This follow-up presentation covers Year 2 of the Library Technology Integration (LTI) Lab, a partnership between the San Jose State University School of Information, MLIS students, and library partners interested in operating a Technology Library of Things. A year later, the LTI lab continues to experiment, develop formal curriculum and programming, grow its partners, and help disseminate technology and teach digital literacy . The value in providing a Library of Things reflects one of the traditional roles of libraries – providing resources, services, and programming that are of interest and value to the patrons and communities we serve that are cost free. Loaning items through the library yields extremely high return-on-investment (ROI) as they will be reused by many people. As ACRL noted in 2019, the things offered are “…often a piece of technology (like video game consoles or telescopes) or a luxury that would be prohibitively expensive for a user to buy outright (like sporting equipment, museum passes, and musical instruments) or an item that is intended for infrequent or one-time use, and therefore not worth the money for an individual user to buy (like specialty cake pans, Santa suits, or prom dresses) (ACRL Log, 2019).

The LTI Lab and its Technology Library of Things have two primary goals: 1) Research and development and 2) Education and digital literacy. These goals directly impact and benefit the partnering libraries, their librarians, the graduate students that work for the lab, the users who access the lab online, and, most importantly, the children and patrons who are eager to learn and work with technology that they may not otherwise have access to. In addition, given the rapidly changing technology landscape, LIS educators must help serve on the frontlines of what and how technology can be integrated into the day-to-day resources, services, and programming of libraries.

Our presentation will be part demonstration of technology (virtual reality, augmented reality, holograms, drones, and robots) and part progress report on the results of the LTI lab, its Technology Library of Things, our online learning resource center, and information on how to participate.

Presenter: Dr. Anthony Chow, Irene Miller, Dan Lou, Rosine Bingo, Tyler C. Livy, Gayathri Kanth, James Westen
Date: Sunday, June 25, 2023
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. (Central Time)
Location: 2023 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, IL McCormick Place, W184bc