When I visited Wichita Falls three months ago for a TLA (Texas Library Association) Digital Conversation event, I made sure I had enough time to visit the public library. Angela Fortin, the library’s Technology Specialist, was kind enough to give me a walking tour. In my work at LDO (Library Digital Opportunity), I’m always fascinated with Texas libraries’ ability to innovate and use technology in unexpected ways, and Wichita Falls did not disappoint.
The library is on the bottom floor of a former downtown department store. It’s quite a large space with rows and rows of book-lined shelves, an open public computer area, and many separate rooms that house 3-D Printers, study areas, book sorters, and even a cozy archival space decorated with Texas flags and a homemade quilt. My first thought was ‘this place is huge’ and even a bit intimidating with so much to explore.
That’s why I was so impressed when Angela showed me the virtual tour feature on their website. I reached out recently to Angela, and Program Specialist, Fox Baker, to get more information on the origins of this unique technological tool and how it has helped the Wichita Falls patrons.
LDO: I really love the virtual tour on the website.
Fox Baker: Thanks. We just used it a few days ago. We were getting a new automated materials handler (book sorter) installed and we needed the dimensions. We used the 3d map to measure the area down to the millimeter, so we knew exactly how much space we needed.
LDO: That’s incredible. Where did the idea for the virtual tour come from?
Fox Baker: After the pandemic in 2020 and being shut down, we wanted to create a virtual way for people to come to the library. It grew out of that. There are a number of group homes in Wichita Falls and they might need something from the library but they don’t want to just show up and start exploring. For them, we wanted to create a tour where they could go at their own pace and learn the layout of the library before coming.
Angela Fortin: Another aspect of this is people who visit our town or tourists. This was a way to walk around the library and see what it looks like, see what kind of spaces we have and what types of programs we offer.
LDO: How did this all come together?
Fox Baker: I met a local guy named Neo. A lot of his work involved doing 360 3D tours of homes being built. It’s the idea of being able to sell a place by taking a tour whenever you want.
I periodically spend time at the chamber of commerce. One day, Neo was pitching his business model and I thought it would be cool to have something like this. It would be perfect for the library. I approached him and he wanted to do it. We had some money in our advertising budget to pay for it so we started working on the idea and fleshing it out. We had a few meetings before the shoot and worked out the technical details and did some planning and mapping out how we were going to do it.
LDO: Tell me about the actual process. What was involved?
Fox Baker: Neo has an NVR 360 multiform camera with 9 camera lenses. It does a 15 degree turn all the way around to 360 degrees, bit by bit. We had the basic map drawn out, so we knew where to position the camera. It took about eight and a half hours to film.
Angela Fortin: They did it over one night, after hours.
Fox Baker: It gives you a human field of view and some peripheral angles as well. We had to do a few reshoots where my foot or an elbow appeared in the frame! The turnaround was about a week from the shoot until we had the tour online. I really appreciate the high definition and the ability to zoom in. You can see all these great details in the Texas History room.
Angela Fortin: (Laughs) Even one of the quilt panels I made.
Fox Baker: The process was so worthwhile and beneficial and not very complicated. There was no software needed. The camera crunches all the data and uploads to the network. We could plug things in like text blurbs or even links to reserve specific study rooms. The whole thing is hosted online. The hardest part was with the browser window and resizing it to work on phones.
Angela Fortin: Thirty per-cent of our traffic is mobile, so it had to be mobile friendly.
LDO: What has the reaction been from your patrons?
Fox Baker: It’s been an interactive way for patrons to connect with us. While on the tour, they can find links to apply for library cards or reserve a study room. It’s been very positive.
One of our area group homes just loved it. It made them feel comfortable to come to the library for the first time. It didn’t feel like a new space. It (the virtual tour) makes them comfortable here and makes it easier for them to find what they need.
We have a slideshow monitor in the lobby entrance and there’s a video that highlights the tour with a quick flythrough. Kids who come in will just sit there and watch it, glued to the monitor as they watch the tour.
LDO: What other ways is it used?
Fox Baker: That slideshow video makes for a good time capsule of what the library looked like back then. It’s a saved state of how it looked and operated. We used to have a coffee bar that is no longer there.
We also use the 3D scan feature quite often to measure the dimension of certain spaces, just like we did a few days ago for the book sorter. There’s a display window on the right side of the library entrance where we will encourage various community organizations to put up displays. Right now, we have a display with toys and games from the 1930s. We can use the virtual tour software to take a photo and send the measurements to anyone who wants to put up window displays
At the end of the interview, I asked about any other technology news or updates, and I’m very happy to report that WFPL has had a recent upgrade to their public computers. Last June, Angela informed me that the computers were over 12 years old and were still running outdated Windows 7 operating systems. They were recently awarded a Priddy Foundation grant and now have 22 brand new desktop computers running the latest Windows 11 software. They are also replacing all of the old cables to maximize bandwidth. The city’s IT department is in the process of hooking them up to the network and installing the latest cybersecurity tools to make them safe for use. They will be available very soon.
Angela also told me that they have two new 3D printers and will be unveiling them to use on Air Force Day (September 18) to make model airplanes from kits donated from a local model shop. They also recently acquired a new interactive Google Jamboard, which is housed in their “room of requirement,” yet another unique and fun maker-space you can explore on the virtual tour.
If your library has any new and exciting technology news you’d like to share, please reach out to us at LDO@tsl.texas.gov or you can subscribe to the LDO Download newsletter to learn more.
