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Mobile tech lab makes appearance at the Boardman library
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.NEO emerging technologies librarian Holly Klingler gave a presentation at the Boardman library about the many new technologies that are available.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Northeast Ohio Regional Library System emerging technologies librarian Holly Klingler put out several different items for her presentation at the Boardman library.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.NEO emerging technologies librarian Holly Klingler displayed two smart watches before her presentation at the Boardman library.
By TIM CLEVELAND
With technology advancing all the time, it can be difficult for people to keep up with it. For the past six months, the Northeast Ohio Regional Library System has been sending emerging technologies librarian Holly Klingler to various libraries to give the latest information. She appeared Oct. 21 at the Boardman library.
“Tonight we’re going to be talking about emerging technologies,” she said. “A lot of libraries have the task of learning about all this new technology to teach the patrons in the community, but a lot of them don’t have a chance to be able to play and interact with the technology themselves.”
Klingler brought several different gadgets with her to display. Among them were smart watches that can tell you where your car is parked and can give information on traffic patterns, fitness trackers, home automation, a 3D printing pen, an LED light than you can control from your phone that lasts 22.8 years, and a Bluetooth blood pressure monitor.
“A lot of this stuff is cost-effective, so patrons and libraries can actually use it free or relatively cheap,” she said.
One piece that Klingler brought was one that both children and adults could enjoy.
“I brought a Lego Fusion,” she said. “A lot of people will have Legos, but this is an opportunity for children and adults to be able to take the Legos, build it, and then use the Lego Fusion app to scan their building and it uploads into a game the same exact way they built it and then they can interact and build a town from it. After you build it, the app says how about making a pizza shop? So then they have to build the pizza shop. They upload that information the same way and they play with the game.
“A lot of parents are afraid to allow their children to just immerse themselves in an iPad, this way they actually play together, interact with each other and collaborate.”
Another item Klingler brought was a virtual reality headset by Google. It was made from Google cardboard. She said while other virtual reality headsets can be as much as $200 or $300, this was much cheaper. She said that to use the headset you take your Google phone, download the free app, put the phone into the headset to look around, ride a rollercoaster or go skydiving.
Klingler’s presentations last an average of one hour. She has been giving them at libraries in Mansfield, Kent State University, Madison, Perry, Westlake, Willoughby, Cleveland Heights, University Heights and East Cleveland, among others.
“It’s been growing pretty considerably,” she said. “We did it as kind of a I’m a geek that had some stuff that people wanted to hear about.”
One story Klingler told concerned her Motorola Moto 360 smart watch. She said her brother-in-law used the heart rate feature and it showed his heart rate was 92 beats per minute. He went to his doctor and was told his blood pressure was extremely high. She joked her watch saved his life.