Tech Notes are PLA publications introducing specific technologies for public librarians. If there is a specific technology that you'd like to know more about, send us an e-mail at pla@pla.org and we will add it to our list for consideration.

Application Service Providers
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Application Service Providers
PDF File, 32 kb | posted 5/14/08
An application service provider (ASP) is a business that provides computer-based services to customers over a network. There are several forms of ASP business models. The focus of this Tech Note is the vertical market ASPs that serve libraries.

Automated Storage/Retrieval and Return/Sorting System
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Automated Storage/Retrieval and Return/Sorting Systems 
PDF file, 59 kb | posted 6/24/08
While librarians don't like to think of libraries as warehouses for books, there are a number of technologies developed for warehouses that can be beneficially used in libraries. Among these are automated storage/retrieval systems (AS/RS) and return/ sorting systems, collectively known in the warehousing industry as materials handling systems.

Blogs and Wikis
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Blogs and Wikis 
PDF file, 34 kb | posted 3/8/07
Blogs (short for Weblogs) and wikis (Polynesian for “quick”) are proliferating everywhere, including in the library community. By early 2007, there were hundreds of library blogs and scores of library wikis. This Tech Note discusses the differences between the two technologies and how they are often used.

Client Server Technology
Web page | posted 7/27/06
Client Server Technology
PDF file, 26 kb
Client/server technology is the computer architecture used in almost all automated library systems now being offered to libraries. This Tech Note defines what can be a client and what can be a server, and explains the relationship between them.

Digital Assets Management
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Digital Assets Management
PDF file, 32 kb | posted 11/02/09
Libraries increasingly seek to maintain digital collections as well as print and audio-visual collections. The digital collections may include text, images, audio, and video. As of mid-2006, the most common digital collections in public libraries were images of local newspapers and historical photographs. Digital access management (DAM), the term used in this TechNote, deals with the management of these digital files.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): The Persistence of Memory
Web page | updated 1/31/07
Digital Object Identifier
PDF File, 24.6 kb
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique, persistent identifier of intellectual property in the digital environment. Using this tool, an article or paper or image published online would be given a DOI just before or at the time of its creation, and the DOI would remain with it throughout its life span. DOIs are created by and meant for the publishing community, not the individual web user.

Disaster Planning for Computers and Networks
Web page | updated 1/31/07
Disaster Planning for Computers and Networks
PDF File, 32.4 kb
Libraries are subject to disasters, both natural and manmade. It is essential to plan for them in order to prevent them when possible and to recover from them as quickly as possible when they do occur. This Tech Note is limited to disaster planning for computers and networks, but libraries should undertake disaster planning on a comprehensive basis, with the protection of computers and networks but one component of its disaster plan.

Discovery Platforms
Web Page | posted 6/15/09
Discovery Platforms
PDF File, 37.9 kb
A portal is more than just a gateway or a way out to resources.  What distinguishes a library portal from a gateway is that it augments the user interface with federated searching, patron authentication, and link resolution—the last of which gets beyond the sources of the content to the content itself. 

E-Commerce for Libraries
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E-Commerce for Libraries
PDF file, 25 kb | posted 11/6/09
E-commerce, or electronic commerce, is the exchange of transfer of funds via the Internet or a local area network. For most of the past decade, it was the sole domain of businesses offering goods and services via the Internet and accepting online payments by credit/debit cards or secured accounts. In the past few years, an increasing number of libraries have adopted e-commerce to place online orders with vendors; accept the payment of fines and fees by library patrons; and/or collect funds for access to electronic resources, the sale of books, or any other product or service a library chooses to offer.

E-Content
Web Page | updated 6/16/09
E-Content
PDF file, 50 kb | updated 6/16/09
eContent—which includes electronic versions of books, journals, media, and archival materials—have become a significant part of most libraries’ resources. While most eContent has been digitized from other formats, there increasingly are original electronic publications, especially eJournals. The major advantages of eContent are integrity of the collection, availability around the clock, remote access, and multiple simultaneous users.

Educational Software
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Educational Software
PDF file, 31 kb | posted 8/22/07
Selecting software for children—pre-school through age 11—and promoting it's use is a challenge. This Tech Note discusses some of the hurdles facing the librarian responsible for selecting such software, from matching children with software appropriate to their development level to getting beyond the recognizable characters whom children gravitate towards but who may not provide the best learning experience.

Electronic Resources Management
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Electronic Resources Management
PDF file, 33 kb | updated 3/8/07
Electronic resources management (ERM) refers to the activity of managing data and metadata about the electronic resources to which libraries subscribe for the use of their staffs and patrons. The resources include citation databases, electronic journals, and full-text books and reference tools.

Evaluating Electronic Products and Services
Web page | updated 1/31/07
Evaluating Electronic Products and Services
PDF file, 30.12 kb
Libraries are spending an ever-increasing percentage of their acquisitions budgets on electronic products and services. Electronic "products" are information resources that are purchased and mounted on in-library computers (standalone PCs or multi-user servers); electronic "services" are information resources mounted on remote servers at a producer or a service bureau. Given the amount of money spent on electronic products and services, it is important that libraries be able to determine whether their patrons are utilizing the products and services enough to warrant their costs.

Filtering Technology and CIPA Compliance
Web page | updated 10/30/06
Filtering Technology and CIPA Compliance
PDF file, 28.25 kb
Public libraries have been concerned with the issue of access control versus access management for a number of years. While some public libraries have sought to deny access by children to some Web sites, a larger number have focused on managing access, including authenticating patrons, providing links to selected Web sites, metering of use, and compiling of reports. With the adoption of the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), the issue has become financial as well as philosophical because schools and libraries will lose federal funds if they do not control access by minors to sites that or proscribed by the legislation.

Games in Libraries
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Games In Libraries 
PDF file, 25 kb | posted 5/4/06
Librarians are concerned that computer gamers read so little, and that they do not visit libraries as often as older generations. In the hope that adding games and providing game playing opportunities in libraries will bring young people in and, once there, may look beyond games, a number of libraries have built collections of games and have provided the equipment for using them in the library.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
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Geographic Information Systems (GIS) 
PDF file, 30 kb | updated 4/17/09
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) consist of hardware and software that make it possible for digitized maps to be overlaid with data. Much of the data used in GIS has been available for many years, but it is now available in new formats, including digitized maps, machine-readable census data, and other machine readable data—including locally produced machine-readable statistics.  The idea is to display a digitized map and then to add information to the map from census data or other machine-readable sources. A number of public libraries now offer GIS services to patrons, especially to the business community.  They are proceeding cautiously because the decision to do so involves an investment in hardware, software, data sets, and staff resources. 

Institutional Repositories
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Institutional Repositories
PDF file, 30 kb | posted 7/10/06
A number of academic libraries have created institutional repositories; digital collections capturing, preserving, organizing, and facilitating access to the intellectual output of a single college or university, or system of colleges and/or universities. The idea was not unique to them, but was borrowed from corporations that are research intensive and want to improve retention and access to the scholarly output of their researchers. In January of 2006, the Technology Committee of the Public Library Association, the sponsor of Tech Notes, decided that public libraries might have a role to play in creating and maintaining institutional repositories for the intellectual output of their communities. This Tech Note investigates that question.

Internet and WAN Access Options
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Internet and WAN Access Options 
PDF file, 29 kb| updated 09/02/08
Three decades ago libraries had two simple choices when seeking to access a remote computer: dial-up or leased voice-grade telephone circuits. Libraries now face a bewildering array of options, including dial-up and leased telephone company (telco) circuits of several types, CATV modems, and satellite modems. Not all are available in all areas, but almost every library has several options available.

Intranets: The Web Inside
Web page | posted 7/24/07
Intranets: The Web Inside
PDF file, 24.55 kb
An intranet is the Internet writ small: it uses Web technology to create a locally based and locally accessed internet. Put another way, an intranet is an assemblage of online information created by and accessible via Web browser technology within a particular library or library system. An intranet connects Local Area Networks (LANs) and works on TCP/IP and HTTP protocols, just like the Web does, so all of the bells and whistles available to the Web can be used on an intranet. The difference is that most intranets are open only to the staff of their particular institution.

Libraries and RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
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Libraries and RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
PDF file, 31 kb | posted 3/27/06
A number of libraries, especially public libraries, are offering RSS (Really Simple Syndication or also known as Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary) “feeds” to their patrons. A “feed” is a broadcast to those who have subscribed to the service. In the case of libraries, the feeds can alert patrons to new acquisitions, library events, exhibitions, changes in hours, etc.

Library Portals
Web Page
Library Portals 
PDF file, 26 kb | posted 6/02/08
Thousands of libraries worldwide have implemented a “library portal,” a single user interface for access to a wide variety of electronic resources both within and outside of the library. A portal is more than just a gateway or a way out to resources. What distinguishes a library portal from a gateway is that it augments the user interface with federated searching, patron authentication, and link resolution—the last of which gets beyond the sources of the content to the content itself.

Metadata: Always More Than You Think
Web page | posted 7/20/06
Metadata: Always More Than You Think
PDF file, 28.27 kb
In information technology usage, the word metadata has come to be used as a definition or description of data: a small indicator that encompasses and points to a larger piece of information. Metadata enables searchers to find information in cyberspace and to see how it relates to other information. The traditional methods of cataloging do not work for the Web: the proliferation of data makes that impossible. So the use of metadata provides a way to organize Web information in a way that makes it retrievable.

Mobile Computer Devices in Libraries
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Mobile Computer Devices in Libraries 
PDF file, 24 kb | updated 9/26/08
Handheld, laptop, and tablet mobile computer devices are now in the hands of nearly one billion people worldwide, a number almost as great as the number of desktop computers. Several major universities are encouraging their faculty members to use laptops, rather than desktops. The proliferation of mobile computer devices, and the number of places where they can be used, will increase the number of public library patrons who enter library facilities carrying a mobile computing device.

Negotiating Contracts with Database Vendors
Web page | posted 10/23/03
Negotiating Contracts with Database Vendors
PDF file, 22.66 kb
Libraries are spending an increasing percentage of their budgets on database subscriptions, including indexes and abstracts, collections of full-text journals and newspapers, and reference tools. Given the size of the investment, libraries want to realize the best possible terms before signing agreements. As might be expected, the best possible terms are seldom realized by signing database vendors’ standard agreements.

Network Management
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Network Management
Word file, 44 kb | updated 8/21/06
While many libraries began automating in the 1970s, it was not until the early 1990s that there was an explosion in the deployment of networks. Initially, the networks were limited to staff workstations and patron access catalogs, but with the growth of the Internet, including remote access to library servers from outside libraries and out to electronic resources, the management of networks became too complex to accomplish without network management tools.

Open Source Software
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Open Source Software 
PDF file, 148 kb | posted 5/14/08
The term “open source” refers to software that is free and that includes the original source code used to create it so that users can modify it. It also includes the right of redistribution; therefore, there may be products that are based on other open source products. There are tens-of-thousands of open source software products, many hundreds of which are in use by libraries. This TechNote focuses on only a small number of products, those that appear to be the most popular.

"Open Source" Integrated Library System Software
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"Open Source" Integrated Library System Software
PDF file, 490 kb | posted 1/05/09
A number of public libraries have been investigating “open source” integrated library system software. Their motivations appear to be both financial and a desire to tailor a system to more closely meet their requirements than the proprietary products allow.

Open URL
Web page | posted 12/16/04
Open URL
PDF file, 18.01 kb
Libraries must meet the need of their patrons by creating and maintaining linkages from citation databses to their own holdings and to external full-text databases. As doing so almost always requires linking to multiple sources, it is important that the linkages be "open," rather than proprietary.The standard for open linking that has emerged is OpenURL.

PC Reservation & Print Management Software
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PC Reservation & Print Management Software
PDF file, 50 kb | updated 3/14/07
The demand for public PCs and printing exceeds most libraries’ resources, therefore, it is essential that there be a way of equitably allocating time on public PCs and recovering the cost of printing, and achieving those objectives with minimum staff intervention. There are two types of products that achieve that: PC reservation/time control software and print management software. While generally available separately, they are sometimes bundled into a product suite.

Remote Conferencing
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Remote Conferencing
PDF file, 28 kb | updated 011/11/09
Libraries have been using teleconferencing and video conferencing for meetings and training for more than 20 years, but the technology supporting the activities has changed dramatically in the past few years with the use of the internet to connect sites. Not only is the cost of connecting sites via the internet less than with conventional telco circuits, the equipment and software are also less expensive.

Report Writers
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Report Writers
PDF file, 33 kb | updated 08/14/06
Report writers, also known as report generators, are software programs that can be used to extract information from one or more files in an integrated library system, Web server, or other database server. While report writers have been available for more than three decades, librarians have been using them extensively only since the early 1990s. Library administrators use them to monitor a library’s performance and to provide information to a board, government agency, or the public. Public and technical services librarians use them to create lists of new acquisitions, subject bibliographies, pathfinders and other finding tools.

Rethinking Library Statistics in a Changing Environment
Web page | updated 08/14/06
Rethinking Library Statistics in a Changing Environment
PDF file, 35.59 kb
Public libraries have been keeping voluminous library statistics for many decades to focus their resources on needed services, demonstrate the value of their services, aid library directors in the administration of their libraries, and to satisfy the needs of governmental planning bodies. Historically, the emphasis has been on profiling communities and library users, collection sizes and growth, and circulation. Only recently have state library agencies, the primary collectors of data, begun to gather data about the availability of patron access to the Internet, the number of PCs available to patrons, and the electronic resources available.

RFID Technology
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RFID Technology
PDF file, 71 kb | updated 11/11/09
RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) is the latest technology to be used in library theft detection systems. Unlike EM (Electro-Mechanical) and RF (Radio Frequency) systems, which have been used in libraries for decades, the RFID-based systems that libraries began to install in the late 1990s not only detect the unauthorized removal of library materials, but speed staff charge and discharge, speed and simplify patron self-charge and self-discharge, support electronic inventorying, and integrate with materials handling systems.

Social Networking Sites and Libraries
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Social Networking Sites and Libraries 
PDF file, 37 kb | updated 11/02/09
Before the advent of the Web, social networks tended to be limited to scores of people who knew one another. That changed when social networking sites that could support “virtual communities” of millions of members were created beginning in 1993. More than half of all Internet users accessed social networking sites each month during the first three quarters of 2009 according to Alexa, a service that tracks activity on hundreds of Internet sites.

Unicode
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Unicode 
PDF file, 27 kb | updated 6/24/08
Unicode is an international character-encoding standard designed to support the electronic exchange, processing, storage, and display of the written texts of all of the world’s languages and scripts. Libraries need to be able to borrow or lend materials in a wide variety of languages and scripts on behalf of patrons who cannot find what they need in their own libraries. The ability to send and receive bibliographic information among Unicode-conforming libraries is a major breakthrough.

Virtual Reference
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Virtual Reference
PDF file, 31 kb | updated 8/01/07
Virtual reference is online reference service that enables library patrons to ask reference questions through a library’s Web site. The user may be at home, in an office, at school, or in a library. Some virtual reference services also place answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs), selected reference tools, and access to selected databases on the Web site. The question answering service using Internet technology is the essential component, without which the use of the name “virtual reference” is misleading.

Voice Over IP (VOIP)
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Voice Over IP (VOIP)
PDF file, 33 kb | posted 11/11/09
Despite the fact that telephone calls are less expensive today than they were before deregulation, budget conscious libraries still seek to reduce their telephone bills so that they can reallocate the money to other priorities. On of the technologies a number of them are considering is Voice over IP, more often referred to as VOIP.

World Wide Web
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World Wide Web 
PDF file, 21 kb | posted 5/7/2007
This Tech Note provides an overview of the World Wide Web and the various stanmdards and protocols related to it.

Wireless LANS
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Wireless LANs
PDF file, 32 kb | updated 7/17/08
A wireless LAN makes it possible for a desktop or notebook PC, or for a PDA, to access a local area network without being physically connected to it. At least 30 percent of public libraries and 70 percent of academic libraries had a wireless LAN in the fourth quarter of 2005.