The Logan North Library has a range of technology to accommodate people with vision, hearing and mobility disabilities (Logan City Council, n.d.), including adaptive keyboards and tracking mouse, screen reading and magnifying software, adjustable screens and desks, and wheeled walking aids. The library has made accommodations for accessibility include accessible parking and toilets and lift access with Braille controlled panels. There are also options for people with learning differences, such as software developed for people with autism (Logan City Council, 2017).

The Logan Accessibility Centre was designed to be used independently during library opening hours (Fitzgerald et al., 2015), benefitting those who require any of the equipment and modifications listed above. There are implications for the information service, as library staff will need training in the software and equipment, the ability to induct users, answer questions about the service on the phone, and arrange for maintenance. Depending on demand, there may be requirements for bookings or appointments for equipment use where only one user can be facilitated at a time.

The benefits of this inclusive technology and building design approach run beyond the individual users to their carers, teachers and connections, but also on a wider scale may help the library to maintain relevance as a community hub, and goes a long way towards providing ‘safe welcoming and meaningful whole-of-community spaces’ (Fitzgerald et al., 2015).

Whilst the Logan North Library can be applauded for its efforts in digital inclusivity, arguably it is simply meeting obligations under the National Disability Strategy for inclusive and accessible communities (Fitzgerald et al., 2015). Similarly, physical accessibility is required under the Commonwealth Discrimination Act (1992).

The Logan North Library has a number of considerations going forward, including maintaining an affirmative action plan, continuing to assess and address community needs (including evaluating measures put in place), ongoing training for staff, and communicating to the public about available resources (ALIA, 2019).

References

Australian Library and Information Association. (2019). Guidelines on library and information services for people with disabilities. Retrieved from https://www.alia.org.au/about-alia/policies-and-guidelines/alia-policies/guidelines-library-standards-people-disabilities

Fitzgerald, B., Hawkins, W., Denison, T., & Kop, T. (2015). Digital inclusion, disability, and public libraries: A summary Australian perspective. In B. Wentz, P. T. Jaeger & J. C. Bertot (Eds.), Accessibility for persons with disabilities and the inclusive future of libraries, Advances in Librarianship, 40, (pp. 213 – 236). Retrieved from https://www-emerald-com.access.library.unisa.edu.au/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S0065-283020150000040019/full/html 

Logan City Council (2017). Accessibility Centre. Retrieved from https://loganlibraries.org/facility/logan-north-library/accessibility-centre/

Logan City Council. (n.d.). Logan North Library. Retrieved from https://loganlibraries.org/facility/logan-north-library/

There are a number of advantages and disadvantages to a statewide centralised LMS.

For the library user, they have access to a much wider variety of resources – if they know how to access them. If a library does not buy an in-demand book because it is available another branch, that is fine for a user who knows how to request it, but unhelpful for a user who finds resources by browsing. For my own grandfather who has initialled most of the large print books in our local library, it is difficult if a borrower history is not available now that he has moved to a home and has to get books from a different branch. Having discovered the ability to request books from home online last year, I have become an avid user of the library by browsing the catalogue, but for years had been disillusioned with the availability of good books physically on the shelves, an issue raised by the 2014 report by the Department of State Development. Other advantages for the user include signing up only once (although that means fines will be applicable at every library!) and being able to borrow anywhere using the same, familiar system.

In a statewide LMS system, as all libraries will be using the same cataloguing system, cataloguers have the advantage of being able to work across multiple branches with one lot of training. However, as in the implementation of the One Card Network in South Australia, there may be some difficulties in avoiding duplication and cleaning up records, especially in smaller libraries (Department of State Development, 2014). Procedures may also be difficult to maintain over multiple sites. In the ACT, the way of indicating in the catalogue that a book comes with a CD is inconsistent, for example using ‘(kit)’ or ‘CD included’. These small inconsistencies can make it difficult for users to find what they are looking for, but with cataloguers from multiple workplaces these can fall through the cracks.

From the perspective of manual handling, many libraries in South Australia struggled with the increase in manual handling requirements that the volume of requests created across the system (Peters, 2014). However, on the positive side, because there are so many libraries using the same system, there is opportunity to collaborate to improve systems and efficiency. The greatly increased amount of material in transit can also introduce issues. In the new ACT cataloguing system introduced this year, a message that an item is ready to be picked up is sent to the user when the courier drops it off at the Library, rather than when it is physically on the shelf waiting. There may also be longer wait times for requested items as they are transferred multiple times between users.

References

Department of State Development (2014). One card network: Like to know the results of the most ambitious library project in SA’s history? Retrieved from https://www.libraries.sa.gov.au/custom/web/PLS/1LMS_Outcomes_Summary_Brochure_-_A4.pdf

Peters, K. (2014). Public Library Services: Service outcomes of one library management system. Retrieved from https://www.libraries.sa.gov.au/custom/web/PLS/KPPM_Final_Report_1LMS_Review_23-07-2014.pdf.

In creating the Canberra Children’s Library website on WordPress, a number of recommendations from published articles were taken into account.

1. From Piola (2018), the tip ‘simplify searching’ was implemented. The search button is available from the page header, making it visible on every page. It was also made more prominent on the home page by including an additional search bar for searching the catalogue.
2. Also from Piola, ‘watch for jargon’ was a key consideration in the writing of content. Online resources all included simple descriptions so that people would know what they would be navigating to (Piola). Overall, the website adhered to general rule of keeping language accessible to a 9 year old reading level (Commonwealth of Australia, n.d.).
3. Piola also suggests reducing the primary navigation. Aside from a search button, six navigation options were included; Piola suggests that web best practice is no more than seven.
4. Gambrell (2015) says that best practice means empowering all users and making your website accessible. So far as possible, this has been implemented in the Canberra Children’s Library website, including considering the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (2019). Especial thought was put into making the site perceivable, with clear text and bold colours.
5. Hadley (2017) summarises the content of museum websites as being broken up into the practical, the stuff and feelings. These three points were the basis for initial planning for the Canberra Children’s Library website, making sure users could easily find practical information, would know what the Library has to offer, and how they would feel if they visited the Library.

References

Commonwealth of Australia (n.d.). ‘Digital guides: Accessibility and inclusivity’. Retrieved from https://guides.service.gov.au/content-guide/accessibility-inclusivity/.

Gambrell, K. (2015). 7 best practices for creating a user friendly library website. Retrieved from https://www.ebsco.com/blog/article/7-best-practices-for-creating-a-user-friendly-library-website 

Hadley, P. (2017). What do the best museum websites all do? Retrieved from https://blog.cogapp.com/what-do-the-best-museum-websites-all-do-8d6727504605

Piola (2018). 8 tips to improve your library’s website design. Retrieved from https://meetpiola.com/8-tips-to-improve-your-librarys-website-design/

Australian National University (ANU) Art and Music Library

This webpage sits within the ANU Libraries overarching website, within the ANU website. It is aimed at ANU School of Art and School of Music staff and students, as well as those seeking external membership, and schools and musical groups wishing to borrow orchestral equipment. It sits within the ANU Libraries overarching website, within the ANU website.

The wider ANU Libraries website has a broad and deep organisational structure, with eight main menu items that go up to four layers deep. The website has a hybrid scheme, with some information in exact schemes (such as branch opening hours and events in chronological order), while others are ambiguous (being topical, such as subject guides, and audience specific, such as for students of a certain faculty).

Here is an overview of the components of the website, specifically looking at the Art and Music Library page, that are well-designed, poorly designed, and some possible improvements.

Component	Well-designed	Poorly designed	Possible improvement
Accessibility	Blue or black text in a common font Captions on video content	Links not always provided or described (Pernice, 2017)	Fix links, for example rather than a direction to email Helen Jenks for accessibility information, link the email address
Structure	Use of breadcrumbs helps users navigate (combating issues raised by Yoon et. al. (2016)) Mostly passes the three click test (Yang & Lee, 2015)	Catalogue search is not prominent enough from branch page (Gambrell, 2015)	Add an option to search Art and Music Library content
Overall design	All practical information (contacts, locations, opening hours) are easily found on one page	Very little use of colour or images leads to an unappealing site No dynamic content that would lead users to return to the site on most pages No clear layout on the desktop display (for example ‘F’ shape) that guides a user how to view the page	Utilise an appealing colour scheme or display images Have upcoming events displayed more prominently or linked to the branch page Reconsider the use of two columns for all content

The main School of Art and Music Library page lists all the practical information required for use of the ANU Art and Music Library. The main feature of the page is a video, 1:41 long, which walks the viewer through the entrances showing how to get to the library, pointing out (via written captions) the returns chute, where to ask for help, and listing rules such as no food or drink. The small number of Youtube views backs up my thought that not many people would bother watching this clip.

This is a visually unappealing but generally practical website.

References

Gambrell, K. (2015). 7 best practices for creating a user friendly library website. Retrieved from https://www.ebsco.com/blog/article/7-best-practices-for-creating-a-user-friendly-library-website.

Pernice, K. (2017). F-shaped pattern of reading on the web: misunderstood, but still relevant (even on mobile). Retrieved from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/.

Yang, S. Q., & Lee, Y. Y. (2015). Emerging Technologies for Librarians : A Practical Guide. London: Elsevier Science & Technology.

Yoon, K., Hulscher, L., & Rachel Dols, R. (2016). Accessibility and Diversity in Library and Information Science: Inclusive Information Architecture for Library Websites. The Library Quarterly 86(2) pp. 213-229.

The confronting article “When algorithms control information, what of democracy?’ is eye-opening for anyone who is not aware of the presence of algorithms in their own lives and in the wider world. The concept that the public’s emotions and actions are being manipulated with an agenda (Arvanitakis, 2017) is especially thought provoking. Studies suggest that many people do not know or understand the extent to which algorithms may be affecting their lives (Susarla, 2019).

There seems to be widespread opinion that current regulations do not do enough, or are not keeping up with these development in artificial intelligence and the way it relates to people’s data and privacy (NBC News, 2018, Ehrenmann in Susarla, 2019). A succinct set of suggestions from the PEW Research report of 2017 included stricter access protocols, ethical codes for digital stewardship and no third party sale without consent (Rainie & Anderson, 2017). These sorts of safeguards can only be enforced by laws, as companies will not generally voluntarily implement them even whilst claiming to support them. For example, Zuckerberg has called for regulation to protect privacy whilst at the same time Facebook has been fined multiple times for various infringements (Privacy International, 2019).

I do wonder about the place of universities in teaching data ethics. Not only do they stand to benefit from algorithms and artificial intelligence (for example, by identifying at-risk students as stated in the article), the digital divide as described by Susarla (2019) may widen if universities are the key place of getting this kind of information. University is expensive: not everyone gets to attend. And what of other groups such as the elderly? Perhaps libraries can step in to bridge this gap, including school libraries; the collection of data and targeting of content is not restricted to adults.

References

Arvanitakis, J. (2017, 11 August). If Google and Facebook rely on opaque algorithms, what does that mean for democracy? ABC News. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-10/ai-democracy-google-facebook/8782970?pfmredir=sm.

Privacy International (2019). Cambridge Analytica, GDPR – 1 year on – a lot of words and some action. Retrieved from https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/2857/cambridge-analytica-gdpr-1-year-lot-words-and-some-action.

Rainie, L. & Anderson, J. (2017, 8 February). Code-Dependent: Pros and Cons of the Algorithm Age. PEW Research Centre. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/02/08/code-dependent-pros-and-cons-of-the-algorithm-age/.

Saraga, D. (2017). Opinion: Should algorithms be regulated? Retrieved from https://phys.org/news/2017-01-opinion-algorithms.html.

Susarla, A. (2019, April 17). The new digital divide is between people who opt out of algorithms and people who don’t. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/the-new-digital-divide-is-between-people-who-opt-out-of-algorithms-and-people-who-dont-114719.

Weisbaum, H (2018). Trust in Facebook has dropped by 66 percent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, NBC News. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/trust-facebook-has-dropped-51-percent-cambridge-analytica-scandal-n867011.

One tool from Web 3.0 that can be used by an information service is Artificial Intelligence, an example being the chatbot (also known as an artificial conversation entity, or agent technology).

Users can interact with a chatbot to a number of benefits to information management services. They are available around the clock, never tiring or becoming frustrated with customers. They improve accessibility by assisting users to retrieve content without having to scroll and navigate through the website (Allison, 2012). They are scalable: no matter how many clients, students, or users you have, there is only one chatbot (Raj, 2018).

From one perspective, they free up information management staff to concentrate on more complex tasks, or to provide better service to those who require personal assistance. However, the constantly changing technology environment as well as resource constraints may be off-putting to services implementing the use of agent technology (Talley, 2016). The chatbots will only be as good as the ability of staff to successfully implement them and provide their information base and structure (Abdul-Kader & Wood in Mckie & Narayan, 2019).

Many examples of implementation seem to indicate undergraduate students at universities are prime candidates for chatbots. According to Mckie and Narayan (2019), external students, those who would rather interact with technology than in person and first generation tertiary students are all set to benefit from this technology. Conveniently, the chatbot can give exclusive information about the way that users are interacting with it, so these benefits can be expanded upon (Raj, 2018). That is, if they can resist the temptation to use it for expressing profanity! (Allison, 2012).

References

Allison, D. (2012). Chatbots in the library: is it time?, Library Hi Tech, Vol. 30(1), pp. 95-107. Retrieved from https://doi-org.access.library.unisa.edu.au/10.1108/07378831211213238

Mckie, I & Narayan, B. (2019). Enhancing the Academic Library Experience with Chatbots: An Exploration of Research and Implications for Practice. Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association 3 July 2019. Vol. 68(3), pp. 268-277. Retrieved from https://www-tandfonline-com.access.library.unisa.edu.au/doi/full/10.1080/24750158.2019.1611694

Raj, S. (2018). Building Chatbots with Python. https://doi-org.access.library.unisa.edu.au/10.1007/978-1-4842-4096-0_1

Talley, N. B. (2016). Imagining the use of intelligent agents and artificial intelligence in academic law libraries. Law Library Journal, 108(3), pp. 383-402.Retrieved from https://heinonline-org.access.library.unisa.edu.au/HOL/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/llj108&id=380&men_tab=srchresults

Maunder raises a number of security issues in her article regarding 24/7 access at a library in Foster, which are pertinent to any library considering this service. Below are some security issues raised by the article, how the Foster Library has overcome the issue, and some questions for other libraries considering this option.

Security issue	How it is overcome	Considerations for other libraries
Identification of users via security camera	Foster is a small town ‘where most people know each other’	Will patrons be identifiable on camera? Will this suit a larger community or university?
Health and safety of patrons when library is unattended	Provide inductions	Are there resources for inductions and maintenance of first aid kits? How accessible are medical services in the event of an emergency?
Access by inducted patrons	Provision of swipe cards	Is the infrastructure available for swipe card access? How will patrons be prevented from giving unauthorised people access?
Implementation of emergency procedure	Provide inductions	Is the library at high risk of emergency, for example power failure or violence? How accessible would emergency services personnel be if required? Are additional security guards required?

Other security issues that may present for 24/7 libraries include use of facilities by homeless people; patrons cards being lost, stolen or misused; misuse of facilities (for example bringing in food); risk of damage to collection and property. The cost of mitigating these issues needs to be assessed against the benefit to the community or students.

Reference

Maunder, S (2019, December 20). First library in Victoria to open 24 hours a day, seven days a week has town buzzing. ABC Gippsland. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-27/foster-library-first-in-victoria-to-open-24-hours-a-day/11777696

The Baron family private network is a wireless router network for a family home in Canberra. It services two adults, one of whom studies and works from home, and two children. There are two smartphones, two iPads, one smart television, one Xbox, and one laptop connected. It uses the star topology, with a router which devices are connected to either by Ethernet (television and Xbox), or wirelessly (see diagram below). Users save documents and photographs requiring long term storage on an external hard drive or on their email servers (OneDrive and Google Photos). An Alogic USB-C portable docking station is used for any USB or USB-C port requirements.

One drawback of this wireless network is the security required for work in the public service, a necessity of one stakeholder. To overcome this issue, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is utilised to connect the laptop to a separate Internet Protocol (IP) address, establishing a secure and encrypted connection (Symanovich, 2020).

The users are extremely happy with the network since its inception in 2017. They can use all devices all over the house and have no problem streaming large amounts of data for gaming and viewing.

The biggest frustration with this network is the interference of the microwave on the wireless internet.  Because the wireless internet and the microwave use the same frequency of 2.4 GHz (Kruszelnicki, 2012), one user often cannot view her episode of ‘Bluey’ whilst her mother cooks dinner. The user’s father has often suggested an upgrade to 5 GHz to prevent this interference, but to date this has not been implemented.

References

Kruszelnicki, K.S. (2012, September 25). WiFi frozen? Blame the microwave oven. ABC Science. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/09/25/3595484.htm

Symanovich, S. (2020). What is a VPN?. Retrieved from https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-privacy-what-is-a-vpn.html