Library.
tures for ongoing assessment. In the short term, those who were Comments? Email Marydee Ojala ([email protected]), editor,
and are skeptical of web scale discovery will now have another Online Searcher.

40 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 AI corner Barbie E. Keiser
President, Barbie E. Keiser, Inc.

EBSCO Integrates AI Into Its Search

Solution and Research Platform
E BSCO announced plans in September 2023 to launch pilot
projects designed to amplify the effectiveness of research.
A series of pilots would apply AI to EBSCO’s content, gradually
mine whether to invest time reading the entire article, which
would speed up the research process. According to a June 18,
2024, EBSCO press release, “The insights are generated using
adding AI capabilities to accomplish discrete research tasks. It a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) method, where the
was clear from the road map that the incremental approach AI is grounded on the full text to reduce hallucinations” (eb
was a deliberate choice. However, it remains unclear as to what sco.com/news-center/press-releases/ebsco-information-
users will experience once EBSCO fully introduces AI to its services-introduces-artificial-intelligence-beta-program).
platform. Perhaps that’s due to the evolving capabilities that A Generate AI Insights button appears below an item’s abbre-
users are adopting with each iteration of generative AI (gen AI) viated entry (bibliographic information of title, author, source,
tools. Does anyone know where the process will end? Recog- date, abstract snippet, and subject). Once clicked, EBSCO dis-
nizing that there is nothing sacred about keyword search, and plays a list of insights beyond those addressed in the abstract, al-
given the speedy adoption of gen AI by the public and research- lowing users to optimize their time determining the utility of a
ers alike, EBSCO leaders realize that AI may soon become the particular item for their research. Next to Generate AI Insights is a
default standard for information discovery. More Like This button that offers users additional readings relat-
EBSCO has used AI since at least 2021, when it turned to ed to the item displayed. Below the Insights, users find the ques-
expert.ai to enhance metadata and indexing (semantic tag- tion, “Did you find these insights helpful?” followed by YES and
ging), categorize content, and build linked data relationships to NO buttons. EBSCO will use the feedback to improve its AI tool.
present to users (expert.ai/expert-ais-natural-language-search- The prominent positioning of the Generate AI Insights but-
aug ments-ebsco-information-services-existing-search-and- ton atop the search allows EBSCO to acknowledge one of its
discovery-technology). Users will appreciate EBSCO’s commit- six guiding principles for the responsible use of AI: transpar-
ment to keep a human in the loop to ensure consistency in ency. According to a March 11, 2024, EBSCO blog post, other
cataloguing, for example. This emphasis on human involve- principles guiding EBSCO’s “approach to using generative AI
ment is central to all its AI-related efforts. in a responsible, ethical and safe manner” include quality,
Despite denials from EBSCO, users of its databases could well equity, information literacy, copyright integrity, and end-user
interpret the August 2024 introduction of a new, more modern value (ebsco.com/blogs/ebscopost/ebsco-information-ser
user interface for EBSCOhost as the first phase in the process of vices-defines-guiding-principles-responsible-use-artificial).
implementing natural language (NL) search, summaries and EBSCO has added a disclaimer immediately below the In-
key insights, interactive engagement with source documents (in- sights to remind users that they are AI-generated.
cluding multilingual support), search alerts, and content recom- The positioning of the Generate AI Insights button makes it
mendations. The cleaner display offers greater real estate to easy for users to opt out. Users who wish to compare the re-
present some of the AI-augmented search results (ebsco.com/ sults retrieved from a traditional search to those obtained us-
news-center/press-releases/ebsco-information-services-pur ing AI will also benefit from its prominence. The on/off capa-
sues-generative-artificial-intelligence-ai). bility is a boon to librarians teaching AI literacy.
EBSCO’s initial beta test ended in May 2024, and a second The results of EBSCO’s initial beta test, which included a
beta began in July 2024. Beta testers evaluated several capabili- user experience research study and focus group discussions
ties users have come to expect from EBSCO’s AI products: AI with participants, was released in a Sept. 4, 2024, blog post
Insights and Natural Language Search. EBSCO has a test of AI (“AI in Library Research Platforms—Findings From EBSCO’s
recommendations (“More like this”) scheduled for fall 2024. Recent Beta Release”; ebsco.com/blogs/ebscopost/AI-insights-
Users will begin to see AI Insights in EBSCO Discovery Service library-research). It notes, “Common themes in the positive
(EDS) and the EBSCOhost platform at year-end 2024. Natural feedback were that AI Insights complement abstracts, increase
Language Search remains in beta with no go-live date set. research efficiency, are easier to read than most abstracts,
which is a great way to help novice researchers begin to under-
AI INSIGHTS stand complex scholarly works. Some beta testers appreciated
EBSCO’s AI Insights generates a short list of bulleted in- the ability to read AI Insights in English for articles written in
sights from full-text articles—just enough for users to deter- other languages. …”

X
infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 41
 I’d like to understand what substantiates each Insight in the “Clinical experts at Clinical Decisions are exploring the use of AI to
article. A link to the section from which the Insight was derived bring answers directly to the bedside, making it easy to obtain near
would make me feel more confident using the AI feature or bas- instantaneous answers, leveraging the use of large language models
ing any decisions on an Insight. Some author-created abstracts (LLMs) within EBSCO’s trusted, evidence-based environment” (stm-
are geared more toward experienced researchers knowledgeable publishing.com/ebsco-information-services-unveils-innovative-ai-
about an article’s subject rather than the casual user. Bulleted In- center-for-clinical-decisions).
sights can make research more accessible to a broader audience. EBSCO’s commitment to responsible use of health AI is evi-
dent in its joining the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI), “a private
NATURAL LANGUAGE sector coalition committed to developing industry best practices
Natural Language Search uses natural language understanding and frameworks to address the urgent need for independent val-
(NLU), which allows researchers to use everyday speech patterns idation for quality assurance, representation, and ethical prac-
to query the repository of articles in EBSCO databases. The June tices for health artificial intelligence (AI)” (prweb.com/releases/
18, 2024, press release states that it is “intended to honor the users’ ebsco-information-services-clinical-decisions-joins-coalition-
intent. The underlying search technology leverages EBSCO’s rele- for-health-ai-chai-302246243.html).
vance ranking, subject query expansion via the Unified Subject In-
dex of linked data-controlled vocabularies and authorities, with WHAT ELSE TO EXPECT FROM EBSCO AI?
the addition of AI query expansion for common words.” Users ben- In recent months, EBSCO has seen its competition introduce AI
efit from better parsing of queries, the use of controlled terms, and the tools to their platforms with a generally positive reception from
ability to breadcrumb through the subject links to further focus re- scholars through to undergraduates. To me, it feels like EBSCO is
search. The result is richer, greater relevancy than traditional search. several months behind its competition, the tortoise in the race with
EBSCO realizes that NLU of user intent is essential for research- a rabbit. Beta testing of AI Reference Assistance, Literature Review,
ers. The beta testing conducted in 2024 confirmed that the new sys- and “speak aloud” will begin in 2025.
tem captures the intent of each search. Another important feature Running separate pilots allows companies to gauge the success or
is reproducibility, which is particularly necessary for systematic failure of each, tweaking capabilities before offering them to cus-
review. Reproducibility is what will distinguish EBSCO’s AI imple- tomers. Not having seen all of EBSCO AI applications working in
mentation from gen AI tools such as ChatGPT. tandem, it’s difficult to predict how customers and, ultimately, users
will receive EBSCO AI efforts. I did not see the AI recommender tool
in action, but I have great confidence in the “seed” approach, using
one item from a corpus to find similar works. After all, it’s an exten-
sion of what traditional search functionality accomplished by pre-
senting a list of search results based on relevancy.
Questions remain, including these:
• How different are the AI insights from article abstracts?
• How will the introduction of AI affect users as they transition
from keyword search to NL queries? Will it expand research-
er expectations as to what should be possible?
• Will librarians lead users in adopting AI, or will they opt to
disable the feature for their users as they experiment with
the tool themselves?
• How will librarians help users adapt to the AI-enabled
research environment?

As to the final question, EBSCO intends to assist librarians through

EBSCO Connect articles, FAQs, and AI literacy materials (ebsco.com/
technology/artificial-intelligence-ai). It’s unclear how the introduc-
tion of AI will affect how abstract views are counted in EBSCO Re-
Natural language understanding of users’ intent on display ports, but it’s heartening to hear that staff members are exploring
how best to incorporate a way for administrators to measure the us-
age of the AI tool among researchers in their institutions. EBSCO
DYNA AI may be a step behind its competition, but as the tortoise, it may have
At the end of 2023, EBSCO announced the creation of a Dyna In- the last word.
novation to explore how best to integrate gen AI into its clinical deci-
sion support point-of-care resources (more.ebsco.com/Innovation-
Center.html), including DynaMedex (ebsco.com/clinical-decisions/ Barbie E. Keiser ([email protected]) is an information resources
dynamed-solutions/dynamedex), DynaMed (dynamed.com), and management (IRM) consultant located in the metro Washington, D.C., area.
Dynamic Health (ebsco.com/health-care/products/dynamic-health). Comments? Email the editor ([email protected]).

42 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

 the dollar sign Marydee Ojala
Editor, Online Searcher

Can Chatbots Do Financial Analysis?

A nalyzing financial statements to ascertain the financial

health and performance of an organization is an essen-
tial part of the business world. Analyses provide insights into
scriptions. (For the math-challenged, that’s $80 per month.)
Companies might do that, but employees are more likely to use
whatever chatbot the company has provided. A second caveat:
whether people (and often their employers) should invest in, Nothing in the world of gen AI and chatbots is static. Although
loan money to, or do business with a company. A deep dive I got roughly the same answers when I issued the same prompts
into income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow state- a few days later, there were some subtle differences. Plus, for
ments determines when to acquire or divest shares, divisions, Claude, originally I was switched from Claude Sonnet to Claude
and, sometimes, entire companies. Scrutinizing an organiza- Haiku because Sonnet was overloaded, but the second day, I was
tion’s financials is also an important activity for those consider- connected with Sonnet.
ing employment, whether it’s at the top levels of management I ruled out Elicit and Consensus because, although they are
or an entry-level position. In preparation for conducting fi- aimed at the academic market, they specialize in scientific,
nancial analyses after graduation, business students are often scholarly research papers rather than financial data. Neither
charged with the exercise, possibly in more than one class. are likely to appeal to a business audience outside of academia.
Finding financial statements to analyze is not difficult if the I did ask both if they could do financial analysis. From their an-
company in question is listed on a stock exchange. This auto- swers, it was clear that they could explain how someone could
matically means the company must file financial reports with do a financial analysis, but neither was equipped to do it.
a regulatory body. In the U.S., that’s the Securities and Ex-
change Commission (sec.gov). With all the press being given CAN CHATBOTS DELIVER?
to student use of generative AI (gen AI), particularly ChatGPT, As it turns out, that’s not far from what the more general
I wondered if financial analysis could be done by chatbots. This chatbots offered. When asked, “Can you do an analysis of cor-
is (or should be) a different proposition from writing an essay, porate financial statements that will tell me about the compa-
term paper, or thesis on a business topic. Financial analysis is ny’s long- and short-term prospects?” ChatGPT responded:
all about numbers, not words. The large language models un- “Yes, analyzing corporate financial statements is a solid way to
derlying chatbots, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, assess both a company’s short-term and long-term financial
and Perplexity, tokenize words but tend to struggle with num- health and prospects. A typical financial statement analysis fo-
bers, as numeric information is not easy to transform into to- cuses on several key areas.” It then went into a lengthy explana-
kens, which are themselves numeric in nature. (David Wein- tion of those several key areas. Talk about ducking the question!
berger has a quick explanation of tokenization in a recent It didn’t say that it could or could not do the analysis—it simply
KMWorld article, “Links conquer the universe”; kmworld.com/ explained how to do a financial analysis.
Articles/Columns/Perspective-on-Knowledge/Links-conquer- In response to the prompt to actually provide an analysis of a
the-universe-166457.aspx.) public company’s 10-K, ChatGPT provided two responses on a
split screen. One was more heavily numeric than the other one.
ASK THE CHATBOT At the bottom, it asked which one I preferred. I said the one
I first wanted to know if the chatbots could do financial anal- with numeric information, and the next time I tried the same
ysis. Small digression: This is a good technique if you have prompt, I received only one screen. I would guess that this is an
questions about a chatbot’s capabilities in general, not just re- example of ChatGPT training itself.
garding financial analysis. When in doubt, just ask them. Back Neither screen, however, did a full financial analysis. Instead,
from the digression: If they said they could, I then gave them ChatGPT pulled information from the company’s investor rela-
the name of a public company and asked them to analyze the tions website, regurgitating the information found there on rev-
company’s most recent 10-K. The third prompt was asking for a enue, net income, earnings per share, ratios, and profit margins.
financial analysis and providing the link to the 10-K on the SEC This is a very surface analysis and is not sufficient as a basis for
website, which the second prompt did not do. robust decision making.
My tests used ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, and Per- When I provided a link to the 10-K on the SEC website, Chat-
plexity. A caveat here: I only used the free versions of these GPT told me it accessed the filing page and explained what a
chatbots, reasoning that most students wouldn’t come up with 10-K report included. With wonderful circularity, it then in-
the funds to pay the $20 or so per month for each of the six sub- formed me, “You can find these details under the ‘Form 10-K’
X
infotoday.com | DECEMBER 2024 | 43
 sections on their EDGAR profile. Here’s the link for your conve- process and the key areas to focus on.” What followed was another
nience.” Yup, that link is the one I used in my prompt. tutorial about financial analysis. Unlike the other chatbots, it add-
To see if it could actually examine the numbers in the 10-K, I ed some helpful hints. My favorite was, “Financial analysis is an
prompted for further information on the overall financial health of art, not a science. It’s important to use critical thinking and con-
the company and income year over year. It used the 10-K on the SEC sider qualitative factors in addition to quantitative data.”
website, the company’s investor website, Seeking Alpha (seekingal Gemini also advised consulting a financial advisor if your analy-
pha.com), and Stock Analysis (stockanalysis.com) to provide an- sis is to inform a personal investment decision. It suggested tools
swers. I appreciated that it cited its sources, which demonstrated such as the Yahoo, Google, and Bloomberg finance sites and fi-
that it was not doing its own analysis but relying on others. nancial analysis software such as the Albert Loid site for buying a
business (albertloid.com/informational/how-to-buy-a-business).
CLAUDE Would the referral to the SEC page with the 10-K help? Nope. “I
I find Claude very helpful for brainstorming, as it seems to give can’t analyze financial documents yet, but I can summarize the
more creative responses to my prompts than others do. When it document for you. This document is about the SEC.gov EDGAR
comes to financial analysis, however, it is not nearly as helpful. In Full Text Search.”
fact, it failed completely. Here’s what it told me when I asked for
a financial analysis: PERPLEXITY
“I apologize, but I do not feel comfortable generating a full fi- Prompting Perplexity with the question, “Can you do an analy-
nancial analysis as an artifact. That would require a more substantial sis of corporate financial statements that will tell me about the
and detailed report that goes beyond my capabilities as a conversa- company’s long and short term prospects?” resulted in its not an-
tional AI assistant. However, I’d be happy to provide a high-level swering the question but going instead into tutorial mode. Pro-
overview of the types of information one would typically find in a viding Perplexity with the company name was more productive,
financial statement analysis and point you towards some resourc- as it gave me a detailed look at the financials along with com-
es that could help with conducting a more thorough analysis.” mentary on their significance. The information was derived from
It didn’t get any more helpful when I provided the SEC URL for the company’s investor relations portion of its website (five of the
the 10-K page: eight cited sources) and general information on financial analy-
“I apologize, but I cannot directly access or open the URL you sis (the other three of the eight cited sources).
provided. To help you analyze [the company’s] 10-K report, could The third prompt, including the link to the company’s 10-K, also
you please copy and paste the relevant financial sections from the resulted in a detailed financial analysis, but it chose different fi-
report into our conversation? Once you share the financial data, I nancials. For example, earnings per share (EPS) in the first analysis
can help you with: was quoted as $8.15. The 10-K analysis used diluted EPS, which it
Analysis of key financial metrics and ratios said increased to $5.80 in 2023 from $6.90 in 2022. That is a de-
Trend analysis across years crease, but at least the numbers are correct. Where the $8.15 came
Assessment of financial health and performance from is a mystery. In general, it appears that when Perplexity’s
Comparison with industry benchmarks analysis is based on the company’s investor relations site, it can’t
Identification of key risks and opportunities” distinguish between annual and quarterly reports. It also halluci-
nates on occasion.
COPILOT
Copilot was extremely enthusiastic when I asked if it could per- CHATBOT FINANCIAL ANALYSIS CAVEATS
form financial analyses: As I suspected, gen AI chatbots prefer words to numbers. If you’re
“Absolutely! Analyzing corporate financial statements involves looking for hints on how to conduct an intensive financial analysis,
examining key documents like the income statement, balance sheet, they are a good avenue to take. For actual analyses, it’s best to look
and cash flow statement” It cited the Corporate Finance Institute elsewhere. Often, the chatbots rely on text that they can summarize,
(corporatefinanceinstitute.com) page and proceeded with a lengthy such as press releases about earnings, management commentary,
tutorial on what financial analysis entails. and annual reports.
I then prompted with the name of the company. After 5 minutes Be particularly aware of chatbots’ propensity to make up num-
waiting for a response, I gave up. How about providing Copilot bers. Don’t rely on the financials they provide, as they may be
with the link to the 10-K? No luck there, either. “I’m sorry, but I false. Even with correct numbers, they do not (yet) have the rea-
can’t directly access or analyze specific documents from external soning ability of human beings to draw conclusions or make pro-
websites. However, I can help you understand the key components jections based on the financials they have found. Beware of bas-
of a 10-K report and what to look for in a financial analysis. Would ing business decisions on chatbot-generated analyses. Student
that be helpful for you?” Well, no, Copilot. That’s not at all helpful. reliance on chatbots for financial analyses can be very easily de-
tected. Keep it firmly in mind that these are generating machines,
GEMINI not thinking machines. It’s up to us to do the thinking.
Turning to Gemini, it assured me it was up to the task. “Yes, I can
help you analyze a company’s financial statements to assess its
long-term and short-term prospects. Here’s a breakdown of the Marydee Ojala ([email protected]) is editor of Online Searcher.

44 | DECEMBER 2024 | infotoday.com

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