AUSTIN (February 5, 2014) – Representatives from the library industry’s leading organizations and associations are attending SXSW Interactive to raise awareness of the ways librarians are already supporting emerging entrepreneurs and tech businesses across the country. The goal is to get more entrepreneurs to recognize how librarians can help them scale their businesses. Through the support of Innovative, the leading provider of technology solutions and services to libraries, these organizations will be represented at the Innovative booth for libraries (#1036) during the SXSW Trade Show.
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Librarians For Open Data and Civic Hacking
Rebecca Stavick, staff development specialist at Omaha Public Library, is one of the four founders of Open Nebraska, a citizen-led organization dedicated to pushing the open data movement in Nebraska. Open Nebraska’s mission is to solve community problems through civic application development, open data advocacy and tech education. The group organized Hack Omaha, a weekend hackathon they hosted in November 2013, which attracted around 30 participants. Stavick contends there are so many elements of civic hacking that are a direct reflection of librarianship. The library, she says, is one of the few places with the space and the Internet access that makes these types of events possible.
“Lack of access to local data is of direct concern to libraries. If libraries are supposed to provide open access to information, then any kind of public data would fall within that realm,” says Stavick. “Curating local information so that it’s more accessible to the public is a common goal of both librarians and civic hackers, with the intended result of informing citizens so they can make their own decisions.”
Open Nebraska is launching Hack Lincoln, the first-ever civic hackathon in Lincoln, Neb., this March and is aiming to plan another hackathon around National Civic Hacking Day in June.
Michael Sauers is currently the Director of Technology for Do Space in Omaha, NE. Michael has been training librarians in technology for the past twenty years and has also been a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, serials cataloger, technology consultant, and bookseller since earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany’s School of Information Science and Policy. Michael has also written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and his fourteenth book, Emerging Technologies: A Primer for Librarians (w/ Jennifer Koerber) was published in May 2015 and more books are on the way. In his spare time he blogs at travelinlibrarian.info, runs The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz Web site, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
View all posts by Michael Sauers
AUSTIN (February 5, 2014) – Representatives from the library industry’s leading organizations and associations are attending SXSW Interactive to raise awareness of the ways librarians are already supporting emerging entrepreneurs and tech businesses across the country. The goal is to get more entrepreneurs to recognize how librarians can help them scale their businesses. Through the support of Innovative, the leading provider of technology solutions and services to libraries, these organizations will be represented at the Innovative booth for libraries (#1036) during the SXSW Trade Show.
