{"id":3378,"date":"2012-03-02T16:46:58","date_gmt":"2012-03-02T16:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/dplaalpha\/?p=3378"},"modified":"2012-03-02T16:46:58","modified_gmt":"2012-03-02T16:46:58","slug":"interview-nate-hill-web-librarian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dplaalpha\/2012\/03\/02\/interview-nate-hill-web-librarian\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Nate Hill, Web Librarian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nate Hill is a web librarian at the San Jose Public Library (CA)<\/a>,\u00a0manager of the\u00a0Public Library Association blog<\/a>,\u00a0and a convener for the DPLA Audience & Participation<\/a> workstream. He spoke with us last week via email about the workstream’s work in advance of DPLA West<\/a>, libraries as creative spaces, and his personal vision for the DPLA. Nate is currently seeking help to organize, design, and build a free and customizable summer reading app<\/a>\u00a0for the DPLA platform.<\/p>\n

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DPLA: The Audience and Participation workstream held their first workshop about a month ago in Dallas, the notes<\/a> of which are available on our website. What are some of the key themes and topics that you, as a group, are looking to address over the coming months in advance of DPLA West in late April<\/a>? Is there anything in particular that’s been on your mind?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nate Hill<\/strong>: There are two different threads running through the notes from the Audience and Participation workstream meeting<\/a> (PDF). \u00a0The first is a thread discussing the future of public libraries. \u00a0The second is a thread specifically about the DPLA\u2019s evolving structure and the philosophy informing its design and development. \u00a0It is encouraging to observe the braiding of these threads; visions for the future of public libraries are beginning to map to aspects of the DPLA.<\/p>\n

The first question the Audience & Participation addressed was \u201cwhat does the library look like in an increasingly digital future?” The notes organize our discussion as bulleted points. \u00a0Reviewing the notes now, I\u2019m most interested in five words from the very first bullet point: libraries have staff to help<\/em>. \u00a0The full point was libraries have staff to help discover and access information<\/em>, but I think that is too specific and not overwhelmingly helpful. \u00a0The future of public libraries not only lies in access and discovery of media resources, but also in the creation and distribution of new media. \u00a0I\u2019m not particularly concerned about libraries\u2019 ability to employ staff who can help patrons discover and access information. \u00a0In fact, I think it is going to become increasingly difficult to convince taxpayers that they should be employing members of their community to help them discover and access information<\/em>. \u00a0On the flip side, if we were to call for libraries<\/em> that have staff to help<\/em> with the creation of media and even artifacts, that is a service taxpayers will likely support far into our digital future.<\/p>\n

Regarding part two, the thread more specifically about the DPLA, I\u2019d like to see the discussion of local branding customization<\/em> taken further. \u00a0We\u2019ve only scratched the surface of what \u2018local\u2019 means for the DPLA because we\u2019ve been focusing on the big picture: the platform and all of the services it might enable. \u00a0The local branding customization<\/em> we\u2019ve discussed thus far is an understandable knee-jerk reaction to existing library products that aren\u2019t customizable enough in their interfaces. \u00a0Public libraries want to slap their logo and color scheme on top of web services so their customers associate those services with their library, not the other one on the other side of town. \u00a0Balancing local interest vs. web scale efficiencies and developing intentions and strategy around the end user perception of these two extremes is critical to the success of the DPLA. \u00a0If content is available via a free DPLA app, if it can be selected and served up based on a user\u2019s location, then what does that mean for a local library\u2019s brand identity? \u00a0Questions like this suggest an excellent place for the workstream to pick up conversation at its next meeting.<\/p>\n

DPLA: You’ve recently written a few articles (here<\/a> & here<\/a>) in which you broadly outline some ways that public libraries can take charge of their nascent digital identity and become generative read\/write spaces. While you specifically discuss a sort of self-publishing platform that’s embedded within a library’s ILS (integrated library system<\/a>), you are not the only librarian\/technologist who’s called on public libraries to begin thinking of themselves in a categorically different way. Might you be able to summarize\/discuss some of the more interesting ideas that have been in circulation over the past couple of years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NH<\/strong>: There are indeed a lot of different visions for the future of public libraries. \u00a0From my observation, they all are indicative of a growing consensus that knowledge production is as much the business of the New Library as knowledge consumption, with the exception of pioneers who are focusing their energies toward resolving the great ebook lending puzzle. I focus most of my own energy on the push for knowledge production, content creation, and access to tools for creative activities, but that doesn\u2019t mean access to digital media is unimportant. \u00a0Here are links to a few projects that I find interesting.<\/p>\n

Media Labs<\/em>
\nThere are a *lot* of libraries experimenting with this, but I like to point to the Digital Media Lab in Skokie, IL<\/a> as an example. \u00a0These guys got started brainstorming in 2008, and with a $35,000 grant opened the space in 2009. \u00a0Read about it here<\/a>. My favorite thing about Skokie\u2019s Digital Media Lab is that it caters to all ages, rather than a specific target audience like teens or kids. Content creation is not a developmental phase, it is key to the lifelong learning mission that public libraries have supported from the very beginning.<\/p>\n

Content Publishing and Distribution<\/em>
\nThis is currently my favorite project; it has enormous potential for future development. \u00a0LibraryYOU<\/a> is an LSTA funded project by the Escondido Public Library to \u201ccollect and share local knowledge through videos and podcasts.\u201d It consists of the following three parts:<\/p>\n