Library Update- October 24, 2014

October 24, 2014 | 19th Edition

library update hoopla sends its own ‘Human Side of Technology’ to Netspeed Netspeed is a leading library technology conference that connects librarians, library technicians, and information technology staff from public, academic, government, and special libraries from Western Canada and beyond.

Technology is embedded in virtually every aspect of the library experience and the Netspeed conference addressed this convergence of people and technology.

Connecting with patrons with the technology libraries offer, and “The Human Side of Technology” were the main points of discussion at this year’s Netspeed conference in Alberta.

And that was one of the primary reasons for hoopla representatives to attend. To continue to help library patrons better connect to digital library services, we wanted to connect with Library Partners and gain their feedback on their hoopla experience thus far.

Over 200 library representatives were on hand, including Drew Jackson, Manager, Innovation and Learning at North Vancouver District Public Library. Drew also was the lucky winner of a specially engraved iPad, courtesy of hoopla, as a prize for attending the conference.

Nick Anderson, hoopla Support Specialist who attended the conference, shared, “It [Netspeed] was a great conference. Meeting with Library Partners face to face and gaining their feedback on features they are looking for on the hoopla platform was a key part of our attendance. Their viewpoints will be a tremendous asset as we move forward.”

About Netspeed 2014, CVS Director David Narciso was quoted as saying, “CVS Midwest Tape’s inaugural attendance at Netspeed’s 2014 Nexpo was a conference experience second to none. It was humbling to observe delegates, vendors, and conference guests discuss the future of public libraries and hoopla digital in the same breath. I look forward to participating in the 2015 Netspeed conference. Special thanks to Lauren Sergy for organizing Netspeed, as well as The Government of Alberta- Municipal Affairs - Public Library Services Branch for making hoopla digital available to all Albertans.” library update | 1

Simplifying the connection for your digital converts One of our chief goals at hoopla is to make accessing digital content as easy as possible for users. Throughout the over 400 libraries that offer hoopla to their patrons, we have noticed that the connection between library patron and accessing content can be unnecessarily difficult. hoopla is working to simplify this connection, and make it easier than ever to convert a library cardholder into a digital content patron / consumer.

Where you can help To continue to lower this barrier for your patrons in accessing hoopla and other digital platforms, we need your help. We need your help to educate your patrons as to what their default PIN is, or that they need their PIN to access their digital content. If your library isn’t interested in a patron’s PIN to access digital platforms, please consider removing the PIN field from your authentication setups.

How we’re doing it Not all cardholders know what their library PIN is, leaving potential registrants frustrated and not interested in digital library services. Recently, we worked with a handful of hoopla library partners to reduce the friction and remove the PIN requirement from their authentication parameters. This has led to a drastic reduction in error messages for the libraries, and the elimination of user frustration.

Your hoopla coordinator will be in touch with you as well, to review your ILS setup on hoopla and how we can easily help your patrons to access the thousands of titles available on hoopla. Our hope is that the simplification of registering and accessing hoopla will continue across other digital platforms, and digital content will become the new norm.

We have also recently added a custom field to the registration page, and have been entering custom library-specific messages. These messages can help new users identify their default PIN without asking a librarian or calling the library. These messages always urge the patron to contact to the library for further assistance.

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