On January 11, 2017, I was happy to attend the annual METRO conference for library professionals. I have been attending this gathering for years, and this year, it was held in NYU's Kimmel Center. I liked the structure of having two keynotes and sessions where librarians from the communities commented on their work and research. 

METRO's New Location and Focus

To start off the day, METRO President Nate Hill commented on the organization's move to a new location. This move was necessitated by the limited time left on the previous location's lease. Hill has been at METRO for about 18 months, and the organization is changing. At the new location, materials will be available for use by members. These include book scanners, bookable conference rooms, digital data recovery assistance, vinyl cover equipment, and sound-proof and light-proof rooms for audio/visual activities. METRO also has a podcast: Library Bytegeist. 

Dokk1 Library in Aarhus, Denmark

Marie Oestergaard, Project Leader of Dokk1 ("the dock" in Danish) spoke about the planning process for this $285 million library, which occurred between 2005 and 2015. The library opened to the public in the summer of 2015. This seemed very similar to last year's speaker from an international library. Dokk1 is Aarhus' main library. Interestingly, the library is unstaffed from 7 to 10 pm on weekdays. In addition, there are no security guards in the library, but the janitor has the ability to respond to problems and remove patrons from the facility, if necessary. The staff has an open dialogue with the homeless patrons, and they leave when the library closes.  The library is an open space in which communities can perform and hold meetings. If fact, government officials debated political issues with the public for two days in the building. 

Original Research Projects

Local librarians discussed their research projects in this breakout session. Frans Abarillo from Brooklyn College (CUNY) investigated the use of college and public libraries by foreign-born students. Lee Ann Fullington, also from Brooklyn College, wanted to know more about mobile device use by graduate students. Elizabeth Surles of Rutgers University looked at archival description practices for music collections. Unfortunately, in the music field, there are not many best practices for archives. In addition, many finding aids are not DACS compliant. Eamon Tewell of Long Island University, Brooklyn, researched the adoption of critical information literacy practices by academic librarians. 

A conference participant asked how the findings of the research were applied to practice at their universities. Tewell responded that much of the data was not used to inform decision making. It seems more prudent to do research that is original and that can be used to advance the organization in order to maximize use of institutional funds and time.

Teacher Lab from Brooklyn Public Library

Amy Mikel is the Coordinator of School Outreach for Brooklyn Public Library, which includes Pre-K through Grade 12. She strives to inform teachers about what public libraries are doing in this day and age. Teachers are key resources for public libraries because they can encourage students to use our resources. In addition, some schools do not have school librarians, so she tries to help them obtain these valuable professionals.

Teacher Lab was initiated 2.5 years ago; it is a summer course that is used for professional development credits by teachers. They learned was how to use Google and Wikipedia as research tools. Adults use them, so it is important to stop telling kids to avoid these resources. The course also informs teachers how to write citations and annotations so that they can pass this knowledge on to their students. Mylibrarynyc, which originated in 2012, mainly works with public schools, but Mikel also wants to work with public charter schools and private institutions. She plans to institute an online course for teachers in the summer of 2017. 

The Summer 2016 courses for Teacher Lab included the following:

• Life in the Shelter System/Life in Prison
• Teaching Paraphrasing to Prevent Plagiarism
• Beyond the Bathroom: Affirming School Spaces For Youth
• Educator Resources at the National Archives
• Doodling and Sketchnoting

Librarianship in an Era of Political Division

Kristina Drury, founder of TYTHEdesign and data librarian Julia Marden of Tiny Panther Consulting led this talk. Marden mentioned that the director of the Evanston Public Library has been producing programs about controversial topics for years. Recently, some Korean materials were defaced. She currently teaches data literacy to NYC employees. It is great for her to hear Brooklyn Public Library and The New York Public Library saying to patrons that their services are available for all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status or other factors.

Drury added that community engagement is key to this effort. We need to think about what we already do in our outreach efforts and build on that. Marden stressed the need to explain to people what libraries do, since not everyone knows. We help people find and utilize information. Librarians have the advantage of being perceived as neutral. We can also start conversations about current events when helping people find materials or hold programs in which discussion of such issues is paramount.

Citizens want to know how to get more involved in community decision making. One great place to start is with your local elected officials. In the library, it can be safe to disagree and challenge each other. In the time of great political divide between the parties, we need to engage in discourse with each other. This topic was very timely, and it was one of the best sessions of the day.

Olin College of Engineering Library

Jeff Goldenson is the Director of the Olin College of Engineering Library. He wants to involve the students in every aspect of the library, so he came up with the idea of a focus group of students who would transform the library. They were known as OWL (Olin Workshop on the Library.) These engineering students put their emerging skills to test on creating wheels for bookshelves in order to create more community space. They created signage and a bunch of other things, including radio-controlled whiteboards and a student-run coffee shop.

SLAC is the Stay Late And Create club. In it, people play music, hang out and do homework. He got a vacuum in order to make cleaning up cool. A vinyl cutter was used to create large stickers for signage. Laptop portraits were made, and an awkward family photo booth was created. NINJA (Need Info Now Just Ask) encourages students to use the library staff as information resources. They have pesto making workshops, and they made a temporary circulation desk out of cardboard. Animal Craze, a traveling zoo, visited the library to bring in students who might not ordinarily utilize library services.

The thing that students loved about the Olin College Library's transformation is that the they are given permission to use the space, not merely attend the library as visitors. They also love the fact that faculty hang out in the library. The staff at the library love to collaborate with the students after they graduate, as well. Students are welcome to experiment with sound in the library. 

This was an informative conference. The afternoon keynote address was amazing, and I loved the discussion of librarianship, how it can be used as a subversive force, and the present-day deep political fissure between our two main parties. I loved the NYU venue, and it is great that METRO is progressing with the times! Next year's conference should be interesting.