WA Secretary of State Blogs

Reality Check

Wednesday, March 7th, 2018 Posted in Articles, For Libraries, For the Public, Technology and Resources | 2 Comments »


From the Desk of Joe Olayvar

A woman with a VR headset and controls on her hands. The background is a library.

If you haven’t noticed, there’s a device craze going on.  Nearly everywhere you look in any town or city across the globe, someone is absorbed in conversation, web searching, or game play.  Yes, we’ve come a long way since the Atari or the early phone and its five pound battery pack.  But like every technology, there’s always something new that will eventually overshadow it, or at least add a new facet; in this case, it’s Virtual Reality; better known as simply VR.

VR is nothing new, but it’s influx into the consumer market is.  At first glance, it’s a new platform that takes gaming up a notch with immersive 3D graphics and audio.  But in reality (pun intended), the potential for VR is literally ground breaking on so many levels.  Its ability to transport the user into worlds of every description will reinvent how we learn, conduct business, recreate, experience social media, and even heal.

With this in mind, the Washington State Library has launched the “VR in Libraries” project in partnership with the University of Washington’s Information School (iSchool) and one of the leading VR companies in the world, Oculus.  This two-year project will have several phases.  The initial Pilot (Phase I) includes studying the educational possibilities of VR in six libraries, thanks to the team of iSchool researchers led by Negin Dahya.  The following phases will take advantage of what is learned and ultimately see forty seven VR systems being rotated roughly every six months to reach as many Washington State Libraries as possible by the close of year 2020.

In the course of the project’s two year span, fifty VR systems will have been shared with over 180 libraries.  But at projects end, these VR systems will be granted to fifty Washington State libraries as permanent homes.  That is virtually a real win, win for our communities.

WSL Updates for February 15, 2018

Wednesday, February 14th, 2018 Posted in For Libraries, News, Training and Continuing Education, Updates | Comments Off on WSL Updates for February 15, 2018


Volume 14, February 15, 2018 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) TRAVEL AND TRAINING MONEY

2) STAND UP FOR HEALTH

3) HOPE FROM OUR GRANDMOTHERS

4) LATINO STEM LEARNING

5) DIGITAL LEARN TOOLKIT

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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1) TRAVEL AND TRAINING MONEY

The Medical Library Association (MLA) has joined forces with the Public Library Association (PLA) and the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) to provide a health information symposium for public librarians that runs concurrent with the last day and a half of the MLA 2018 conference in Atlanta (May 22, 23). U.S.-based public librarians with interest or responsibility in providing health information to their communities qualify for a free registration for the 1&1/2-day symposium. In addition to the $500 stipend, more funding support to defray travel costs is also available from the NNLM Pacific Northwest Region. Don’t miss this opportunity! Space is limited to a maximum of 150 public librarians. Learn more and apply before the March 1 deadline.

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2) STAND UP FOR HEALTH

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) is recruiting public library staff to participate in the online training, “Stand Up for Health: Health and Wellness Services for Your Community.” This is a 4-week (March 5 – April 1), online, asynchronous (all self-paced) course where participants will earn 12 continuing education (CE) credits and a certificate. The course is designed to provide public library staff with core competencies of providing health information services and the essential skills and knowledge that library staff need to build those competencies. For more information and to apply.

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3) HOPE FROM OUR GRANDMOTHERS

American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) community ties, tribal sovereignty rights and claims, and cultural values are emerging as critical elements of resiliency key to reversing the health and social issues that have plagued indigenous populations as a whole since the dawn of colonization. The practice of research and utilizing information collected by means of observation, hypothesis-testing, repetition of experiment, and sound conclusions to inform decision-making, have been integral to indigenous survival and wellbeing for centuries.

In this month’s free PNR Rendezvous webinar, Rose James of the Urban Indian Health Institute will review some of the modern scientific values in comparison to AIAN ways of knowing, and will provide examples of indigenous research concepts as they align with decolonizing data. Details:

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4) LATINO STEM LEARNING

The GENIAL (Generating Engagement and New Initiatives for All Latinos) Summit, funded by the National Science Foundation, was held June 5-6, 2017, at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, CA. It focused on increasing Latino participation in Informal STEM Learning (ISL) environments (like public libraries) by assessing what is currently known and began to identify new areas to consider in the future. Ninety-one practitioners, community leaders, media specialists, and researchers from across the United States and Puerto Rico participated. Learn more about the Summit and its resources by registering for one of the upcoming webinars:

  • February 27, 2018, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. PST: Register
  • April 25, 2018, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. PST: Register

Each interactive webinar will include a brief overview of the GENIAL Summit proceedings, recommendations, and actionable insights. Webinar participants will have a chance to interact with each other, project organizers, and advisors in a lively conversation about how the GENIAL results can influence their work with Latinos and other diverse audiences and to explore how the GENIAL results can move the ISL field forward. The session will include plenty of time for questions and discussion.

To access the resulting GENIAL publications before the webinar: www.exploratorium.edu/genial. For more on diversity in libraries around STEM, visit www.starnetlibraries.org/stem-in-libraries/diversity.

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5) DIGITAL LEARN TOOLKIT

DigitalLearn.org, the Public Library Association’s website designed to help consumers increase their digital literacy skills, now includes a robust suite of resources and tools for library staff and other educators to use when conducting training. The learning modules are adapted from Gail’s Toolkit, a project developed by the Gail Borden Public Library District in Elgin, Illinois. Included are lesson plans, presentations, handouts, and surveys for use in computer classes at libraries and other community institutions.

Tools to help library staff teach 81 different courses are available to download and personalize. Most courses include a course design document for instructors, a slide set, and handouts and activity sheets for learners. The training resources and tools can be found at training.digitallearn.org.

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6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

Monday, February 19

Tuesday, February 20

Wednesday, February 21

Thursday, February 22

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DISCLAIMER: The State Library regularly highlights third-party events and online resources as a way to alert the library community to training and resource opportunities. By doing so, we are not endorsing the content of the event, nor promoting any specific product, but merely providing this information as an FYI to librarians who must then decide what is right for them.

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