Co-designing the Smart Library in the Public Interest
Abstract:
According to Scopus, since 2014, 117 articles have been published containing the emergent term “Smart Library”. Of these articles, the vast majority focus on technology, and only very few articles refer to people in the context of human centered communities. An IEEEXplore search found 13 articles, ten of which were directly relevant to the idea of a “smart library” but which were heavily skewed toward localization techniques, the identification of entities, facial and image recognition, and the adoption of new technologies. There seems to be a push toward integrated smart libraries that offer application services that users need. But we need to ask the question “who are we serving” and “who is the public interest”? Can we define the stakeholders, and can we ask for their participation in co-designing a library with next generation services. In this instance there are three integral stakeholders who can come together: users, organisations (clients), and designers. In concert these stakeholders can offer insights into service deliverables and drive toward growth that is sought. What will YOUR smart library focus on? Collections, communities (social networks), technologies, sustainability, place or something other? One of the challenges of virtual information systems, is their connectivity to the physical space in which core instrumentation is situated. If we are disconnected from place, then we are likely disconnected to one another. We need to reach out to our aboriginal communities, or native peoples across the world who were the original custodians of a given geographic expanse.
Acknowledgements
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Dr Roba Abbas of the Faculty of Business at UOW, my long term collaborator of 14 years, for the clarity in understanding Co-design as an approach forward, and its relationship to Sociotechnical theory. You are so inspiring!
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Mr Alexander Hayes who has been with me for 10 years as a PhD candidate and about to submit his incredible thesis for the emphasis not only on socioethics but on the importance of place. He has spent a great deal of time with local aboriginal communities in Broome and Perth, and we have spent endless hours discussing his conclusions that I believe will change the way that we look at “systems” of any type.
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I also acknowledge Professor David Guston, the Dean of the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at ASU who has literally “convinced me” of the value of Public Interest Technology as an approach for the future. It is because of you Dave, and Professor Garry Grossman that I even bothered exploring PIT further.
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Finally, Dr Troy McDaniel and Ms Ding Ding Zheng who is the Co-PI and project manager of the $3M NSF grant on “Citizen-Centered Smart Cities and Smart Living”
Key Sources:
Elephant in the Lab, https://elephantinthelab.org/smart-libraries/
Smart Libraries: Buzz Word or Tautology, https://zenodo.org/record/1302988
The evolution of digital libraries as socio-technical systems, https://www.slideshare.net/amarintha/the-evolution-of-digital-libraries-as-sociotechnical-systemssysrems
Key themes and challenges in digital libraries, https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/39195
The smart library project, https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/EL-01-2017-0017/full/html?af=R
Transforming DTU Library to Smart Library 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VGbL4JiTfk
DTU Smart Library – What is it?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEc7_8xpdj4
Smart Library makes Smart People, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3NBMuB1gV4
RFID Internet of Things Smart Library, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jFqfe0MxaU
Smart Searching with UNSW Library, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcxV1LZEaYQ
Your Smart Library, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUReQdVuZDs
NLT Smart Library, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCiK1EOg4qs
SMART Library, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIowQZsQ1yQ
Feedback:
[Male]: Thank you for speaking to us yesterday. Everyone was extremely complimentary of your presentation – “the best ever!” they said, indicative of the impact. Very thought provoking and relevant to our work.
[Female]: Thank you so much for your wonderful inspiring presentation. All day everyone was commenting to me about how much they enjoyed your talk. It has given us all a lot to think about. Two things that really resonated with me were what kind of library do we want to be and to continually question. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise with us!
[Female]: You are the talk of the day!
Biography: Katina Michael holds a joint appointment in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and the School of Computing, Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering at Arizona State University. She is also the director of the Centre for Engineering, Policy and Society. Katina has recently completed a proposal for a new coursework Masters in the area of Public Interest Technology. She is the founding editor of the IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society. In 2017, Katina was awarded the prestigious Brian M. O'Connell Award for Distinguished Service to the IEEE Society on the Social Implications of Technology (IEEESSIT). Since 2008 she has been a board member of the Australian Privacy Foundation. She researches the social implications of technology.