Moving the building library to the 21st century.

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russellhltn
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#11

Post by russellhltn »

nimebe wrote:Now you're talking! How about attaching an iPod to each TV in the library via the composite cable. Install a video server in the library and rip the entire church dvd library to the server. Write a small app for the iPod and every TV in the building can instantly access any church video over the buildings WiFi network!
I think it's going to take a lot more then that. Most teachers are not interested in playing a whole talk or video. They need snippets. You'd need a simple, fast interface to find those snippets.

I think the starting point is for someone to go though the lesson manual, locate every quote, find the matching video, rip that part to a video clip and then create an index, or perhaps a play list by lesson so that it's all ready to go for the teacher. THEN it might get used.

I note that Macsense did ask for how others HAVE (successfully) changed their library. I fear I have contributed to the speculative angle.
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nbflint
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#12

Post by nbflint »

RussellHltn wrote:I think the starting point is for someone to go though the lesson manual, locate every quote, find the matching video, rip that part to a video clip and then create an index, or perhaps a play list by lesson so that it's all ready to go for the teacher. THEN it might get used.
A play list would certainly work for those instances where he lesson material tells the teacher exactly what part of the video to show. More often I've seen teachers pick sections from videos they are familiar with. In this case there is no guessing what section of a video may be used. The ability to pre-queue the video and have it remain in position indefinitely would suffice for most people.

That said, I don't see most wards spending budget dollars on 3+ iPods and a video server.

Barmstr-p40
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Still using old stuff

#13

Post by Barmstr-p40 »

All these ideas are great and I would love them to work at our Stake center. We have wireless but know one can use it unless you have special permission from the Stake presidency. I have four TV with VCR/DVD players. One TV is broken and will not be replaced now because of lack of funds. I may have one or two teachers use the TV unit per Sunday. Most of our use of these units is for seminary. One of the teachers uses the iPod and has a cable to the flat screen TV.

One of the biggest problems is the kids taking the remotes. I can imagine what would happen if we had iPods.

Work within your wards and make it work. So many of the programs we have in the Church start with a grass roots movement and then grows. The Church is very careful with their money and will invest in technology that they believe will be around for awhile.
scion-p40
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#14

Post by scion-p40 »

Most people in my stake have computers & printers @ home. Small quantities -- and sometimes large quantities -- of copies are made at home, not @ the library any more.

Ripped video from conference talks, etc., seems more convenient to prepare than requesting a DVD or video because then teachers know that it is ready & available. (Again, this is true where members have the resources for this & will vary in other areas.)

When I was a building librarian 30 years ago, I created a form for teachers to fill out & turn in ahead of time. Prior to our Sunday meetings, I had all copies made, movies (reel to reel back then) cued, pictures, & chalk & erasers ready to go for each teacher who planned ahead.

I had two lines @ the library: An express lane for those who planned ahead & for substitutes. A regular line for everyone else. People actually took to this well, which made things flow more smoothly on Sundays.

When I teach today, I use resources that I own, rather than borrowing materials from the library. The full-fledged materials center is a dying resource in my area.
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wrigjef
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Library Forum?

#15

Post by wrigjef »

I realize that this is a technology forum and discussions are always going to head off in that direction, but I would like to see a more serious discussion on how we can or should reorganize our library. Would there be enough interest in this topic to justify a new forum? I would think that since every building has a library and there are almost as many librarians out there as there are clerks. :confused:
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#16

Post by kinggrunt-p40 »

We talked about doing that exact thing! We apart from the Ipod and iphone thing. But to put all VHS videos and DVDS onto a Huge computer database. Then when someone would like to play something, they could just user the media station and use the menu to select what clip to play.

We never did it, but its still talked about, just need someone dedicated enough to get it done.
MorettiDP
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#17

Post by MorettiDP »

I can remember when I'm in the mission, at São Paulo Brazil Missionary Training Center. In the classrooms we have a simple PC with a projector where we can find (in Windows Explorer) a video directory at the network (located in a server at 1st floor of the building) and access training videos ripped from Church satelite meetings, DVD releases, etc. We can do same things at meetinghouses, but the price can be really expensive...
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JensenFA
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#18

Post by JensenFA »

wrigjef wrote:I realize that this is a technology forum and discussions are always going to head off in that direction, but I would like to see a more serious discussion on how we can or should reorganize our library. Would there be enough interest in this topic to justify a new forum? I would think that since every building has a library and there are almost as many librarians out there as there are clerks. :confused:
Yes, I would welcome a serious discussion about the reorganization of the meetinghouse and stake libraries. Our stake library has VHS tapes back to the 1970's and only five the current DVDs. I've boxed up the old VHS tapes from the 1970s to the end of 1999. The TV/VCRs are not used and rarely work, no one checks out, or rarely checks out the VHS tapes. Most of the time the TV/VCR players don't work or the remote quits working when the teacher wants to use it. The TV/DVD setups are always broken, or we can never get the remote to work. We've purchased numerous remotes, universal remotes, but can never get them to work or stay working, even though we spent hours programming the remote to work with the old TV and VCR. The TVs we have in the meetinghouse libraries and the stake library are the old analog curved screens, so watching a DVD is not the best, especially when there's writing to be read. We still have old reel-to-reel projectors with some church produced content on reels, cassette tapes and players, typewriters that don't work, and other equipment that I don't know what they're called. All the old equipment is stored in the cupboards or on the shelves and never used.

So, what are the guidelines for updating the library? The church handbook section about the libraries is not helpful in answering these questions. Will there ever be a budget for such a massive update?
russellhltn
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#19

Post by russellhltn »

I'm winging this off the top of my head.

I think the FM group deals with replacing broken equipment. You can talk to the stake to see if the FM is willing to replace old TV sets that are still functional. But as long as they function reasonably close to the way they did when they were new, I wouldn't count on anything. Worn out and fuzzy is a different deal.

Work with your priesthood leaders on a budget for buying new DVDs and such.

Off hand I'm not sure what the guidelines are for old equipment.
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sammythesm
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#20

Post by sammythesm »

I've often said that when I get release from my current calling, I want the meetinghouse librarian calling. I think there are great ideas on this thread for updating a meetinghouse library (i.e. get rid of or digitize VHS, purchase DVD collections, create on-demand video servers)

One thing, however, that was not brought up was the fact that the church, even in new meetinghouses, are not using LCD screens, even though you can get larger, better screens for a reasonable price. I don't know what corner of the world is still manufacturing CRT tvs - but they are bulky, require a huge amount of space in the library, are usually positioned on a too-tall cart to be effective in a classroom environment, have a poor quality picture, and are just scary!

I asked about this, and can't remember if they said it was a local policy of the FM group, or a wider church policy. I suppose they feel like the screens are too much of a theft risk.

But for a primary class of 5 kids, do you really need a 32" CRT? Nah.. you could do well with a small 19-23" LCD, on a manageably sized cart.

Has anyone seen LCD screens used in their building?
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