Introduction and thanks for welcoming us (RHPL)

[Derek Brown]

Good morning everyone,

I'm excited to join the ChromeOS in Libraries group and to connect with so many of you leveraging Google products in your library systems.

A quick introduction—my name is Derek Brown, and I’m the Director of IT at the Rochester Hills Public Library in Michigan. We serve the largest population in Oakland County, the second-largest county in Michigan, though we’re probably on the smaller side compared to some of you in this community. I’ve been working with Google Workspace since it was called G Suite back in 2006 and have long been a proponent of Google solutions in nonprofit and educational spaces.

Our ChromeOS journey began several years ago, starting with the deployment of Google Credential Provider for Windows (GCPW) for all staff desktops. Coming out of COVID, we prioritized collaboration in Google Workspace while ensuring secure, efficient access for all staff. This setup worked well for two years, leading up to our migration from self-hosted Polaris to Clarivate’s dedicated cloud-hosted Polaris—a move that allowed us to fully embrace ChromeOS Flex. Today, we have 70+ staff Dell Optiplex units running ChromeOS Flex, with only a handful of exceptions: three technical services staff (who still require Windows for Polaris Staff Client) and two specialized software users (including one Mac user). The transition was smooth, largely due to staff familiarity with GCPW.

Our public computing environment is also transitioning to ChromeOS:

• We’ve moved all public PC reservations and printing to LibData (shoutout to Charles!) and integrated ITC 5800 units for coin-based transactions.
• We currently have a few Chromebooks for internal loan and are waiting on Only Office to support external devices before moving forward on more.
• Public desktops remain on Windows for now, but by the end of Q1, we aim to convert 50% to ChromeOS Flex, with nearly full conversion by summer.

Beyond workstations, we’ve had a few fun Google-based projects. One we’re particularly proud of is our Clarivate (Innovative) Vega Discover Kids’ themed catalog, designed in collaboration with Google Kiosks. Here’s the project link, which showcases how we customized Vega Discover Premium with Google Kiosks to create an intuitive and engaging touch-screen catalog experience in our youth area. We worked closely with Clarivate’s Vega team to refine small but impactful improvements. Our kiosk design was also user-tested with both children and parents/guardians to ensure an intuitive browsing experience.

Another project involved mapping our library cardholder and non-cardholder population using Google Looker Studio in partnership with our local GIS department. This helped us visualize service gaps across our 110,000-person service area, including bookmobile and mini-branch usage data, allowing us to make data-driven decisions about stop locations and resource allocation.

We’re currently testing deployments of Polaris ExpressCheck (Clarivate’s self-checkout software), which is still Windows-based, but since it’s browser-driven, we’re experimenting to see if it can work with ChromeOS/Google Kiosks. Additionally, we’re testing whether qz.io print software can function on a ChromeOS-managed kiosk or guest session—if anyone has experience with ChromeOS and QZ.IO, I’d love to hear from you! Google results on this have been sparse.

Thanks for welcoming me into the group! If any of you happen to be Polaris or Sierra libraries, I encourage you to check out the Innovative Users Group—we have an active Discord & Discourse community, monthly Zoom forums, and national/regional conferences. Also, if anyone here attends DEF CON or Spiceworld, let me know—I’d love to connect in person to talk about ChromeOS in libraries!

Looking forward to learning from and collaborating with all of you!

Derek Brown
Director of IT @ Rochester Hills Public Library

[Lucien Kress]

Welcome, Derek. Sounds like you've been busy! I look forward to your contributions.

Lucien Kress IT Director 360-906-4910 Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries – Operations Center 2018 Grand Blvd, Vancouver, WA 98661

NOTICE: Under Washington State's Public Records Act (RCW 42.56), email communications to and from this or any Fort Vancouver Regional Library District email account can be subject to public disclosure to a third-party requester.

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[Derek Brown]

Thank you, Lucien! I just had a quick call with Jack from the Southern Adirondack Library System in this group. It was great to hear how other public libraries are leveraging Google Looker Studio. I hope to continue participating in discussions—whether to listen in or to share how we've leveraged Google here at our library system.