[Michlib-l] digital signage compiled responses

[Ellen Moore]

Thank you to all who responded to my question about digital signage.

Below is a compilation of the responses I received.

Ellen Moore
Peter White Public Library
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>From Rebekah Craft
Associate Director
Baldwin Public Library

We recently installed a wall-mounted, touch screen display. We purchased
interactive software from Connected Sign for it. They designed a template
and now we update it with our calendar of events, program/services slides,
map, and staff/board contact info. The display also has a spot for a CNN
RSS feed, our Instagram feed and current weather. Here are some
screenshots and a photo of the display in place.

It's very popular with our patrons and staff and is used frequently.


***

Further information from Rebekah, in answer to my follow-up questions:

We purchased and ELO Touchscreen. It's a monitor with a computer built
into the back. It's fairly rugged. I imagine it would crack if someone
were to hit it with a hammer, but it stands up to finger tapping just
fine. I can get the pricing details on this, but I think the monitor and
mount cost around $4,000. I'm pretty sure we went higher end with this.

The monitor is 42" (23"x39")

We were very concerned about it being handicap accessible. We hung it at a
lower height to accommodate this. The top is at 75" and the bottom is at
36". We have not had any toddlers run into it yet.

It plugs into the wall. Our contractors installed a wall outlet with
ethernet and power.

To add events to the display, I download a CSV file of events from our
online events calendar. I then reformat it slightly and paste the rows
into the XLS file that ConnectedSign created for us. This file plugs into
the event display, so I have to use their set columns. I pull out the
following columns from our event calendar CSV file: event date, event
time, event title, event description, registration required, room. I do
have to label each program with a letter (A=adult event, Y=youth event,
T=teen event, R=rental) and this displays each type of event with a
separate color.

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Cindy Krueger
Marketing & Outreach
Dept. of Natural Resources

The Michigan History Museum is using BrightSign devices. It is my
understanding they can be attached to any TV/monitor/display. I am
interested in seeing any replies you get since I’m also looking for
something that could be used in the Dept. of Natural Resources visitor
centers and museums.

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Dillon Geschel
Portage Lake District

For the past few months, we have been using our teleconference equipment,
which is on wheels, to display event information when it's not otherwise
in use. Because the equipment looks out of place no matter where we place
it, we decided to instead by a flatscreen TV that could be mounted to the
wall near our Circ desk. It was actually mounted last night (funny to get
your email today!).
Jean from the co-op helped us find a portable digital media player that
hooks up to the TV, and once a USB with image files is plugged in, you can
play the slideshow. It worked fine on the teleconference equipment, and
I'll be trying to set it up with our new TV this afternoon.
I will keep you updated on how it works! If it is received well, I'd like
to someday have more screens with event info throughout the library. Our
event posters take up so much space that sometimes patrons complain about
the clutter on our circ desks.. Hopefully moving everything to a screen
will help!

****************

I'm a big fan of the Screenly OSE solution. You can find online at:
https://www.screenly.io/ose/

This is a FREE (as in beer) solution, but they also offer a PAID solution.

We use the Screenly OSE solution at Northville, and have had no major
issues with it. It runs off a Raspberry Pi device (available for about
$40), which is VERY small and easy to hide behind a 42" LCD screen mounted
to the wall. The whole system exists on a separate STAFF ONLY network,
which allows us to easily administrate it via a small webpage on our
network.

We still use Power Point to create the info, but save the file as an MP4
(video) file, and upload that Video file to the Screenly OSE device. It
can update in real time, and requires little regular maintenance to keep
functional.

Hopefully this helps. If you need more info, let me know.


Michael McEvoy
mmcevoy at northvillelibrary.org
Technology Coordinator
Northville District Library

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For what it’s worth, my previous library had tvs hooked on the wall that
could play the regular tv channels and switch to a certain channel and it
would play the slideshow of library events that we set up. There was a
computer in the server room that we loaded the powerpoint of events onto
and I believe it broadcast on the city's information channel (that they
broadcast their city council meetings on). We were able to set a certain
station to play on a certain channel on the tvs in the library, maybe with
receivers? Sorry, I can't be more specific but I wasn't involved with that
aspect of the library. We had all the tvs switched to a news station when
Obama was inaugurated and we watched all the events throughout the day. I
liked the flexibility of being able to switch over to a notable news event
and then switch back to our calendar of events. The only problem that I
remember we had was when our slideshow would stop and we'd have to restart
it again.
I hope this helps.

Janelle Martin
Head of Fiction
Marguerite deAngeli Library
Lapeer District Library
921 W. Nepessing St.
Lapeer, MI 48446

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We have been using a system similar to yours, only we made ours web-based
but they look like a PP show - just a bunch of static slides. About a
month ago I picked up a little device called a Google Chromebit. It's
about $90 and is a tiny little computer on the order of a chromecast that
runs the Chrome OS. Google also has a system for using and managing the
Chromebit as a digital sign  - take a look here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MWec-DVB44

Pretty much anything you can show in a chrome browser can be put on your
digital sign, including a Google Presentation. And the content can be
scheduled remotely. The only caveat that I have found is you have to buy a
$30 device management license for each Chromebit from Google, but it's for
the life of the device.

We are still playing with the one we have, but from what I have seen, it's
way better than just a PC running powerpoint. The only possible drawback
that I can think of is that they are wireless, so if you put them in a
place where the signal is not the best, it's not going to work. Apparently
you can use a Ethernet-to-USB converter on them.

Don't hesitate to call if you want to know more.

Hope this helps -

Mark Ehle
Computer Support Librarian
Willard Library
Battle Creek, MI

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We have a 36" TV that we use as our digital signage.  It has a SD card slot
that we put a handful of JPG files on and run as a slideshow.  We update it
probably once a week or whenever our programming changes.  It also has a
long HDMI cable ran to it that we could hook a computer to if we wanted to
stream anything from the web or run a PowerPoint presentation. It is on a
rolling stand that came from displays2go.com however they can be purchased
from amazon or other vendors as well.  It was a relatively inexpensive
solution and works well.

On a side note they also make small HDMI sticks that are essentially mini
computers that plug directly into the TV.  Most are under $150.  Couple this
with a larger TV and you could have a streaming display for well under
$1000.  We may go this route in our new building depending on what are
budget allows.

Chris Knight
Technology Coordinator
Otsego County Library
989-732-5841

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We have large TV screen on a shelf against a wall that is connected via
Chromecast to a laptop designated for that purpose. It's connected to a
private wireless network, so that patrons can't access it. We make slides in
Google Slides that we cast to the screen. We also streamed web-based
coverage of the solar eclipse in August. We sometimes have issues with the
Chromecast connecting to the screen, but for the most part it is very easy
to use, and multiple people can access it to make changes. You'll need to
purchase a Chromecast device. I wonder if it's too far above eye level for
people to see (it's on top of the shelf), but we needed something to support
the weight of the screen. This also keeps the screen from getting scratched
or smudged.

Hope that's helpful! Good luck.

Deborah Haak
Three Rivers Library