The document discusses the development of a tablet application called Suma to help library staff collect data on patron usage and activity in library spaces. The app aims to improve on tedious manual counting methods by providing a coordinated, centralized way to gather, store, export, analyze and visualize usage data across spaces and time. This data could then be used to inform decisions about staffing, purchasing, space arrangement and future planning to take a more evidence-based approach. The project team discusses technical considerations and requirements in developing a web-based app that can work offline and be shared as open source software.

1. Mobile SensorsBuilding a staff-facing tablet application for library assessmentJason CasdenNorth Carolina State University LibrariesNISO Forum: Mobile Technologies in LibrariesMay 20, 20111

2. Mobilized library services2

3. Mobilized library services3

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8. Mobile-enabled library services8

9. Indirect mobile-enabled services9

10. Problem statementMany libraries perform manual counts of people in spaces doing something at some timeThe process involves tedious collection mechanisms, lots of paperwork, and much room for errorThere is no coordinated effort to help departments analyze their data10

11. Our solutionAn open source tablet-based app (well, toolkit) to aid library staff in assessment of how patrons are using library spaces.In other words…the gathering, storing, exporting, analyzing, and visualizing of data across spaces/activities/time and around events.11

12. Why do we care?With data about use/activity patterns in different library spaces we canImprove staffing modelsMake informed purchasing decisions (technology, furniture)Arrange space (quiet study, collaborative)Take an evidence-based approach to planning future library spaces12

13. Related workJames B. Hunt, Jr. Library planningIMLS Learning Spaces grant13

14. 14Illustration by Joyce Chapman

15. Activity trackingAre some spaces more conducive to group study or individual study?What’s the ratio of usage of laptops versus public computers versus no computers?Do changes to space components change the type of usage?15

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21. NIH Library project21Hope, Benjamin, and Bradley Otterson. "Visualize the Activity in the Library with Data." In Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association. Washington, DC, 2010.

22. Staff as sensors22Joyce Chapman: librarian, project team member, slide contributor, wireframer, data analyst, illustrator.

23. Data analysisFragmented dataDecentralized data storage Uncontrolled vocabularies= High barriers to analysis and data reuse23

24. Two-part projectAddress a current need: improve ease of data collection and reporting for our current headcount practicesExpand to new areas of interest (activity counts, analysis and visualization, data importing/exporting) and share the toolGoal: to encourage an evidence-based approach to physical spaces24

25. Working Title: Suma25

26. What is the system?26

27. What is the system?27

28. What is the system?28

29. What is the system?29

30. What is the data?30

31. How are we starting?HeadcountsFocus on improving existing practicesClient-first developmentTo make sure it will workStrict user requirements31

32. Some requirementsVery high interface responsivenessAccommodate uneven network accessSupport future expansion to activity countsOpen Source release32

33. Why web-based?Multi-platform supportRapid expansion of tablet marketOpen source releaseDifficulty in deploying native iPad applicationsLicenses, ad-hoc deployment pains, etc.Encourage community use and contributionsDesign doesn’t preclude multiple clients in the future33

34. Why not web-based?Interface performance/responsiveness is crucialHandling uneven Wi-Fi coverageData stability34

35. How to resolve this?Browser databaseAsynchronous data aggregationtouchstart/touchmove/touchend events35

36. Browser storageSQLiteWeb SQL DatabaseGoogle GearsIndexed Database API (Indexed DB)HTML5 Storage (localStorage)36

37. Web SQLPossibly soonto be obsoletehttp://www.w3.org/TR/webdatabase/18 November 2010: “This document was on the W3C Recommendation track but specification work has stopped. The specification reached an impasse: all interested implementors have used the same SQL backend (Sqlite), but we need multiple independent implementations to proceed along a standardisation path.”Gears end of life plans announced 19 February 2010Why?It works nowWebKit support (for now)iOS, Android37

38. persistence.jsvar Session = persistence.define('Session', { startTime: "DATE", collectionLength: "INT” }); var Person = persistence.define('Person', { timestamp: "DATE" }); Session.hasMany('people', Person, 'session');38

39. Data synchronization39

40. Design iterations40

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45. What are we trying to replace?CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. DipeshSoneji. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dipeshsoneji/4734289230/45

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57. Future directionsOpen Source release: Late summer 2011Legacy dataBuild analysis dashboard toolsActivity countsReference transactionsSubjective/Observational space usage dataGrant assessment57

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62. Project team Jason CasdenJoyce ChapmanRob RuckerHill TaylorEric McEachernRusty Earl62

63. Thanks!Jason Casdenjason_casden@ncsu.edu@cazzersonhttps://github.com/cazzerson/Sumahttp://www.lib.ncsu.edu/dli/projects/spaceassesstool63