Top Tech Trends - 2020 Midwinter

Ida Joiner (Moderator)
Librarian, Universal Academy School

Ida Arlene Joiner is the Senior Librarian at the Universal Academy in Texas. She is the author of the book Emerging Library Technologies: It's Not Just for Geeks (Elsevier, 2018). Her forthcoming book on Drones in Libraries will be available in July 2020 (Elsevier). Ida has published numerous articles on emerging technologies. She is an international and national presenter on emerging technologies. Ida is a member of MIT’s Technology Review Global Panel. She discussed "Are Drones Coming to Your Library" on the Drone Radio Show. Ida is currently pursuing doctoral studies in Texas Wesleyan University’s Curriculum and Instruction program. She is a member of LITA’s Information Technology and Libraries board where she peer reviews articles for their peer reviewed open source journal. Ida peer reviews technology-related book proposals for Elsevier. She formerly co-chaired the Publications Committee for ALA’s International Relations Roundtable (IRRT). Ida holds her MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh and a BA degree in Business Management from Chatham University. Her research focuses on emerging technologies such as drones, robotics, driverless vehicles, artificial intelligence, augmented/virtual reality, and their use in libraries and education. In her role as a project management consultant, Ida saved PNC Bank, PPG, Tucker Arensberg, Las Colinas Cancer, and Texas Breast Care thousands of dollars in technical and training costs.

 

Victoria Blackmer
Assistant Director, Robert R. Jones Public Library

Victoria Blackmer is the Assistant Director of the Robert R. Jones Public Library in northwestern Illinois.  Named an ALA Class of 2020 Emerging Leader, she strives to find new creative solutions through the development, implementation, and improvement of innovative programs, resources, technology, and services in order to enhance learning while ensuring access of information to all.
Trends:
- The Internet of Things in public libraries
- 5G Networks and library technology

 

Marshall Breeding
Independent Consultant, Library Technology Guides

Marshall Breeding is an independent consultant, speaker, and author. He is the creator and editor of Library Technology Guides and the libraries.org online directory of libraries on the Web. His monthly column Systems Librarian appears in Computers in Libraries; he is the Editor for Smart Libraries Newsletter published by the American Library Association, and has authored the annual Library Systems Report published in American Libraries since 2014. Library Journal from 2002-2013 and by He has authored nine issues of ALA’s Library Technology Reports, and has written many other articles and book chapters. Marshall has edited or authored eight books, including Cloud Computing for Libraries published by in 2012 by Neal-Schuman, now part of ALA TechSource . He regularly teaches workshops and gives presentations at library conferences on a wide range of topics.

Trends:
- Appeal for technologies to protect patron privacy
- Open source software trends

 

Elisandro Cabada
Medical and Bioengineering Librarian, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Elisandro Cabada is an Assistant Professor and the Medical and Bioengineering Librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Elisandro holds faculty appointments in the University Library and in the engineering and innovation-focused Carle Illinois College of Medicine. His research interests include studying the barriers to access, affordances, and integration of emerging and immersive technologies in research and instruction in higher education.
 

 

Trends:
- The Academic Library as a center for the development of open source tools, instruction, research, domain expertise, and collaboration in supporting immersive scholarship and technologies in higher education.
- The Academic Library can do more than offer access to Extended Reality (XR) technologies, it can be a hub of research in these areas as well as an instructor.

 

 

Alison Macrina
Library Freedom Project

Along with founding the Library Freedom Project, Alison is a librarian, internet activist, and a core contributor to The Tor Project. Alison is passionate about fighting surveillance and connecting privacy issues to other struggles for justice. She believes that a world without pervasive surveillance is possible.

Trends:
- Facial recognition software and the fight against it
- Privacy by design -- building privacy into our tools and policies from the start rather than as an afterthought