 Good morning and welcome to this week's edition of Encompass Live. I am your host, Christa Porter, here at the Nebraska Library Commission. Encompass Live is the commission's weekly webinar series where we cover a variety of topics that may be of interest to libraries. We broadcast the show live every Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. Central Time, but if you're unable to join us on Wednesdays, that's fine. We do report the show as we are doing right now and is then posted to our website for you to watch at your convenience. Both the live show and the recordings are free and open to anyone to watch, so please spread the word, share with your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, anyone you think might be interested in any of the topics you have on the show. For those of you not from Nebraska, the Nebraska Library Commission is a state agency for libraries and we provide services to all types of libraries in the state, so you will find topics, shows on topics that would be for potentially any type of library. Public, academic, K-12s, corrections, museums, archives, just runs could be anything, but we do a mixture of things, book reviews, interviews, many training sessions, demos of services and products. We bring guest speakers in sometimes from libraries across the country and across Nebraska. We think that we're doing cool things that everyone might want to hear about, and we also have Nebraska Library Commission staff that sometimes do presentations for us, and that is what we have with us this morning, as you can see on the screen. Amanda Sweet, our technology innovation librarian is here with us today. Good morning. Good morning, Amanda. The last Wednesday of every month is our Pretty Sweet Tech session on NCUPAS Live, so if you're the techie person at your library or you're interested in that kind of thing, this is definitely the one to sign up for, Amanda will always share something that is tech related. Some might do things other times during the month too, but you can always depend on her to have something for the last one. And today we're going to talk about something cool and fun, maybe, the Oculus Quest 2 VR. I know it's out and people are getting it for their holidays, maybe. Libraries can help us too, and we have ways to get you on top of that. So I'm going to hand it over to you, Amanda, to tell us all about it. So as we've been going over some of the new grant stuff, people have been looking at makerspace equipment, and people have been indeed looking at holiday gifts. One of the bigger questions I've gotten is which VR headset is the best headset to get? And I decided to zero in on Oculus Quest 2 because one, it's the one that I got for the library system here, but after I got it, Facebook decided to make a few changes. And yeah, it's been a quiet chaos, really. So we're still kind of waiting for that to see how that all shakes out, and I'm going to go over some of the different changes that's going on as Facebook is shifting over into meta, what that means for the Oculus Quest. If you've already purchased the Quest for your library, or if you're thinking about purchasing the Quest for your library, and I'll go over what in the world happened to the previous models that were made by the Oculus line, and then I'll go over how I actually had to go through to set up that Oculus Quest to make it available for the public, then some tips for the policies that have come up that just keep everyone safe and secure, recommendations for a liability waiver. So users stay safe, and the library stays out of trouble, because I mean, people need to know what they're getting into, and libraries need to stay safe. And then I'll go over what some of the common alternatives to using the Quest are. So in case you learn this stuff, you want to find a different option, I'll go over a few things for that. And then I'll go over some, like the wrap up of was Quest to actually worth getting after I already did it. So again, I did purchase these headsets before I found out that Facebook was going to be shifting over to meta. It felt like Mark Zuckerberg just kind of dropped that out of the blue. But so after that announcement came out, I found out that so the Oculus headsets, they all have to be registered in using the Oculus app. And but now that app is going to be turning into the meta portal and the meta app. And instead of continuing with the quest line, meta is going to turn into a new headset called the Cambria. And so they just took a complete right turn there, left turn, whatever it is, it's not going in the same direction anymore. And it's and they completely, they are not going to be branding anything Oculus at all anymore. So they're going to be doing the like the Oculus Quest is still going to exist. It will likely look exactly the same, have the exact same features. But instead of a big sticker that says Oculus, that's a big sticker that says meta or Cambria or whatever title they decide to call it. So they are still supporting the quest to which has only been out for about a year so far right now. But they are no longer supporting Oculus go as of they are not doing any more updates or any more support or security patches, privacy patches for the Oculus go. They are not allowing developers to make any new games for the Oculus go. They are phasing out the Oculus Rift. So the Oculus Rift still exists as of right now, you can still purchase it in stores, but I wouldn't because they are going to be phasing that out. And they're one of the reasons they stated for that is because the Oculus Rift will require people to connect the headset to a really expensive gaming computer. That gaming computer was required for this headset to function. And it's because that headset required really fast refresh rates and really good graphics card. But now with the Quest 2, there's actually a cord called the link. And the link is an optional cord that you can use to connect the headset into that gaming computer. So the Quest 2 can be a standalone that doesn't need anything else to exist. Or you can extend the features with that link cord and basically turned into a Rift. So with that cord, they don't need the Rift anymore. And I have no idea what they're going to be doing with Cambria. They haven't told anyone yet. Well, when did this even just happen? I mean, we're talking like in the last couple of weeks even, I put this article to the from the verge that kind of talks about all this. So if you do want to read more about this, if you grab these slides and read through this article, this is a really, really recent article. And so they talk about all those changes that I just kind of summarized. And there's I also embedded a few other articles if you want to read more about the reviews and what is going on with all of this. So these are Google sites as Amanda always uses, and we will have the link to the slides, which have all these embedded links available to everyone afterwards. And in case you want to take a gander, while I'm talking about other stuff, I will put this link to the slides into the chat so you can access that article and anything else that you might want to take a glance at. All right, so let me pop back in here. So now that I've given you the little caveat about Facebook turning into meta, the Oculus, the Oculus Quest two is still going to be supported. So I'll go over, this is just a quick thing that I just put together for a reference slide. I have better resources that I'll go over after this. But so for the Oculus Quest two, it actually requires both the Oculus app and a Facebook account to function. So the caveat to that is that when you connect the Oculus headset to a Facebook account, Oculus Quest two was designed for individual users so that it could kind of play off of social media so that you can connect the friends. But when you're in a shared, when this is a shared headset, and you're in a public library where everyone has access to that account, that headset can only be registered to one Facebook account. So I actually created a dummy account that is a dummy Facebook account and a dummy Oculus account. So that, and it's just for privacy security purposes, so that it's not connected in through my personal Facebook account or Chris's personal Facebook account or anyone's personal account. So everyone's information is secure, and it just goes through that separate account. And but I had to jump through hoops to create that because Facebook at the Facebook account has created new validation processes to be able to register for that. So in practice, when I send these headsets out to different libraries, when people log into that Oculus account and log into that Facebook account, they'll be asked to verify that they are who they say they are. So they actually need to log into the Facebook account, but then they'll get an email to a Gmail account that will say, are you this person? And so I actually have to give people access to both those dummy accounts to be able to get into the library account. Facebook did promise that in the near future, they were going to remove that element where Facebook account was necessary, but they haven't done it yet. I heard that that was coming, which I think is going to be a little very helpful to situations like the libraries and schools that want to do this, use these. Yeah. When it's first a one on one and personal, no. But I mean, but once that's done, the rest of it is easy. You put the headset on and it actually automatically guides you through the process. So it will, like you put the headset on and it'll ask you to connect to Wi-Fi and you'll pair the controllers and headset to the Oculus app, which has been merged with your Facebook account. And they added a new silicone cover. The reason that they started including a silicone cover with all of the headsets is because there was a small percentage of the population that was having an allergic reaction to the facial interface on the original Oculus Quest. So to fix that, they added the silicone cover. I thought it was actually for COVID for sanitation purposes, but it was actually for that facial interface. And they actually had a recall on some of the original facial interfaces because of that allergic reaction. So I actually bought a case that includes a free silicone cover and now every single new headset you buy includes that silicone cover. So it also doubles as a good sanitation thing. Just wipe off the silicone cover between uses. You're good to go. And there's also a feature where you can set a guardian boundary within your headset. So how that works is in older headsets like the Oculus Go, you would put it on, but then you would not have any idea of your physical surroundings. So you might move in through a virtual world, but then accidentally run into a real table. What the Guardian Boundary does is you clear out some space. Oculus recommends 6.5 feet by 6.5 feet to be able to navigate safely more if you have the space. But you actually draw a digital boundary with your controller. So you kind of draw like a big circle around you that says this space is free and clear. And now when you go into a experience, when you go into a virtual experience, if you start walking outside of that digital boundary that you drew, a giant virtual red wall pops up so that you know to take a step back. Like an invisible fencing for dogs in your eyes. Right. That would actually be kind of cool. And so that Guardian Boundary does exist with the Oculus Quest, the first generation, but it's also included with the second generation. And there are external cameras on the outside of the headset that they use to show you the outside environment when you're drawing that boundary. It shows up in grayscale, but I mean, it doesn't matter. You can see a clear floor where there's a clear floor. And so this is something that Oculus Quest has included with all of their games that are registered through their system is they have comfort ratings. So when people go through virtual reality, they, when you're just a first initial user, it's usually better to do a seated experience or one that doesn't include very fast movement or have really fast scenery going past you. The reason that they do that is because that fast scenery and like, like if you're going on a simulated roller coaster or something like that, it's known to cause nausea and it's known to cause like bad reactions in people. So Oculus made different comfort rating levels and I'll actually pull those up because if you're using this in the library, you will reference this chart a lot to help people choose the best experience for them. And so a comfortable experience, you just usually stationary. It doesn't have any disturbing images in it. It doesn't have any jolting camera motions and moderate is pretty much a middle of the road that some people have been known to react to it, but it's usually you and when you have, when the player actually controls the movement instead of the scenery moving for you, that will also impact how you adjust to it. Like if you have control over your own movement in the virtual space, you react to it better. The physics are more natural and it just kind of, you know, but I've gone into some space experiences where I'm stationary, but the entire rest of the scene is moving for me and I actually had to take the headset off right away because it was just, it did not compute. My brain was like the physics of this is not meshing up. And then the intense version would be like if you're going on a virtual roller coaster or if you're going on something that is just designed to mess with people, but each different experience has that rating in it. So when you're choosing an experience for yourself or choosing or helping a patron choose one, take a gander at this guide. And if the experience is unrated, you can also just rate it for yourself in the library because you know how people do it. And so I did say that there were additional resources that I had beyond just the slide that I popped together yesterday. But so if you were looking for how to train library staff or how to get up to speed in your library, I put together the Oculus quest to librarian preparation guide, which is exactly what it sounds like. Right. And so this one will run you through and I'm just going to click through this. And is this available through our TechKits website where they can, where Nebraska libraries can borrow these from us too? So I haven't added this Oculus quest to the TechKits page yet. I haven't finished the website part of it yet, but I also checked out all 10 copies of Quest 2 already. So it's also, I'll be adding it probably next week, week after, because I have the stuff for it. I just need to get it on the webpage. But you can access this through the slideshow. And Christa, if you want to, you can put it into the resources that say this is the slide, this is the recording, this is the preparation guide, what have you. So this will just run you through how to experience and prepare for virtual reality and learn the basics yourself first. And it'll run you through a guide of what to cover with like how to prepare a VR station in the library, and then which steps to complete with the patron when the patron is in front of you. So this will kind of run you through, and there's also different secondary resources that you can use for learning a software overview. Some people have been known to not even put the headset on until they know what they're getting into. So they will walk into the library and say, I don't know what that is. I'm kind of curious about it, but I'm not going to touch it till I know what's going to go on my head. And so I've included this video so you can view it for yourself or show people what they're getting into. And another thing that people come in that run into a lot is when you put on a headset, you can no longer see the controllers in front of you. So if you need to get out of like a like a disturbing experience or something that you weren't that you didn't plan to get into, and Facebook tells you to hit the oculus button to get out of the experience. If you're new, you can't see it. So this will actually remind you to memorize or familiarize yourself with those buttons. It's just like a little series of stuff that you might not think about until you done did it. It's similar to gaming with the console and the controllers you have that every time I restart a game or switch from our, isn't it my house, PlayStation to, you know, to the Xbox or something, I have to relearn where everything is. But if you do it off enough, you do remember it's like riding a bike, the habit is there. So if you do practice this enough and you yourself, you'll know. Yeah. I want to just set your hands correctly on the controllers. Yeah. And there's also a printable reference guide. So if you're standing with a patron, you can keep this on hand so that you're able to remind yourself where the button is. And you can say, and someone says, I can't get out of this game. Where is the oculus button? And you can look at this and let them know. And so for a quick reference guide, and this is just something that you can plow through and look through and get yourself up to speed. And there's also, and this is what is currently on the Tech Hit webpage. So I'll show you two different sections that you can go to to find activities and different resources that you can do within the, with people in the library. So. And for those of you that might not have heard about this before, either in Nebraska or outside, this is something we do for the well-mandered those to the Nebraska Library Commission. We loan these tech, we have these tech kits available to loan out to Nebraska libraries so that they can test out all these kind of high tech things first before deciding if it's something they would buy themselves for their library or just be their way of always using these items. And so I'll just go over some different main ways that people have been using it. Just in case you were trying to gather some different ideas. I'm going to pop down into, so there's two ways that you can do this. The first way is that you can experience virtual reality in the first place and just know that it exists and find the initial way that most people explore virtual reality is through an experience called first steps for Oculus Quest 2. So if you're using that headset, Oculus actually designed an experience that will let you, that will orient you to the buttons, orient you to the physics of the game. You can actually throw like a little virtual airplane, you can throw, you can like punch like a little virtual punching bag and you can like explore the way that they've helped you interact with the virtual world. And it'll actually pop up a little virtual version of the controller so that you'll start learning which button is which within the headset itself. And it just first steps is awesome. I recommend it for anyone who has never used virtual reality before or has never used the quest before. So, and then you can go through the different experiences themselves. So by default, I pretty much grabbed all the free well rated experiences that are included with Quest. But then I started gathering some of the paid ones that are actually helpful. And so one way that some library state or some library systems have been starting to use this, you may have heard before, but Nevada State Library has been using this for a career like career exploration. So when you go out to different career fairs or when you're going out to like a job center or something like that, each different job center or career center, they aren't actually able to know all the things about every single career that's available. So Nevada started working with different people and different organizations to create virtual reality experiences to introduce people to these different career options. So now instead of having to train people to memorize like 500 different careers, you put on a headset and then you can just explore it. And I've been talking to Abad about this and it'd be kind of cool to expand it to here. Yeah, that sounds very cool. Right? Yeah, it can be. You can't do everything again. Anything you can have, it'll help. Right? You can learn about it now. And but we'll see where that goes. It just be kind of awesome. And so then another way that people have been using this is there are different experiences for flight training. There are different job simulations. There are different, so there are different organizations that on their own accord have been creating career exploration in virtual reality. And so it's not just Nevada, there are other organizations that are just doing it. And there are also different headsets that exist purely for business purposes. Virtual reality is used a lot in manufacturing and instruction and instructional design and training. And it's used in, so if you have like a imagine that you are trying to figure out, do I want to work on the high beams on a construction site? So now instead of asking people to go walk across a physical beam to find out if this is the thing that they want to do, they put on a headset and they walk across a virtual beam. So if you plummet to your virtual death, maybe you know that you need a little more practice or maybe this isn't something that you want to do. You can suddenly discover, no, hypes are not for me. Right. And so that is actually something that's been around for a while. And there are different experiences that you can start digging into to introduce people to that. So and there's also a tour creator. So if you have a 360 camera, you can also take a 360 video of your environment and you can load it into the quest. And so there are free apps that you can use to do that like on a web on like a web VR. Glitch is one of them. Glitch actually takes like a single line of code. I think I actually did it for Encompass before where you just pop in one line and then it pulls in your entire 3D world. But there's a difference between 360 video and actual 3D like virtual reality. In a 360 video, you can't interact with your environment. So it is not actually true virtual reality. So if you go through like one of those National Geographic experiences or one of those or if you shoot a video of your library and you're just kind of like standing in it, it looks awesome. But if you try to reach out and touch something, your entire environment will move with you. And so it's trippy, but it's cool to look around, but it's not VR. What makes it VR is that you actually have an entire room that has been made up that you can walk forward and the physics mimics the real world. So the scenery will move back behind you exactly like it would if you were walking down a real hallway and you're able to grab and interact with like a real ball or grab and interact with like a real airplane. And you're able to like so instead of just having to walk around all these different objects, you'd actually be able to interact with them. And so there's also physics and animation that is attached to each one of the different objects so that if you bump into a chair really hard going at a certain speed, it will tip over and it's mimicking physics. So now when people understand what virtual reality is, the second way that libraries can start helping people get introduced to these concepts is to say now that I know what this is, how can I make it? I want to start experimenting with this and for my school I want to start experimenting with it for a small business. I own a construction company. I want to know what this is all about so I can go hire a third party contractor or I want to not contractor, developer. Very different things and so down at the bottom of this there are different options for actually creating your own environment. If you're working with kids, Cospaces is a really good option because it has a lot of pre-made assets. Assets would be or what like the chair or the table or the people in your virtual environment are called. So when you start designing something you start with a blank space or like a template and then you start adding assets, add a chair, add a punching bag, add a whatever thing you want and those are just in co-spaces that's made it for you and in A-frame it's kind of like the one step up so if you are familiar with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript or basically web design then A-frame is kind of a good place to get started and so it's basically it uses those tags to be able to add in different features. So you say I want to add in a ball that's one line of code, you want to change it to red that's another little CSS block and so it just if you click this link there's a series of tutorials that will guide people through how to get started with virtual reality so you don't actually need to be able to know how to do it yourself. The library usually provides access to the computers that are good enough to be able to do this design and the headset to be able to test it out. So library provides access to the technology and A-frame has already put together the tutorials and a community of resources to help people do the thing. And that A-frame I recognize that you did a session about that. Yeah and I think that was this was that the same session that I did like the glitch thing where I pulled in the 360 video? I don't remember it might have been a few. And but this one is like if you're already into HTML, CSS this isn't a great hop, skip and a leap. But so when you're doing virtual reality for professional purposes the more common one is Unity. So I put in a link to Unity tutorials for anyone who wants to get started with that. So if you have people coming into the library that are exploring virtual reality as a potential career or something that they want to get a certification or a extended training into then Unity also has resources for educators and resources for people who want to get certified as a trainer, people who want to get certified as a developer and they have different tracks and pathways that people can take to get started with this. And they also love a good badge system. I mean are you surprised? And so this is another one of those library provides access to the tech. You might be able to connect them over to a local community college or a local university that provides training or you can sync them over to here if they just want to get like the certification. And you can also help can help people connect over to different organizations that are using this stuff like instructional design organizations, workforce technology training organizations and start connecting people over to the places that use the thing. All right so that is I probably spent longer on that than I probably should have but I'll take it. It's interesting information to have. So I'll just briefly touch on a couple of the resources that I have available for you. I'll touch on the so in the tech kit section you have that set of resources specifically for the headset. If you go into this high tech section it gives you additional information about how virtual reality is actually used in the real world, how it's applied across different industries, some different privacy security things, the roles that it actually takes to be able to build a virtual reality team and just digs into some of the different learning communities and places you can connect people over to learn more. And when you are actually doing an activity in the library you can use these VR safety and security guidelines for pretty much any headset that's available. This is not specific to the quest. I provided it as a template just in case you want to be able to make changes to it. It is in Canva. You can make a free account in Canva to be able to make any designs that you want to. And so this is something that you can either print out and hand to patrons or keep a laminated reference guide for when you are facilitating a session or if people want additional information about what they need to know about health and safety concerns. And one of the ones that I did not know before is that if you have a pacemaker or any or certain medical devices it's recommended that you either don't use the headset or you consult a doctor before using the headset. And it's because magnets can interfere with pacemakers and some of those other medical devices. And so this is just something that you really want to let people know because hopefully nothing ever happens even if they do have a pacemaker. But it's really good information to have and to provide for people. And I honestly did not know this before until I was putting all this together. But good to know. Yeah, things that you wouldn't realize. Yeah. Yeah. Because my uncle actually has a pacemaker and I was actually going to find out if you wanted to use one of these for a minute but then I'm like maybe I won't. And so this is just reference guide that you can use. And the other one the getting started with VR template. I skipped ahead. Oh, it's I need to get out of the slideshow before it's going to let me interact with the actual link itself. There we go. Use template. So the other one that's available in here is basically a checklist for the library staff and for anyone who's facilitating a session. So the first page of this is the steps that you would want to complete with basically any headset, not just the Oculus Quest, to be able to prepare for virtual reality. And because if you don't charge your headset before doing a session and you find out that it's only in 10%, people aren't very happy about it. Not a good experience though. Yeah. So this will help you clear out the physical space, set up the actual headset and make sure that you've dotted your eyes crossed your T's and everyone has signed that waiver so that people know the safety guidelines and what they need to know. And these are the steps that you would actually complete with a person in front of you. I separated them out just because that's how people actually practically did it when they're doing a session. And so you'll start by actually, this is a step that facilitators tended to skip a lot, which was give people a preview of what they're actually going to expect when they put on the headset. So just let them know that you're not going to be able to see any of the outside world. You might be able to see a tiny strip of light at the bottom of the headset. That's okay. You'll still be able to give the experience. And when you first put on the headset, you'll see one of two things. If the previous user didn't accidentally didn't close out of the experience the right way, you might actually be pulled directly into an experience, in which case you'll be very disoriented if it's the first time. Then you'll guide them to use the Oculus button popback and you'll show them how to use an interactive virtual menu. Because while we know that the software that's inside the headset is made exactly the same way that you make the software in your computer, you experience it differently. Because you actually feel like you can reach out and touch it and interact with it and you may never have been immersed in the computer before. So using the controllers instead of trying to use a keypad or reach out and touch it. And with the hand tracking, you sometimes actually can reach out and touch it. But basically it's just kind of a series of things that you want to cover before like with the actual person in front of you and how to guide them through and how to monitor them. And each one of these different sections corresponds with a section in this library and preparation guide. So you'll actually get additional information about like links over to the waiver, links over to pretty much everything you need to know. And there'll also be additional information about facts and different troubleshooting things and just stuff like that. Alright so let's plow through this here because we're getting close to time here. Yeah I just want to remind everyone if you have any questions about any of this about the Oculus Quest 2 VR in general, the resources and things that Amanda is sharing here go ahead and type into your question section if you go to webinar interface. If there's something she hasn't covered yet that you were wondering about, make sure that she let us know so that she can answer your questions. And so I've already gone over, I did promise that I would talk about safety and policies. So I think that's a very important part of this. Well I mean the library setting just personally you know yeah thinking oh this is a great new cool thing and then they put it on and they immediately wig out. And there have actually been a lot of people who have asked like they've gotten really disorientated but then they've asked can I take off the headset because they think they're going to break something if they take off the headset but if they leave the headset on they're going to lose their mind. So it's just in the beginning letting them know that they can take the headset off at any time and the world is not going to end. The virtual world will end but the real one won't. You're not like hardwired into this thing like the matrix it's okay. Right yeah that would really suck though if they were you know. And did any questions pop in or did anything? It's day before Thanksgiving. I really didn't expect there to be. Why recording everyone live access to this you can watch it. And so let me pop open this liability waiver. So this is basically like the legal ease of that safety guidelines like the safety infographic this is translated into lilies. And so you'll see on the top here this is something that I haven't changed yet. This is actually from the original Oculus Rift. This is a liability waiver that was actually recommended from the from Oculus themselves to keep the library safe. This is from a pilot project that was done through Nevada, Washington and a few other library systems. I got this through COSLA. I don't know who actually originally sent it over but that's where it's from. So this is just something that has been adapted from that. So it's gone through a bunch of different library systems and it is what it is. So you can change it to suit the needs of your system. I recommend adding the logo of your library or branding it to your own library so that it's tied directly to your organization. So basically all I did was pop in the library commission logo add in the address over here and ask people to either mail or scan an email in completed copies of this waiver. And this is also linked over to from the slides and it's also eventually going to be on the website when I actually have time in the world to put it up there. Yeah, I'll mention we did say that the website we're talking about is where we loan the tech bits in Nebraska libraries. All the resources there are available to anyone to use. However, you don't have to be in Nebraska library to get to this site and click on all the links and access all the training and the curriculum and the waivers and whatnot. The only thing you can't do if you're not in a Nebraska library is borrow our kits. But all the resources in these libraries are available to anyone. And so each one of the kits actually has that preparation guide and most of them have an introductory lesson plan. But I add stuff as I have time. Story of the librarian. And so let me pop back into here. So if you don't actually like the Oculus Quest or if you want to find out what else is going on, I put together kind of a brief little overview of some of the different options that are available. So probably the next next in line for competition for Oculus is the HTC Vive line. And HTC Vive is also coming out with the HTC Vive flow. And the flow was actually designed to work with a smartphone. I don't know how well it works. It could be awesome. It could not be. I don't think it's actually a thing yet. So I couldn't tell you. And but the thing with the Oculus with the HTC Vive Pro is that one, it's a lot more expensive. The Oculus Quest 2 headset was $299 per headset. And they also have one with a larger memory capacity that's $399. And the case for it, I found one for like under 25 bucks. But for the HTC Vive, it's $1,399 for each different kit. And it requires base stations. If any of you have used virtual reality systems before that standalone. So the standalone headset is just a headset and the controllers. That's all you need to make it run. Before that, you actually needed base stations, which is like a little set of sensors that helps you orient within the world. And these are just different separate boxes that you have to set up so that the system will function. And it can be tedious and kind of laborious to be able to set up those base stations. The Rift actually had that same exact thing. And the Valve Index also uses those base stations. So when you're used to them, you're used to them. And it's just like a second thing. Well, you don't even think about it. But if you are newer or if you are just looking for an easier way to do things, I would look at for something that look like look at just the standalone headsets. But the Vive also has really good image quality, great refresh rate. And that's why it's one of the competitors to Oculus. If you are working with a classroom or if you want standards-aligned content that has better privacy security for students, they also make class VR. Class VR, you can purchase either one headset or you can do a classroom pack. I put in the quote for five kits, which is about 1,250, which you can see that five kits of that class VR is actually cheaper than one fill kit of the HTC Vive Pro. A little bit. The thing is that the class VR, the functionality is not as much. The visual quality is not going to be quite as awesome-tastic as either the Vive or the Oculus Quest. But I mean, when it's like a learning experience and when you are using it with kids, you actually require a different system and you actually want newer or content that's available. So if you don't want to worry so much about filtering, it's basically like the SIPA for VR. And there's also, so it also includes the, I may have mentioned this, but it has the standards-aligned content that has been created and also has new content that's created regularly. And so that link down at the bottom, I did promise that I would embed some articles that have more information about all this stuff, that one from CNET will tell you what you need to know and is probably more important than what is on the summary slide. It has all the things. And it also summarizes what is upcoming in virtual reality. And this upcoming column is actually upcoming as of next year. So if you are trying to time out the best time to bring virtual reality into your library, next year might actually be a better way to go. And so the biggest one is Cambria is now coming from Metta. So that might be a thing. They will still support Oculus Quest 2, but the other thing is that PlayStation VR is actually coming out with a second version. The controllers are changing and they're supposed to be expanding the content that's available, but PlayStation VR is still primarily a gaming headset. So if you're trying to introduce a virtual reality to businesses or to education, PlayStation VR may not be the best way to go, but if you're a gamer, you may fall in love. And if you are looking for a smartphone version, as I mentioned, this flow is going to be synced up directly to a smartphone. So if you're thinking, so think more like a Google Cardboard, not better than Google Cardboard. The Daydream, is that the one? I think because there was Google Cardboard and then the Daydream, I think was the other one that worked with a smartphone, but this is just supposed to be like a better experience. I don't actually recommend Cardboard at all anymore. Just because, yeah. Yeah. It was a start. It was a start. And that was fine for what it was. Yeah. I mean, it was really cool when it was the only thing available. I mean, being able to make it yourself was kind of cool. Yeah. But you can also basically make a Google Cardboard with a piece of card stock and like two lenses that you can get off Amazon for about $1.50. There are tutorials online, but so all in all, is the Quest 2 actually worth getting? And honestly, still yes. The biggest frustration was setting it up is the requirement of that Facebook account. And if it had actually been slightly easier for me to set up that Facebook account and if there hadn't been such a hassle doing it, I wouldn't have any problem with it at all. I wish that they didn't require that Facebook account at all, but it sounds like pretty soon they're going to be doing that anyway, just because they've gotten so much feedback about it. And it also is one of the most cost effective headsets that can actually do what you need it to do. Because when you compare this tuner $99 over to the $1,399 or the $1,000 Valve Index, I mean, you can get a lot more bang for your buck and the visuals are really good. And there's, yeah. And there's also this new, this is not the link cable, but the link cable basically looks exactly like it. So if you want to be able to extend features or bust out your more advanced functionality, get the cord for an extra like, I think it's 70 bucks or you can bundle it and get it cheaper. And you can step it up doing it that way. And don't touch the Oculus Rift because it's not going to be a thing. Going away. Yep. Yeah. You probably will see lots of deals and people selling their used or refurbished ones because yeah, that restrain yourself. Yeah. And if you already did it, go to Amazon and look for on the right hand side of the screen, wait until there's a trade in button because Amazon started doing a trade ins. So if you have an old go, if it's in really good, almost perfect condition, you can trade it in for, they quoted me out at about $67, which is better than the no dollars than you would have gotten. Yeah. And I'm probably going to be trading out the Oculus, like the Quest original versions because I doubt they're going to keep supporting Quest for the long haul because whatever Cambria. But so all in all, yeah, I still recommend it for cost. Facebook is going to be Facebook is now meta. The metaverse is all about virtual reality, augmented reality and interactive experiences. So it's in their best interest to support this product because it is what they do now. And the Cambria is not going to be this, it's going to be a more advanced feature that is a lot more expensive than this one. So they are, they have an incentive to actually keep both models. So this would be the cost effective one that people can actually afford. And then they bump up with Cambria for their basically to replace Rift. And so that is pretty much the long and the short of it. I'm about three minutes out, but it's the day before Thanksgiving. So I'll take it. So were there any questions about anything that I covered any resources that you were looking at? Yeah, no, we don't have any questions. If anybody does have any questions, go ahead and get them typed in. If you have anything you want to chat with Amanda about regarding this VR and what we're doing or what you can do at your library, even though it is a day before Thanksgiving here, we'll figure out one of your questions. We do just one comment that someone did say Barbara who said I just want to say that this is super interesting and helpful. We just opened to make your Space Center in the learning mode. Thank you for great program. This is Barb, she's a librarian at a library in Pennsylvania. Oh, cool. And that did remind me of one more thing that I ran into, which was if you are buying games for the Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2, there is not an option for tax-free purchases within the app yet. And I'm sure they'll fix it because a ton of schools and libraries have complained about it, but it's not an option yet. But what you can do is purchase games through a separate account and you can gift it to that account or you can just buy it with tax and then make a note on your for the auditor that it wasn't an option, which is what most libraries have been doing. I don't see any other questions coming in. I can't see if you all are typing and just that's fine. We don't have to have any questions right now. There's lots of information here and definitely it's something to check out and experiment with. As you said, here in Nebraska, if you, well, I think you said they're all checked out at the moment? And I will be getting more once the trade-in goes through on those go, but yeah. So if you are in Nebraska, go to the website for the tech kits and keep an eye on that for checking them out to test them out in your library. Maybe if you're not in Nebraska, check your state library, some other group that may be doing the same thing. Mo is dead. Thank you, ladies. You're welcome, Mo. Glad to have you here. And if you want a little flyer of the kits that are available, I'll send over a little link to your options. Just if you want like an at a glance. Oh, everything in the tech kits. Yep. Yeah. This is the same flyer that went out to like the school libraries and it was at the NLA booth. And let me, I'm going to clear out this first page because I accidentally duplicated it. It's really a one-page front and back. Yeah. Yeah. I designed a safe paper. Yeah. And I'm not going to let you edit it because that would be a nightmare for me, but I will let you view it. And public libraries, school libraries, academic and pretty much if you're a library, you can check them out. And I just put that into the chat. And if you want to request the tech kit, it's just a quick form to fill out. Let me know who you are, which kit you want and how many you need. And then when you need them by and we are good to go. And I will put the request link in here too. And there we go. Yes. And there are, so you can check out multiple copies or you can check out a petting zoo just to see which one you actually want. Yep. The limits as long as they're available. That's good. There's a waiting list for them now. And this is the full listing of what is available. Like you'll actually see the full listing of what's available on the request form, but it just, I'm still getting caught up on the website. There's only one of me. You know what you have. Yeah. All right. I don't see any actual questions coming in. So I think we're good. If you've got all the information I need for now. You all know how to reach out to Amanda, links to the page, the library commission page. If you have any questions, but any of it beyond what's out there already for you to use all the resources. Reach out to her and she's happy to chat with you about anything you're doing at your library and ideas, what you could do. And as she speaks, I am typing in my contact information because I forgot to add my contact slide yesterday. I don't see any desperate questions coming in right now. So I think we will wrap it up for today while Amanda is speaking her slides. So thank you so much for being here with us again, Amanda. The last Wednesday of the month for the break that many of us are going on. Some people are already on the break. I am going to hold the presenter control back to my screen. There we go. Here is I was looking at the tech kits that we have. The slides that will be links available to all of this when the recording does go up will be made available to everyone on our Encompass Live website. If you use your search engine of choice and just type in Encompass Live, we are the only thing called that on the internet so far. Nobody else is allowed to use that name. You will find our website. This is our upcoming shows, but right underneath the upcoming is a link to the archived Encompass Live shows. I do all our recordings. Today's will be at the top of this tier. My goal is to get it done by the end of the day today since I do have, I'm off the rest of the week. So everyone who attended today and registered today's show, get an email from me, let me know when it's ready. We also push it out on our various social media, Twitter, Facebook, and our mailing list here at the library commission so you'll know when it's ready to watch. We'll have a link to the recording in our YouTube channel. The slides on Google and anything else that might be useful. While we're here, I'll show you there is a search feature. You can search our show archive if you want to see if you've done some show on a particular topic. You can see you can search the full archives or just most recent 12 months if you want something just current. That is because this is the full archives and I'm not going to scroll all the way down because if you look over here, this is the show archives going back to the very beginning when Encompass Live first premiered which was in January 2009. So we're going to like 12 years worth of recordings and they're all here. As long as you have somewhere to host them, like right now it's in YouTube, we will always have these up there. So this is what we do as librarians sometimes. We archive things, keep things for historical purposes for whatever reason. So just to pay attention when you are watching a recording to the original broadcast date that's on all of these, some of the shows will stand the test of time. They'll be good, useful, valuable information, but some things will become old and outdated. Information may be wrong or have changed. Services and products might not exist anymore, links might be broken. We don't go and update those things. They are as of the date it was broadcast that would be the situation. So just pay attention when you are watching our archives. As I mentioned, we do social media and Encompass Live does have a Facebook page that I've linked off our page. If you like to use Facebook, as we talked about today, give us a like over there. You'll get reminders, just a reminder to log in today's show, information about our presenters, when our recordings are ready. So any other interesting things you might think you might be interested in. So you can give us a like over there. And you can also use the hashtag Encompass Live's little abbreviation on Instagram and Twitter and where else our social media people are using it. So you can keep an eye on that there as well. Try to use pretty sweet tech whenever we're talking about one of Amanda's shows too. So that's what we're going to put up for today. I'll help you join us next week for any other upcoming shows. We've got another open date in December that I'm working on. You'll see this a good update as I finalize things. So keep an eye on the schedule for the date you see that might look like they're missing. We've got things coming. But I hope you join us next week. If you are interested, this is an I'll start in mind, Nebraska specific session. The Pioneer Consortium is a shared cataloging consortium here in Nebraska with libraries that is making some changes and expanding and wants to see if anybody is interested in joining and being part of the consortium, if you're looking for an online catalog or some other things they might be doing in the future. Sign up for next week's show and Robin and Sammy who are part of the consortium here and Jesse who's from Bywater Solutions, a company that runs their shared catalog will be with us next week. He talked all about that with us. So please do sign up for that show or any of the others we have here. So I'm going to wrap it up for today. Thank you, Amanda. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Sorry. I was sipping my coffee. All right. And hopefully we'll see you all on a future episode of episode five. Bye-bye.