TECH THINKTANK MEETING NOTES - MARCH 2013

Still playing catch up with our meeting notes, but thought that this would be the perfect place for them! If you missed the meeting or are simply curious about what we talk about, here are the notes from our March meeting.
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             This morning we had an update about quite a bit, beginning with the Queset House. We are moving forward with the renovation project and will be working with FTG Technologies to help install our wired/wireless network, and will be scheduling the work in the next few weeks. We are also moving forward with a Technology update for the Main Library, complete with new computers for patrons and a slimmed down network to reduce connectivity issues that have cropped up in the past.

             We have also launched our new Tech ThinkTank blog (http://afltechthinktank.blogspot.com), along with a great new website/repository for our latest program series Trip Talks (http://www.afltriptalks.com). Both of these new additions can be found from our main webpage under the left-hand tab "Library Blogs." Guest Bloggers are always welcome!

             We also talked about programs here at the library, and potential programs at the Queset House, specifically relating to Technology. A local web designer will be doing a month-long Web Design course on Saturdays in April, and we are hoping to continue this tech trend for future months. Saturday mornings are always a great time slot, so if you have any ideas for a program, or have something in mind you would like to see done, please let the library know.

              Related to our growing Blogroll was a discussion of statistics, both for the blogs themselves as well as for the library's website and circulation. The library does indeed track and record statistics of all stripes, and we can discuss as a group the types of stats we would like to see and analyze as they relate to the topics we discuss.


              We briefly talked about a potential 'Recommendation Engine' for the library (based on models that retailers use, like Stop & Shop, Amazon and Apple) which can recommend things to you based on your previous interests. Although some libraries allow patrons to keep a list of previous items checked out, a little more research needs to be done to determine how we could accomplish this task at the library level, and still maintain the privacy of our patrons. We DO have multiple email lists that send targeted information to patrons who opt-in, but these are mainly lists of the latest items added to the library's growing collection, and are fairly broad.


              Another topic of discussion was using Drupal for our website redesign and beefing up our current newsletter through Constant Contact. We have added a new link/feature to our monthly newsletters that allow easier viewing from mobile devices, and will be looking to make sure that ALL of our newsletters have this link, but are still trying to make the text version of the newsletters better. It's a work in progress, and we are making some good strides, and over the next few months I hope to be making some serious headway on these two projects.


               The last thing we chatted about was Makerspaces in libraries and our place/role on that ever-growing spectrum. It was suggested that we remain focused as an 'Information Makerspace' to stay true to our library roots, and we thought that had a nice ring to it.

Creative Commons Meet Queset Commons

The reinvention of the Queset House is now underway.  This extension of the Ames Free Library campus furthers their core community services to include maker spaces.   This is a terrifically exciting time,  and Easton Community Access Television is thrilled to be a co-collaborator in this visionary effort.

ECAT is about community media and community media is about sharing.  Sharing videos and TV programs made by you with your friends and neighbors.  Sharing has always been an essential part of culture, but in our networked age the laws of copyright can often hold us back from taking advantage of fully engaging in the culture of sharing.  And what better to compliment making than sharing?

The Creative Commons provides the opportunity for producers to share their work and collaborate freely without the obstacles of traditional copyright law.  It is an amazing system brought to us by some of the best minds of our time, including Lawrence Lessig and Aaron Swartz among many others.

Creative Commons message adorn the walls of ECAT and I hope that they will also be become part of the new landscape of the Queset Commons.

Community Innovation Challenge Grant

We did it. The Ames Free Library has been awarded a $40,000 Community Innovation Challenge Grant! Elated, incredulous, excited; when pressed for the reason we were among the chosen the answer was simple and succinct: INNOVATION. That is what the library strives for, and what we, as librarians who serve such a diverse community, are trying to communicate: the library is a place for innovation, for production and creativity, just as much as it is a place for consumption. Information comes in myriad forms, and sometimes you learn by doing. Why not be a doer at the library?

There are so many creative folks working hard all over town: cooking up new recipes in the kitchen, using yarn and thread to craft something beautiful, functional, or both, creating video, music, writing books and poems, welding in their garages, turning wood in their workshops, using found objects to remake something wonderful. There are so many diverse ways to create, and still such a great need for information, the exchange of information, and resources. Let's get to work and create something TOGETHER.

At the Queset House we have a vision, a "classy exterior, savvy interior." Taking that gorgeous building and transforming it into something the original architects could have never dreamed of. But something I think they would smile about just the same.

You can check out our Press Release HERE.

Technology Think Tank @ Ames Free Library!

Queset House, built in 1853

Welcome to the official blog for the Tech Think Tank  hosted by the Ames Free Library in North Easton, Massachusetts. Our purpose is multifold; to document the latest ideas, projects, and knowledge of local professionals from across the spectrum of the community, as well as discuss the transformation of the famous Queset House, now part of the Ames Free Library campus (including the Learning Cottage and the Queset Gardens).

We will be checking in with various members of the community from time to time, and learning a thing or two along the way as well. From library science to rocket science, video and audio production, Makerspaces and Hackerspaces, crafting and coding, the Library is now home to a dizzying array of things to do, to make, and to be. So come with us as we take charge of the Information Age, and boldly lead the library into the 21st century and beyond.