---
# System prepended metadata

title: Report back from Code4LibBC 2021
tags: [presentation]

---

# Report back from Code4LibBC 2021
###### tags: `presentation`

[schedule](https://wiki.code4lib.org/BC)

[logo made with shimmy](https://twitter.com/bookcowboy/status/1362588489028538368)

## Day One

### Lightning talks

#### Want to play with OBS Studio in the Library? - Kevin Brash

A fun look at how another librarian uses OBS, primarily for streaming, including using downloaded resources.

#### Temporary file sharing with Moat, Lightweight Animation with Shimmy, Advanced Markdown with HackMD, Games at the Library - Dethe Elza

slides [Sketchdance @ Code4LibBC](/@dethe/HklTTpqWO)

From the comments: GitLab uses Mermaid and PlantUML (see slides) as well.

#### Engaging Public Programming with High and Low Tech - Candie Tanaka

Covers some innovative progams during the pandemic including reading poetry to a dog in the park and a collaboration about making dumplings.

#### My recent time at the Recurse Center - Alex Garnett

The Recurse Center hosts people for development retreats to give them time and resources to level up their skills.

> In early 2021, I was at the [Recurse Center](https://www.recurse.com/), and (contrary to my stated reluctance) I blogged intermittently as I went along. While at Recurse, I made [putz](https://pypi.org/project/putz/), the [Does it Beep](https://github.com/axfelix/doesitbeep-ext) browser extension, [Fart Map](https://usa.whosyourdad.de/), [Eggs and Milk Minder 1.0c](https://github.com/axfelix/eggsandmilk), [To Bezier is Human](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=41217), [ffmpeg on Ice](https://ffmpeg-on-ice.herokuapp.com/), and other experiments.

#### Link checking the uncheckable: Using Google Sheets to link check LibGuides catalogue assets - George Villavicencio

Web scraping to find broken links due to books missing from the catalog, where the catalog returns a search page rather than a 404 error. Using Google Sheets as a speedy way to do web scraping instead of using, for instance, Python.
    
#### Setting up a Softphone System for Remote Reference Services - Wendy Zhang

Lessons learned while setting up a new telephone system: Communicate, connect between departments, include representatives from each department, document, provide flexible 1-on-1 support.

#### Github and Github pages for collaborative workshop development - Eka Grguric

UBC Library is using open/free GitHub pages to build tutorials and guides like what we use Niche Academy for. https://ubc-library-rc.github.io/

#### Moving leased collections from catalogue to discovery layer - Trevor Smith

This was about how the catalog worked with different collections and I wasn't able to follow all of the jargon.

### Breakout sessions

[Data and reporting](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZfOdVXuxwFf85dpGb6EjhNuwiSMWL-NmakZe6IiIRHM/edit?usp=sharing) (facilitator Trevor Smith)

[Building a Community around Open Source](https://docs.google.com/document/d/13avB9KwPONn5wQthJRREjQDVsbDZQPPlNpsti3K6ATU/edit?usp=sharing) (facilitator Dethe Elza)

[Natural Language Processing](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m2oYPQd7tu6d6jxprWn_S-xjVWUoA70aqftwmyH1WkA/edit?usp=sharing) (facilitator Eric Morgan) [Attended]

[Challenges & solutions for working remotely](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bUTe8nDcZZ1fwujvtslBeFpqdOO_OI6_cAQacE4kE4w/edit?usp=sharing) (facilitator George Villavicencio)

## Day Two

### Lightning talks

#### Glitch: errors revealed by code - George Villavicencio

Walked through some amusing, but hard to understand bugs that have been seen in library systems.

#### Luigi - James Fournie

The purpose of [Luigi](https://luigi.readthedocs.io/en/stable/index.html) is to address all the plumbing typically associated with long-running batch processes. 

[slides](https://jamesrf.github.io/c4lbc21-luigi/)

#### The Distant Reader -- distantreader.org - Eric Morgan

A look at the natural language toolkit we looked at in yesterday's breakout session. I learned about Compute Canada for hosting web services in Canada rather than on AWS or such.


#### Putting together a queer cinema mini-catalogue using Searchkit (Elasticsearch + React + Node.js) - Michel Castagné

Using annotations vs. subject guides or existing subject headings.

https://queercinema.capilanou.ca/
https://searchkit.co/

#### Zooming into Virtual Programming - Lindsay Russell

#### Excel tricks with Get & Transform - Trevor Smith

Some neat tricks, including Un-pivots, based on a Linda.com presentation by [Oz du Soleil](https://www.lynda.com/Oz-du-Soleil/1907287-1.html).

#### Recent developments at FRDR - Alex Garnett

How to do research on private/personal data in a secure way using shared hosting without risking a data breach.

#### JavaScript Web Scraping - Schuyler Lindberg

Showed some more advanced web scraping using async JavaScript, clustering for parallelism, and Puppeteer for headless browsing.

### Breakout sessions

[Largest improvements in Library technology](https://docs.google.com/document/d/18gRGoJcaCePkIxoHc0_Z1vwxQI2sEDry5Okt-WBKv4g/edit?usp=sharing) (facilitator Maryanne Kempthorn)

[Virtual programming](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OKciga3MtAZSSqM5uZTtrT3ue0oSOas46Ad8deVKeVA/edit?usp=sharing) (facilitator Kevin Brash) [Attended and was main note-taker]

[Accessibility](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lMlFrXL-e7VHj8vvk1wLM7NQKqbKQVvsre1B--Bg0Xs/edit?usp=sharing) (accessible self-checkouts, cloud library/mobile self-checkouts, library apps, etc.) (facilitator George Villavicencio) [Attended]

[Link checking strategies](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f80kVkb9a9NBWfgpoRVIycpdy3-Uz0j9gsx7G-hKCUU/edit?usp=sharing) (facilitator TBD)