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  • Donde Esta La BiblioTech?

  • Patricia Realini KATIE: Hello. Welcome back. So, this is the

  • last talk before we all get to take a break and get a snack. Try to, like, resist the

  • urge to just go off to the pool and not come back because if you do it then I'll do it.

  • And then who is gonna introduce the speakers if I'm not here? No. So, our next speaker

  • is Patricia Ruiz  oh, gosh. My brain. I'm sorry. I just. Patricia Ruiz Realini. I got

  • that right, right? Yes. Okay. Cool. And Patricia, when I asked her about her fun fact in had

  • her first job for three years, she was a taekwondo instructor. And if you have a problem with

  • the bathroom policy, talk to her, not Brian. She'll set you straight. No, I'm sorry. She's

  • a lovely person and you're going to enjoy her talk. Everyone, give it up for Patricia.

  • [ Applause ] PATRICIA: Hi, everybody. I'm so excited to

  • be here. Thank you so much for coming to see my talk. I hope you're having a great first

  • day. I would like to begin by acknowledging that we're on occupied lands and offer respect

  • towards the people past and present. And I would also like to thank the organizers for

  • another year of JSConf US. It's already starting to be  it's already  it's off to a really

  • great start and I'm so grateful to be here. I have been wanting to give this talk for

  • a very long time. I used to live on the same block as the public library in my neighborhood

  • and I would go constantly to pick up books that I placed on hold. To co work in the summers

  • because I didn't have AC and to print out concert tickets because I didn't to want spend

  • my money on a printer and printer ink. And I got the experience of using the Internet

  • from the library and it made me curious about what it is like to depend on libraries around

  • the country for Internet access. Since then, I have made efforts to stop into public libraries

  • it compare the experiences. That was the impetus for this talk. If you walk past the computer

  • bay in a library, it becomes evident that when you don't own a device, personal computer

  • or have a personal broadband connection goes far beyond the physical limitations. 30% of

  • the rural US is closer to dial up speeds than broadband speeds. And urban broadband users

  • are on 3.1 megabytes per second. You recall users are lucky to achieve 500 kilobytes a

  • second. 162.8 million people do not use the Internet at broadband speeds. While the FCC

  • previously reported that broadband is not available to 24.7 million Americans, that

  • is stark in rural areas. For example, Microsoft found in Ferry County, Washington, they estimated

  • only 2% of people use broadband service versus the 100% that the federal government is said

  • so far access in that area. While many might focus on just the rural access, city broadband

  • access is also just as relevant. The University of Illinois of Chicago's digital excellence

  • in Chicago report found that 40% of Chicago residents, especially Latinx population, have

  • limited or in access to the Internet. Of that 40%, 35% have to use Wi Fi in public places

  • to get access. 25% of all Chicagoans do not use the Internet. Of those, people do not

  • use the Internet at all, while 15% only have limited access. And here on the map, we can

  • see those discrepancies based on geography and how that specifically happens in low income

  • areas. On the left you can see the percentage who have Internet access at home, and on the

  • right you can see the percentage who do not have Internet access at home because of difficulty

  • of availability. This has a real effect on people's livelihoods. The US bureau of labor

  • statistics employment data shows that the highest unemployment rates are frequently

  • located in the counties with the lowest availability of broadband. This is why the 16,700 public

  • library locations nationwide are so vital to the Internet. And on their own, are an

  • incredible source of information about our users. The Institute of museums and library

  • services 2019 report on the 2016 fiscal year found that for every 5,000 people libraries 

  • for every 5,000 people libraries serving a small population size offer 23.68 computers

  • versus  while only 4.04 library computers are available in libraries that serve large

  • populations. For example, 70% of Idaho's 103 libraries are the only source of free Internet

  • in Idaho's rural and remote communities. After significant investment from the broadband

  • technology opportunities program, the mean connection speed in Idaho libraries is still

  • only 12.8 megabytes per second. A steep drop from the national average of 57.4. The report

  • looked at the discrepancies in availability. And it does vary across states. Seven states

  • including Hawaii had fewer than four computers per 5,000 people. While two states, including

  • Vermont and Nebraska had more than nine. Most states had between 10 and 20 public access

  • Internet computers per a stationary outlet. DC having the most at 38.46. Libraries are

  • highly popular amongst adolescent and teenagers who want to spend time with other people their

  • age because they're open, accessible, free, and librarians make them feel welcome. In

  • many branches, they even assign areas for teenagers to be with one another. Compared

  • to the social space of the library with the social spaces of commercial establishments

  • like Starbucks or McDonald's, not everyone can afford to frequent them, and not all paying

  • customers are welcome to stay for long. Black and brown people, poor and homeless people

  • don't consider entering these spaces. They know standing outside a high end eatery can

  • make managers call the police. And I have been in restaurant using Wi Fi and ask police

  • ask a person who was coming from jail and was a homeless person, I watched them ask

  • this person to leave and say they were not welcome at the establishment because they

  • did not fit in. This is really limiting so much access for people that desperately need

  • it. So, where do they go? They go to the BiblioTech, of course. And not just during opening hours.

  • The 2016 usage and engagement report found that 7% of Americans age 60 and overuse the

  • library Wi Fi signal outside when libraries are closed. A lot of the main reasons for

  • Internet usage in public library are similar to a lot of our own basic Internet needs.

  • Checking email, doing research in many cases on personal health and outside of these uses,

  • the most different are taking classes and getting certifications. For example, getting

  • a food handling license to work in a restaurant is a process that takes about three hours

  • online and is one of the most common certifications out there for people in low income positions.

  • Historically, this disproportionately affects black, Latinx, homeless and immigrants the

  • most. With 58% of new American arrivals using the library Internet on a rate of once a week.

  • Kids under the age of 16 and also highly effective. Seven of ten teachers now require homework

  • with Internet access. Yet a third of kindergartners and others are unable to go online from home.

  • Some in Coachella and Huntsville, Alabama, require buses that have Wi Fi. They are sometimes

  • parked overnight and can connect and continue studying. In Detroit and New Orleans, as many

  • as one third of homes do not have broadband, children crowd libraries and other areas to

  • use free hot spots. Broadband limitations don't just change when and where you use the

  • Internet, but how. Google's 2011 state of interactivity report shows the difference

  • in usage based on broadband speeds. Here we can see people with limited access tend to

  • download and rely on offline more than the cloud because they have higher access to broadband

  • speeds. Specific to the library experience, there are a few standout considerations. Time

  • outs are frequently out of the control of librarians on PC reservation software and

  • it is a huge barrier for systemically oppressed people. Because when your identity contingencies

  • generate social pressure, and the result of this being stereo type threat, it means people

  • are less likely to speak up and ask for help when they need a longer session on the computer.

  • And in most cases, there are many library locations where the librarians are not familiar

  • with how to make the changes or have the administrative access to do so. When I visited the San Francisco

  • public library, with a 25 guest pass I had 15 minutes. With 5 minutes to start up the

  • reservation system. And the last 5 minutes, bombarded that it will end soon. Imagine trying

  • to take a three hour certification course that cannot be returned to under those conditions.

  • The Chicago public library requires people to show through ID that they are not Chicagoans

  • to access guest pass. Some charge due to low budgets and limited numbers of biases. And

  • you can see the biased co worker below, people like this are highly likely to accelerate

  • charges on overdue materials and limit and bar people from Internet action access and

  • the library. On the technical side, Windows 10 is the most prevalent operating system.

  • While just in 2018, just last year, many librarians reported they're still in the process of moving

  • from Windows 8 to Windows 10. Sorry. That's a little  I can't see the rest of my speaker

  • notes. I'm trying  so, there's also a lot of device and Wi Fi hot spot lending that

  • libraries do, but most of the time this is at a fee. They usually charge about $5 to

  • check out a Wi Fi hot spot and take it home. And in some cases, if they're lucky, they

  • have access to remote device management software that allows them to turn these devices off

  • if they're overdue. But the charges can be up to $150 for not returning a Wi Fi hot spot

  • to the library. With these charges, with device remote management software that librarians

  • use to throttle data so they don't have to pay high charges, we see that a lot of libraries

  • have difficulty offering these services without grants and subsidies that are highly needed

  • in their communities. Being barred usage of the Internet in libraries is much more common

  • than you think. In Seattle, patrons who $20 are blocked from borrowing, and $25, they

  • are sent to collection agencies. Even in prosperous Seattle, 20% of accounts are blocked due to

  • debt. This should be changing soon as Seattle just had a vote in August 6th of this year

  • where they passed prop 1 which is going to eliminate the fine system at the Seattle public

  • library which is fantastic news. But  and we see that this is also happening in DC,

  • Salt Lake and Baltimore. The San Francisco public library has 5% of accounts blocked

  • due to overdue fines, but in low income areas, the rate is as high as 11% and they are currently

  • also going through a proposal to go fine free as well. And this is important to know because

  • fines aren't even a significant revenue for any libraries. Salt Lake went fine free in

  • 2017 after finding that late fees accounted for just .3% of the city library's total revenue.

  • Research shows overdue fines do not ensure materials end up back on the shelves. And

  • fine free have not seen an increase in late returns. One library saw the late return rate

  • drop from 9% to 4% following fine elimination. Some of the most pressing needs when it comes

  • to Internet access in libraries are PC reservation compatible access, accessibility shortcuts.

  • Most notably access to changing signs of text on the screens. Because some PC reservation

  • software obfuscate access to any kind of visual controls. Also, the text to speech access

  • and just most of the accessibility shortcuts on our computers is obfuscated by the software.

  • And they're often limited to select locations, making access even harder. And with low broadband

  • speeds, performance is also a super paramount issues as well as authentication and anti

  • surveillance measures that we'll get a little bit deeper into. the Google need for speed

  • report found that 53% of website visitors leave with f a website doesn't load in 3 seconds.

  • The average load is 9 seconds on a 3G connection. That's as long as it takes to sing the alphabet

  • song. And 14 seconds on a 4G connection. When surveyed, they found one out of two expect

  • it to load in less than 2 seconds. And faster sites had session lengths 70% longer and bounce

  • rates that were 35% lore. 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site that they

  • had trouble accessing and 40% will visit a competitor's website instead. Mobile sites

  • that loaded in 5 seconds earned almost double the revenue websites that took 19 seconds.

  • And you can boost conversion by 27%. Part of the problem is ads on mobile. Mobile ads

  • take an average of 5 seconds to load. About double the time as it takes for desktop ads

  • to load according to the media ratings council. Sorry.

  • Email and online  and then another issue past performance is authentication. Recently

  • there was this Twitter thread a few months ago which made me sad that it happened after

  • my talk and not before. Because I was excited to tell you about this. But email and online

  • messages SMS services like WhatsApp are truly the modern catch 22. You need an email to

  • get a phone number. And you need a phone number to get an email. So, especially for people

  • struggling with homelessness, this is a huge barrier for them to escape this oppression.

  • And I personally think that this problem is ripe for password managers to find a solution

  • to. I would love to see authentication stations in libraries utilizing authenticator app technology

  • and having access base on a librarian's approval. For users that are not web literate, dealing

  • with sensitive materials like paying bills and sharing photos. An example of handling

  • this is making sure that we detect in f a device is a new device and it's the first

  • time logging on. We can offer alerts and messaging like GDRP and communicating with them and

  • what to do before working on computers that may be insecure. Another security factor is

  • surveillance. Facial recognition software is creeping into libraries starting in academic

  • libraries today. The most prevalent threat, however, to intellectual freedom is section

  • 215 of the patriot act. The government can demand the library records with a secret can

  • court order and without probable cause. They can block the librarians from revealing the

  • request, and it doesn't only cover the books, but Internet check ins, and hard drives from

  • library computers. Libraries took action to protect patrons. Posting these within view

  • of computer stations. In fall of 2002, the library research center at the University

  • of Illinois surveyed 1500 libraries and found that of the 444 libraries that had been subject

  • to law enforcement requests for information about patrons, 225 had not cooperated but

  • 219 had. Librarians in Santa Cruz demonstrated their opposition by taking drastic measures

  • and shredding all historical information including computer usage or a daily basis. In 2005,

  • four Connecticut librarians going under the modicum of John Doe with the help of the ACLU

  • sued the US attorney general to lift the gag order that the librarians were subject to

  • produce records. By 2006, the FBI dropped the defense of the gag division. It was expired

  • in May of 2015, but the US freedom act, the expired parts of the law with the exception

  • of the gag order were reported broadly as restored and renewed and come up for expiration

  • this year in December. But there's a lot of success stories too. Libraries are still the

  • most helpful resource for learning about the Internet and web literacy classes are the

  • most highly requested programming at libraries. Because library staff need to be totally up

  • to date on their digital skills, they learn these things just in time and turn around

  • and immediately start teaching them to patrons. My favorite resource are the zines by read

  • me and they host crypto parties. And there are libraries offering some of the most high

  • tech access rout there. The Los Angeles library has the Octavia Butler space. It's at the

  • location that's great for families to toy around with 3D printing and all kinds of other

  • high tech gadgets. And the Austin public library, the laptop stations with computer users and

  • up to date technology. All you have to do is scan your library card and unlock one of

  • these laptops much like you would unlock a bicycle out in a rideshare program and you

  • can use the laptop anywhere you want in the library. The biggest tax credits, grants and

  • subsidies only go so far to support public library Internet access. All the most robust

  • results are the public private partnerships. We as a community should be doing everything

  • we can to encourage the companies we work for to get involved and help build partnerships

  • to get better hardware, software and help. Overreliance on the federal broadband stimulus

  • program has tied censorship to funding and the future has the potential to be bleak as

  • we have seen how the patriot act affected usage of the Internet in the libraries. And

  • there was the initiative that has harnessed the unused channels known as white space.

  • It's unused spectrum below 700 megahertz. Using UHF signals. This is sometimes called

  • super Wi Fi. It behaves like regular Wi Fi but uses lower channels to cover greater distances

  • than Wi Fi hot spots. It's less populated in remote regions. And imagine the capacity

  • for urban areas where people don't have personal access at home. Where their kids need to stay

  • on buses to be able to use Wi Fi to finish their homework. If your company can't get

  • involved, volunteer for a crypto at your library. Organize your next meetup at a library

  • computer lab to give more access to people outside of your own personal circle. So,

  • thank you so much for coming and hearing about what it's like to use the Internet at the

  • library. I hope next time you stop by a library and check out what it's like to use their

  • computers and not just your fancy Macbooks. Thank you.

  • [ Applause ] KATIE: All right. Thank you so much, Patricia.

  • And how freakin' awesome is the themed slide presentation. Yes. So cool. It matches my

  • new scrunchie. All right. So, it is time for a snack break. So, we will be back here in

  • this room or the other room  what time again? At 4:15. So, we have quite a bit of time to

  • go out, have a snack, relax and we'll see you at the next talks. Take care.

Donde Esta La BiblioTech?

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