GPS

speakers: David Sharp, Carleton University Library & MJ Suhonos, TPL
convener: Thomas Brenndorfer

Among web and library technology circles, there is often a tacit belief that new technology must be inherently good, and conversely, the only way to build useful functionality is with the latest tools.  As a result, older technology tends to be overlooked, relegated solely to the original purposes for which it was designed.  However, sometimes the easiest way to solve a problem lies in finding new and creative ways to use existing tools.  This talk will showcase MyTPL (http://mytpl.ca/), a proof-of-concept web application intended to demonstrate that, with a little imagination, any library with a Z39.50 catalogue interface and a web server with some common open-source tools can readily provide their own location-aware mobile search application.

David Sharp is currently the GIS Librarian at Carleton University Library.  He started his career as a Government Documents Librarian at the University of Victoria; he then moved to Carleton University, where he achieved national recognition for his Canadian government documents custom search engine. He became Carleton Library’s GIS Librarian in 2007, and soon after developed an interest in mobile technology as a means of supplementing a geospatial collection, due to an increasing number of patron requests for unique and unavailable  data points.  He will be presenting on choosing a GPS unit, lending policies, software considerations, and metadata issues.

David Sharp’s GIS for GPS Going Mobile slides

MJ Suhonos is the Metadata Specialist at Toronto Public Library. While he provides TPL with guidance on best practices for creating, managing, and sharing metadata with the broader Internet community, he is unable to completely eschew his programming background and spends his free time hacking library metadata whenever possible.

MJ Suhonos’ MyTPL slides from his session.