N.C. State’s libraries offer students more than just books. With the ability to check out iPads, laptops, iPods, cameras and even phone chargers, it’s no surprise that students will now have the opportunity to check out Google Glass.
“It is part of our core mission to make available to students and faculty technology that we either know of and faculty really need, or think they’re going to be able to use and loan out,” said David Hiscoe, director of communication strategies at NCSU Libraries.
Google Glass is a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display. Priced at $1,500, Glass is only available to consumers who are participating in the Google Glass Explorer Program.
“We know that they’re expensive,” Hiscoe said. “They’re hard to get. The context for us, for Google Glass, is that it’s potentially something that can change how faculty and students are doing research across the board. We know that people are really interested.”
Adrienne Lai, an emerging technology services librarian, said a colleague from Claremont College asked if NSCU Libraries would be interested in an invitation to acquire Google Glass.
“She knew that NCSU Libraries does interesting things with technology and wanted to know if we were interested,” Lai said. “I told her, ‘Yes! That’s exactly the sort of thing we would be interested in.’ And after following up, we managed to get an invitation to be a part of the Google Glass Explorer Program and acquire one pair of Google Glass – they only let you buy one.”
With every piece of technology NSCU Libraries purchases, Lai said it must craft a new way to loan out devices.
“We wanted to see and sort of test out with one or two faculty and graduate students who we knew we were interested in and would make good use of it,” Lai said. “We had to get an idea of how you would loan this sort of thing out.”
Lai said with things such as iPads or iPods, NSCU Libraries takes something intended to be a personal device and lends it to thousands of different people.
“We have to ask ourselves, ‘How do we manage lending out that one thing that’s usually tied to one person to the whole N.C. State community?” Lai said.
While developing a web forum for students and faculty members to request to use Glass, NCSU Libraries is currently allowing a few people and groups to test it.
“We’re going to have to prioritize,” Lai said. “We’re expecting there’s going to be more demand than we can meet, so we’re going to be prioritizing folks who can explain a little more about what they’re wanting to do with it.”
Lai said the checkout period for Google Glass will be six days. Groups can check out Glass through Hunt Library’s web forum.
“We’re hoping that the people that we are able to lend it to will be able to do something interesting, or at least have it inform their research area in a new and interesting way,” Lai said. “I think that there will be a wide range of uses and a wide range of disciplines that are taking advantage of this.”
A 15-minute presentation will be part of the checkout process. Pairing Glass with their Google account, renters are given what Lai called “the basics of Glass” as well as access to support pages that Google has suggested to users.
“It’s the exploring part that we really want for someone,” Lai said. “We want it to become natural for users. We would recommend though, that anyone that does sign up set a little bit of practice time aside.”
Hiscoe and Lai said they have high hopes for Google Glass here at N.C. State.
“I’m hoping people on campus think of Google Glass in a broader way,” Lai said. “Maybe someone in veterinary medicine will do some kind of interesting experimental surgery to do on an animal, and they can use it to broadcast it to their class.”
Today, Google Glass will be available from noon – 2 p.m. in the D.H. Hill Library for students to use. On Wednesday, students will have another opportunity to interact with Google Glass from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. in the technology showcase area at Hunt Library.
