Developing a virtual tour for University College Dublin Library

1. Developing a Virtual Tour for UCD Library Niall Watts niall.watts@ucd.ie Educational Technology Officer Media Services, UCD IT Services Jenny Collery jenny.collery@ucd.ie College Liaison Librarian UCD Library

2. I need to read this book for my course…. We do get asked this! Teaching the Library as Place What about a place to study? Everything is online, who needs the library? Do students even read books? There is more than one floor in the library? Students don’t use the library. I need to print I need a laptop or PC Where can we do our group project?

3.  2,861 students took Peer Mentor Visits (Orientation 2014)  6,000 + new students in UCD every year

5. Project Team Melanie Simpson & Jenny Collery (UCD Library) Vincent Hoban & Niall Watts (UCD Media/IT Services)

6. Take the Virtual Tour…

7. Process Overview

8. Photography

9. Stitch Photos & Create Panorama Add Hotspots • Import Krpano • Import PS • Reduce size • Merge photos • Create Tour

10. Krpano Review: + Documentation + Forums + Code samples Reflections & Plans Future: + Voiceover + QR Codes + Hotspots

11. Calendar Time – 2 months Time Spent – Media Services June July August 12 50 13 Photography & Editing Krpano Research & Coding Project Management & Admin Person Time – 75 hours approx.

12. Page Views, New Students Page UCD Library September 2014 May 2015

13. Burhanna, K. J., Eschedor Voelker, T. J. and Gedeon, J. A. (2008) 'Virtually the Same: Comparing the Effectiveness of Online Versus In-Person Library Tours', Public Services Quarterly, 4(4), pp. 317-338. Carr, A., & Ly, P. (2010, April 8). ‘The Library Scavenger Hunt Strikes Back: Teaching Library as Place.’ Paper presented at CARL Conference, Sacramento. Freeman, G. T., Bennett, S., Demas, S., Frischer, B., Peterson, C. A. and Oliver, K. B. (2005) Library as place: Rethinking roles, rethinking space. Council on Library and Information Resources Washington, DC. Goswami, S., Agrawal, H., Kumar, A., Saxena, S. C. and Singh, M. (2006) 'Virtual Walkthrough System for Library', DESIDOC Bulletin of Information Technology, 26(1), pp. 3-16. Towlson, K. (2012) 'Induction Practice at De Montfort University, a Move from a Didactic, Face to Face Model to a Blended, Student Centred Delivery', ALISS Quarterly, 7(2), pp. 3-6. References

14. Niall Watts niall.watts@ucd.ie Educational Technology Officer Media Services, UCD IT Services Jenny Collery jenny.collery@ucd.ie College Liaison Librarian UCD Library Questions

Editor's Notes

Short Practitioner Paper – 10-15 minutes including questions. 12:30 – 12:45 on Thursday KBG 13 – Chair Sarah O’Toole PP - 3 Digital Literacies for All Stakeholders
There is a general feeling in the library research literature that tours and showing the physical library to students is out-moded and no longer effective, (Towlson, 2012). But proponents of “Teaching the Library as Place” such as Freeman, 2005 have noted that the library can be somewhere on campus to foster learning, to collaboration and be a place to connect users to information resources (and I would add, people). Although access to information has changed, and a large amount is online for some disciplines, library spaces are adapting around this and developing social learning spaces, academic support centres and more, rather than becoming defunct. To make this real, here are some of the comments and questions students and staff make about the library. On one the busiest day in the James Joyce Library this year we had 5726 (Saturday, 9th May). We, in UCD Library aim for a mix between hands on training of using online resources and teaching the library as place.
First year students can be overwhelmed on arriving at University. As part of Orientation we put on a variety of activities welcome these students. One of which we offer are Peer Mentor Visits and Library Basics & Tour sessions. It was decided that an Online Virtual tour would be a good supplement these “tour” offerings for both the students and as a training device for the Peer Mentors who brought their student groups on visits to the James Joyce Library. Such an online tour would meet three main needs Provide an online and interactive experience for those coming to UCD such as CAO applicants and International Students Encourage use of the James Joyce Library for all our students, particularly first year students, of all of the space Provide a simple way of training Peer Mentors in where to bring their students on visits, and explain what is expected of them. Introduce students to basic services such as the Self-Issue Machines, Social Learning Spaces, distribution of books across subjects, printers, study spaces etc. The initial idea was to create the tour Articulate Storyline, as we had skills and experience in this. On consulting with Niall, he offered support from UCD Media/IT Services.
We placed the Virtual Tour in our Welcome New Students website, which had been developed last year using the LibGuides Platform. Our aim was to have an AWARENESS raising tool, almost promotional. Something to plant the seeds to further exploration of the space. Go some way to removing the initial anxiety people may feel.
The requirements for were: Provide a real-life walk-through of the physical spaces of the James Joyce Library Be self-paced (not a video type thing, where users have no control over timing) Online Mobile Friendly – iPhone, Android, Tablets, PCs and Laptops Navigable & interactive in some way
http://libguides.ucd.ie/newstudents/virtualtour Level 2 – five different panoramas – spin 360° around any one of them. Arrows to link them. Hotspots with popups Zoom in
Selecting a tool – Google – ILTA Linkedin group ALT listserv ILTA 11 comments 2 likes – Laurence, Gordon, James, Carlo ALT members – 10 suggestions. Photosynth, Google panoramio Smithsonian tour http://www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas/ Google number 5 Created tool called KrPano. Contacted developer Loren Ybarrondo http://krpano.com/ Austrian €129
Nikon D800 Sigma 12-24mm lens Tripod – rotating mount for panorama Full-frame (can use 35mm lens) digital SLR camera with a wide angle lens VH: Basic set-up is camera with suitable wide angle lens - in my case a full frame camera with 12mm wide angle lens. Takes 12 shots (depending on lens) to make a 360 degree image.
18 (lens dependent) images are needed to create a 360 degree panorama. VH Images taken into photoshop and merged into a single shot - this is a very high res image. Image is reduced in size and brought into KrPano.
Help from Krpano Forum Vtourskin – floor plan & menus Infobox for popups Recommend it – Friendly interface would be nice European product
Person Hours – about 75 hours Photography & editing – 12 hours Krpano research & coding – 50 hours Project Management/Admin – 13 hours
How did it work? We received 681 views of the tour since the launch. The busiest time on the graph is Orientation Week, 2 – 5th September, and actually day 2, 3rd September. The referring sites have been our own LibGuides platform (accounts for two thirds of hits), the Welcome Booklet sent to all new students from UCD (digital editions platform), Google came in at number 7, and another popular access route was a search of the main UCD Website. This data would indicate that week need to broaden out awareness of the tour and focus more on promotion. Looking at the literature some authors (Burhanna et al., 2008) have worked with academic staff and embedded their virtual tour into a VLE quiz with very positive results. This is something we can work towards, and has lead to increase hits rates on other resources we have created such as our Subject Guides. We have a team of teaching Librarians, and also work with Academic staff and tutors to teach about the Library. The Orientation team this year is working to ensure this team further promote and embed our Virtual Tour into activities with Schools and colleges.
Carr et al http://carl-acrl.org/Archives/ConferencesArchive/Conference10/2010proceedings/Pearl-Ly_final.pdf

Developing a virtual tour for University College Dublin Library

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Developing a virtual tour for University College Dublin Library

Editor's Notes