The librarians across the district meet regularly as a Library Council to discuss and work on various joint initiatives, but we rarely have casual time to connect and catch up more generally. Last week, though, a few of us made an effort to meet up socially, and within this informal environment, I gained some fresh ideas that I've been able to bring back to work. It was a helpful reminder that great insights can come from unstructured experiences, interactions, and conversations.
One idea that I implemented the very next day was to set up digital self sign-in kiosks for the library. This was inspired by my colleague Chansamone O'Meara, Teacher Librarian at El Capitan High School. Chansamone handles her sign-in process a little differently, because she has a Google Form that she or her student library aides fill out for students who visit the library. I've borrowed her Form concept, but since we had some outdated iMacs available, I have re-purposed those machines to serve as dedicated sign-in kiosks.
With the help of my library aides and our Technology Specialist Jovan Bessette, we have spruced up the old iMacs, breathing new life into them at the front desk. It is a bit of a training process to develop new habits in students who are accustomed to coming to the library, but so far, all is going well. I know that we'll never be able to get 100% of students signed in since I don't have the resources to station someone at the door full-time. Also, I am not requiring sign-in at peak times like break and lunch since it would be unwieldy during these rushes. Still, I am hoping to capture better information regarding library use at least during scheduled class period times.
Once I have better data, I am looking forward to publishing some awesome infographics. And, while I'm disappointed that I will not have that data available this year, I am excited that I'll be moving into next year with the streamlined user process already established.
My appreciation goes out to Chansamone for coming up with and sharing great ideas, and also to my library family at West Hills for helping me make the idea a reality. If anyone else has good ideas to share, I always want to hear them!
I'm so glad that it has been a fairly smooth process. I'm also glad that the old Macs have a new purpose.
ReplyDeleteHow do you do sign outs?
ReplyDeleteI only deal with the sign in and don't worry about the sign out. You could set it up so you can have the students sign out on the form.
ReplyDelete