Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Check Out Toronto's Living Breathing Books

excerpted from Human Library story by Paul Gallant, Toronto-based freelance writer
City Building, Diversity, Research and Innovation In comfy green chairs in front of a massive and sunny window overlooking Bloor Street, several different conversations are taking place between pairings of strangers. A CBC journalist is telling someone about the stories he's covered. A Tibetan Buddhist monk is talking about his journey to Canada and about the importance of peace.
Considering the size of the system -- it's the world's largest public library -- and the diversity of people who use it, the TPL eschews a one-size-fits-all approach. (Or throwing large sums of money at things -- the Human Library project cost about $5,000). Each branch has an array of materials in languages that reflect the population of its neighbourhood.

"People think of libraries as places where you're shushed, which can be intimidating, but we work hard to make it welcoming," says Aikins."In our feedback from the Human Library event, we found that a good portion of users heard about it from social media, "in the least personal, most mediated way, they found a way to have a very personal experience."

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

LSSI monopoly betrays public trust

Excellent editorial from Nevada County in January 2010:
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Much of the information gleaned from “Privatization/Outsourcing Report for the Dartmouth Public Libraries, 2008.”
Dartmouth ultimately voted against library privatization. This report can be viewed at: www.dartmouthpubliclibraries.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/privatization-report-december-2008/pdf
Pertinent facts regarding privatization include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Privatization is a very new phenomenon (first tried in 1997), and there have been no studies of long term effects on library performance.
• Of the 9,198 public libraries in the U.S., only 13 are currently being outsourced to private enterprise (interestingly, several weeks ago the number of privatized libraries was listed as 14, so one library system may have opted out of privatization).
• All of the 13 contracts mentioned above are with one private company, Library Systems & Services, LLC (LSSI), thus establishing a clear monopoly. Historically, monopolies have been shown to not operate in the public interest, and do not result in either cost savings or improved service.
• As a private non-corporate business, LSSI has no obligation to report financial records, thus depriving the public from knowing their profit margins and priority of expenditures.
• Of the 13 library systems currently experimenting with privatization, not one have done so in order to save money. In fact, there is no evidence that library privatization is less expensive than continued public operation.
• There are several hidden costs in transferring library operation from the public to the private sector. These include but are not limited to: Loss of volunteer hours and donations from both individuals and local businesses; cost of studies and implementation to transfer from the public to the private sector; costs of possible litigation by unions, private individuals and/or other groups contesting transfer from the public to private sector (as happened in New Jersey where LSSI's contract was nullified by the state supreme court); the need to provide competent oversight of private operation, which necessitates some type of “contract management” provided by the county; possible cost of reverting to public operation if the county is not satisfied with LSSI's performance of library operation.
In light of these facts, certain concerns arise over the effects of privatization:
• There is a clear conflict of interest in the public's need for expansive library services and the profit motive of LSSI. The expressed fear in the Dartmouth study was that understaffing and reduction of services are means by which LSSI might maximize profits at the expense of quality service.
• no one in our local library system has had experience with privatization, which puts our otherwise excellent County Librarian at a clear disadvantage in administering such a radically different type of operation.
• Censorship is a clear danger in a privatized library system. If private business, for example, has a vested interested in any political issue, there is a danger that specific books would be excluded from distribution while other, more partisan, materials were not. This would turn our libraries into political tools for special interest groups.
By definition, public libraries are nonpartisan. Their mission is to provide a wide range of materials for citizen to consider when confronting issues vital to our democratic system. Please note, this is not a political issue. We all would lose a vital arm of democracy if libraries came under the control of any political agenda.
• Government intrusion into the lives of citizens would become much more likely if libraries were privatized. In recent years, it was public librarians that led the resistance against attempts by the FBI and other federal agencies to gain access to the circulation records of readers. Political conservatives in particular should be adamantly opposed to privatization, on this point alone.
For some reason, our county administrator, Rick Haffey, has proposed library privatization rather than explore other options. Recent letters to the editor have offered several alternative suggestions for continuing a high standard of public library service.
Moreover, creative methods might well be found to resolve this issue if the county administration would proactively seek to maintain our long tradition of public operation, rather than pass the buck to private enterprise.
Many thanks to William Larsen of Nevada City

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Uninformed Local Government & LSSI Questionable Marketing Tactics

Reference Library Journal article


(Here’s LSSI’s press release. Here’s coverage from the Los Angeles Daily News, which refers to the company as “LSS.” And here’s coverage from the Santa Clarita Valley Signal.)
As one commenter on the Times article stated, “The city ignored the 99% of citizens who showed up in support of the LA County library and pushed this change through in record time.”
Another stated, “Local residents are preparing a multi-pronged court attack against the City Council’s decision to take over ownership of the libraries and to sign a contract with LSSI.”
[As of 7:00 am Eastern Time on September 28, there are 599 comments which reference, When LSSI Comes to Town, with nearly all critical of LSSI and the concept of private management.

In contrast with LSSI’s pledge that it rehires most of the existing employees when it gets a contract:
LSSI CEO Frank Pezzanite’s ignorance is mind-boggling: “A lot of libraries are atrocious,” he told the Times. “Their policies are all about job security. That’s why the profession is nervous about us. You can go to a library for 35 years and never have to do anything and then have your retirement. We’re not running our company that way. You come to us, you’re going to have to work.”

Pezzanite comments suggest he's never even read a library policy. Anyway, his insulting remarks should be enough to make any librarian currently working for LSSI that has worked in non-LSSI environment give notice. The sad truth is that his attitude is probably shared by the local government decision makers to whom he sells his anti-union one trick pony.

Friday, October 1, 2010

eBooks & libraries conference 2010

eBooks: Libraries at the Tipping Point Online Conference
R. David Lankes Closing Keynote

Lankes wanted to start with a thought experiment.  What would happen if when we bought our next device, $10 was added to the cost and that went into a universal author’s fund and you could download any book any time?  Would this be a good thing for libraries?  Would it be a good thing for librarians?  Those are two different things.  For libraries, it would allow people to get access to information anywhere any time.  The value of libraries is the librarians, not the warehouse of stuff that we have. (Sarah’s comment: We know that, but the general user perception is that libraries are books, so if we no longer have books, won’t it will be hard to maintain community support and funding without a major overhaul of our public image?) We have seen a huge disaggregation of content.  Content is being ripped and remixed into different places — an explosion of data.  We see the disintegration of profiteering on content too.  One doesn’t, and hasn’t historically, made a lot of money off releasing a music album.  You make money off of touring and merchandising.  Same with books.  The real threat is that people have the perception of libraries as a mausoleum of stuff.  He also promoted the term “members” instead of users, customers, or patrons.  eBooks make Lankes cranky.  He only reads fiction in eBook format.  What makes him cranky is that the current implementation of hardware and software is so boring.  Book virtual interfaces made to look like wooden bookshelves are boring.  “Stop!” says Lankes.  He sees such potential in eBooks but we’re ignoring the possibilities of what could be.  eBooks aren’t solving the real problem:  access to information.  When we move books to a different format, there’s a problem.  Traditional terminology becomes a metaphor.  We append prefixes like “e” to traditional terms, but that doesn’t always translate conceptually.  If we look at reading the first thing we have to realize is that it should be a social and conversational experience.  Part of reading is processing language, turning words into concepts and images in your mind.  Some people believe reading to be quiet and contemplative, but Lankes challenges that assumption.  While reading is an isolating physically, mentally it is extraordinarily social — how we choose what to read, our pre-conceptions before reading it, how we feel about it and what we share about it afterward…  We can organize books and electronic content in all sorts of ways, allowing for hyperlinking and cross-referencing and community suggestions, not just “the librarian’s way.”  If we aggregate the unique individual connections, is there a commonality?  Yes.  We definitely don’t want the “every book’s an app” model that has started with the iPad.  We need to get back to the idea that book creation is part of a knowledge creation process.  The idea of authoring and reading is merging as tools make it obvious that there is an ongoing conversation.  Why annotate text only with other text?  He says that librarians are key to sense-making, production, distribution–all steps of knowledge creation.  Just as we are authors of our own mobile experiences through customization and apps, we should be authors of our own eBook experiences.  Multimedia, chat and other communication, and other functionality will benefit the creation and consumption experiences.  Libraries need to stop waiting for others to figure this eBook challenge out.  This is our problem and our opportunity.  We need to stop waiting for publishers to figure out the eBook model of the future – it’s like waiting for heroin addicts to develop the methadone of the future.  He asks the million dollar question: Why aren’t libraries building a unified eBook platform?  We need to stop buying from vendors and simply accepting what they give us.  We need to add our existing added value in our expertise, our passion for knowledge.  He encourages us to stand up for our users’ rights and innovate.  Librarians are not consumers or customers.  We are participators and so are those we seek to serve.  “Lead!” he says.
eBooks: Libraries at the Tipping Point Online Conference
Kevin Kelly (Wired CEO) Keynote

The web as we know it is only 7,000 days old.  Early prognosticators thought that the web would be TV, only better.  But what we have is a multi-device, multi-author, hugely connected infrastructure for communication.  There are 2 billion people linked up via the web.  With eBooks, we have the same problem — we’ve guessed that eBooks would be books only better.  But Kelly says that what’s coming is very different.  Our entire environment is saturated with screens–in airplanes, on the sides of buildings, mobile devices, computers, etc.  It’s important to recognize that the eBook is therefore part of that multi-screen environment.  We lean forward to use our small screens and lean back to use our big theater-style screens.  Where do eBooks fall into this?  2 billion YouTube clips are viewed daily.  This is a much larger audience than book readers.  As people we need to parse, index, browse, search, manipulate, annotate, re-sequence text…and have it be ubiquitous.  He sees the same thing happening with video and other images.  A move from orality to literacy happened with the printing press, and now we’re moving from literacy to what Kelly calls “vizuality.”  One media platform, blurred lines between media: TV, books, music, blogs, websites, magazines, radio, etc.  We don’t want to get stuck on screens being rigid — we’re already seeing flexible screens.  We can think about all of these devices that we have, which are windows into a single set of content in the cloud.  We and our devices are part of the cloud…it’s not a separate entity.  We create content for it and interact with it.  All types of things that people said they’d never share are being shared: shopping purchases, locations, health records, travel plans, personal genetics, eating patterns, and work histories.  As we move into the cloud, our content moves away from being a single file to being a stream which is tagged.  We are shifting from new page creation on the website (which has already peaked) to streams of content on Twitter, YouTube, and other sites.  If we think of books as a long-form stream, how does that change how we think about the future of the book?  People expect everything to be “always on,” everything to be available all the time.  iPads are one of the most popular media for kids because they don’t have to type.  Futuristic displays use gestures and interactions instead of keyboards and mice.  Kelly introduced the idea of a “watchful eBook” — one that tracks your eye movements and responds accordingly.  Lastly, he brought up the issue of the eBook “copy.”  The only value is that which cannot be copied.  If you want an old copy of National Geographic you can search for it and find a download for a slow download for free or a quick download for a fee.  If you want it personalized, that would carry a cost.  If you want to be sure that a piece of software, that requires a fee.  Or if something that was sent by a creator that you want to be a patron for, you pay them a fee.  Charge for different formats optimized for your accessibility needs.  But don’t charge for the thing itself.  Basically, he’s advocating for free eContent but charging for added-value services.
eBooks: Libraries at the Tipping Point Online Conference
eBooks and the Library User Experience
Josh Greenburg, Jean Costello, Aaron Schmidt, and Michael Bills – moderated by Rebecca Miller

Josh Greenburg started by talking about standard user stories for physical books — you find a book from the library catalog at home, see that it’s checked out, click on a button to place a hold and then you wait.  Or if you’re lucky and it is available, a mechanical and physical process starts and the book makes its way to whatever site you choose to pick it up at where it goes on a shelf and waits for you.  You might have to stand in line to check it out and then you have access to it for only a limited period of time.  eBooks have the same holds issues, but there is no physical transferral of the book from place to place, and no lines to wait in, no need for the user to go into a specific physical place, no real need to have due dates (if there’s no DRM and limits).  And in a lovely way the need for fines goes away too if the eBooks don’t have due dates any more.  But this is all a Utopian dream.  eBooks have a lot of speed bumps.  They’re usually, in the physical world, designed to slow people down so they don’t hurt themselves or those around them.  Speed bumps for eBooks slow people down, but not for their benefit or the library’s benefit–solely for the publisher’s benefit.  Things to think about: What are your goals for eContent at your library?  Do you have a fixed cost or do you subsidize rentals?  What type of collection do you want?  What does this look like for the user’s experience?  What speed bumps are you going to put into place in the experience?
Jean Costello spoke as a patron who took public libraries for granted for a long time, but her library was threatened with closure.  She learned how much she loves and treasures the organization, and now blogs as The Radical Patron.  She asks questions that are probably easier to ask from outside the organization rather than from within.  Book stores are cash-strapped and rethinking what they do and offer as their primary business model.  The real primary changes are digital content companies: Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc.  Publishers have, as a result, become outsiders to the emerging publishing paradigm.  Leaders in the publishing industry recognize the tipping point and rethink their alliances and values.  What she sees from libraries is that we look at eBooks as “just another technology to contend with, to be adopted but not fully embraced.”  (Sarah’s comment: Heck yes, that is totally true for most libraries.)  Will the public’s association of books with libraries translate to the eBook realm?  Are publishers looking to bypass libraries as an outlet  for digital media?  Are we aware of this threat?  Libraries are really focused on “collection.”  Content is so fluid that we need to stop thinking about content as a commodity, a thing to own.  She thinks we’ll see passionate readers and cultural institutions create enhanced versions of public domain works, self-published authors forging new ways and terms of distributing their work, and that news and magazines will be seamlessly and fluidly consumed on the fly.  Readers advisory will be wrapped around content automatically — look at the recommendation engines in Pandora or Netflix as a potential model.  The library user has little motivation to use the library.  Any sub-set of content within a world-vision of complete access to everything everywhere will be seen as insufficient.  There are many ways that libraries can add value.  They need to get past library culture and self-conception and the conflict of values they often have with the vendors.  We also need a strong representative to negotiate with the various stakeholders in the legislative and publishing industries.  But what do we have in libraries?  Libraries have widespread public trust and we need to start using that in new and creative ways.
Aaron Schmidt then took over the discussion and said that the eBook ship has sailed and we are not on it.  Years back we had arguments about whether VHS tapes should be in our collections and a whole paid industry sprung up while we were arguing.  DVD checkouts make up a large percentage of checkouts in libraries but many people still don’t know that we do that.  We have experimented with eBooks a long time ago before the general public was even interested in them — in the early days of the eBook Readers (oh yeah, the ones like the Rocket that failed).  We’re used to providing library customers with difficult to use resources (think about your database page).  Library patrons should never have to see the word Boolean logic.  DRM doesn’t work.  Determined users get around it, and all it takes is one ripped copy to open the floodgates for pirating.  And there will always, always be one ripped copy no matter what DRM you put in place.  All that does is stymie usage by law-abiding, EULA-abiding people.  The e-experience should not try to mimic the print experience – that is a failure waiting to happen.  Users are accessing eContent on their mobile devices.  Apple, Amazon, and Google have changed the game.   Better readers will make reading more enjoyable.  We don’t want libraries to become mausoleums for dead books.  Libraries should stop being like grocery stores (lots of stuff on the shelves) and more like kitchens (easy convenient access).  We need to concentrate on our most important asset — the people in our buildings, the library staff, and train them to provide a good user experience for our users with digital content.
Michael Bills talked about enhanced eBooks through Blio (free eBooks platform in development) — text-to-voice, video, annotations, links, etc.  eInk devices have proliferated, but the type of content that can be delivered to those devices has been constrained.  Blio provides full color enhanced content, interactivity, multiple viewing modes (2 page, 3D, thumbnail), is device-neutral, works on smaller and larger screens, and has a much deeper content catalog.  The Book Industry Group sees that people still read eBooks dominantly on computers, with the kindle in a close second.  Mobile devices like smart phones come next, ahead of other eReaders like the Sony Reader or the Nook.  What could be brought to eBooks that consumers would pay more for?  Blio actually has 80% of the extras that consumers said they’d pay for.
eBooks: Libraries at the Tipping Point Online Conference
Ebook What-Ifs: Issues that Impact Scenario Planning
Me (!), Bobbi Newman, and Matt Hamilton + moderated by Josh Hadro

Questions about specific eBook scenarios were posed to us.  Here’s what we talked about.  Twitter hashtag to follow the conversation during our session was #ebookswhatif

Question: What if there is a Google Book Search terminal in every library?

I tackled this question first.  The Google Book Search settlement, if approved, will let every public library building have access to a terminal with access to the Google Books orphan works collection (in copyright but out of print), and academic libraries get access through terminals as well.  If there is a terminal in every library, not a darn thing will change.  For academic libraries, most of what was scanned has the most potential for people doing research on academic topics.  The academic libraries got more flexibility on the number of terminals and the types of access.  For public libraries, the question is: how useful is that scanned material to our users?  For special libraries, same thing – that material is not highly useful.  School libraries didn’t factor into the settlement at all, which is very worrisome.  Having one terminal per building with access to something very specific is hearkening back to the days of the single-purpose CD ROM stations.  People think of information as ubiquitous and think of everything as being everywhere.  A single-use terminal won’t be very helpful to people very much.  Plus there are restrictions on what you can do with the books (printing, copying, search, annotations) depends on how much the libraries paid Google for the extra privilege of accessing the information.  This means an inevitable inequitable set-up in different libraries.  I just don’t think a Google terminal will get used in our public library.  There is no information in the settlement about the user access data and user privacy, but Google would have sole full access to it, which is worrisome.  ALA and other groups also worry about how much providing good access and printing/copying will cost libraries.  I think that some libraries would not participate in this project based on the privacy issues alone.  But a lot of people don’t worry about their privacy.  Up to 15% of what Google scans can be excluded from this collection at their discretion.  What would Google choose to exclude?   I think that the cost issue will be the limitation.  Google has not told us how much they will charge us to allow people to print or download, money that we have to collect ourselves and then split the money between the Books Registry and Google.  The unknown cost issue is frightening.
Bobbi agreed that privacy is a concern as well as space.  A computer whose sole purpose is to access Google Books is not likely to be useful to her users.  It becomes a customer service issue when a computer stands unused.
Matt agreed that the material in the collection is not something that his users will be drawn to use.  They don’t see demands for these types of books that are more academic and esoteric.
Question: What if the price of eReaders drops to zero?
Matt tackled this one first.  The price of eReader are dropping drastically.  What if the device is thrown in for free with the purchase of a certain number of eBooks?  This would result in a flood of cheap eReaders into the market.  Can libraries meet demand and utilize this quick influx to the market?  Matt thinks it’s incredibly likely that this is going to happen, whether the publishers are subsidizing it or that it’s a contract-based vendor subsidy.  For many, this seems like a possible death knell for libraries.  A world with free or nearly free eReaders and cheap or free content subsidized by advertising.  The democratizing role that public libraries play, our commitment to intellectual freedom, makes us more relevant than ever.  If we see free eReaders we may not see a lot of change in demand for our collection, which would create a complacency in library staff that is dangerous.  Over time, will we see generations of kids who first learn to read on electronic devices and use them for textbooks and homework?  Will paper books become more of a rare and exotic item?  New formats combining text with multimedia should be something we consider too.  Libraries should assert our values of universal access and intellectual freedom into the emerging standards of the cloud and future technological and legal developments.  ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom should be bending the ear of the FCC and other government agencies who are currently giving away the public good to corporations to destroy.  Libraries could be the tax-funded space for data and form the infrastructure that helps our local communities share data.  There has to be a public good component.
I chimed in and said that there is huge potential for demand increasing with a zero barrier to entry for eReader technologies.  With that huge, and fast, an increase our library would not be able to meet eBook demands.  The questions of format, different device platforms, and the technical support staff would be asked to perform would be a problem.  We are ill-equipped to handle this kind of change so quickly.  We’re ill-equipped to handle any change quickly, really.
Then Matt agreed that the differences in format and devices are a huge barrier for libraries.  It’s a huge physical challenge to get each staff member to have hands-on experience with all the various eReaders and formats.
I agreed and said is it possible to have enough of these eReaders to give everyone enough time to learn on them?  The libraries would get the free eReaders at the exact same time, or likely after, the public got them.  We would therefore end up giving some bad service because we’re unprepared to meet these needs.  Another issue would be bandwidth – if we’re trying to download a whole bunch of eBooks simultaneously, our infrastructure could not handle it.
Question: What if the DRM issue went away tomorrow?
Bobbi got this question.  DRM is a huge frustration.  Every eReader, platform, and format combination has a different set of challenges.  No device that allow for library eBook use allows for direct-to-device lending yet.  So, what if the Librarian of Congress declared 3 years from now that libraries are given huge leeway with regards to copyright and DRM?  A lot of what prevents users from using library eBooks with their chosen devices is the DRM.  The clunky experience at the library makes people turn to the direct paid consumer products instead.  If DRM went away, demand for our eContent would increase by huge amounts.  There would be a bandwidth impact here too.  A lot o the library’s policies about in-library computer access would need to change too to more easily allow for access to downloadable content.  Even if DRM went away, how does that affect the patrons who already tried accessing the collections and had negative experiences.  Patrons expect that the Kindle and other eReaders will work with library eBooks.  Libraries have to be the ones to break the news to people that our eContent won’t work with their devices, which is beyond our control.  But we sound like the bad guys.
I agreed that we would see an unprecedented increase in demand, but without DRM that increase in demand would at least be a good thing.  The first time experience with library eBooks is often bad.  Our stats show that we lose a lot of first-time users of our eBooks — they don’t come back.  Maybe they would come back if access was easier.  I gave up too and turned to a Kindle app on my Android phone.  Comparing my experiences with that to my experiences with library eBooks is distressing.
Bobbi replied that the eAudioBook process is a lot smoother, but the eBook process is a lot harder…largely because of connecting to a computer and go through the more cumbersome process.  Also, since you can’t download most eBooks in most libraries within most libraries, we have to break the news to them that we don’t allow downloads in the library.  (Sarah’s note: this is a policy that libraries need to change.)
Matt sees the same thing where he works too.  If DRM went away, doors could open for ways to deliver services in libraries.
eBooks: Libraries at the Tipping Point Online Conference
How eBooks Impact Libraries, Publishers & Readers
Brian Kenney, Barbara Fister, Eli Neiberger, and Steve Potash
Eli Neiberger started out the presentation and is freaking brilliant.  Let me say that again.  Eli is brilliant.  Libraries can’t disassociate themselves from format.  We’ve fared through other outmoded technologies and formats over time, so looking at those changes might help us move forward with eContent.  Those who survived the crash of vinyl are thriving.  Vinyl sales have tripled recently.  But the 8 Track was a transitory technology.  They were successful as a convenience format, but were quickly replaced with something much more convenient – the cassette tape.  He even talked about candles as an outmoded format, but we still use them for ceremony and atmosphere.  Same with gaslamps.  The built infrastructure to support this technology in communities were able to be converted and built-upon to support future technologies (electricity, etc.).  The typewriter is outmoded and it disappeared except for those who use it as a symbol or to make a statement.  At the same time, the descendants of the typewriter (physical and virtual keyboards) still use the same format.  Movable type technologies from printing presses to modern printers changed the same way.  Will the future of the Book follow the model of vinyl (niche, statement-driven, small) or 8 tracks (outmoded and laughable)?  The model of the candle or the gas lamp?  The model of the typewriter?  Will someone who has a book collection look as eccentric as those who have typewriter collections?  Or is the future of the eBook like movable type?  Is the eBook the future of text distribution?  If so, libraries are screwed.  The copyright lies with vendors and copyright owners, not with the users and consumers of the information.  The value of library collections are rooted in the worth of a local copy.  The locality of a copy is relatively meaningless now with the advent of the web.  The notion of a copy loses its embodied value when there is no difference between transmission and duplication.  That might change, but right now it creates a huge problem.  Most people will soon have internet access in their pockets.  The idea of owning a copy of media will be baffling to future generations.  Why have a local copy?  Access when needed from “the stream.”  Using the library is likely to remain an inferior experience for digital content because of DRM and selection of content, as libraries are not able to buy everything in digital format that individual consumers are.  The circulating collection itself is a technology that has become outmoded.  The internet and the digital distribution of content has made this happen.  The peak of physical circulation has already occurred.  We need to pay more attention to digital circulation of content.  Libraries used to actually be for storing and providing access to the content from the community, to protect and ensure access to local records and unique items — not bestselling romance.  We need to re-center on that purpose.  Why not make the library the publisher?  A platform for the community to create and store unique data?  Everyone is a publisher.  But everyone agrees to restrictive terms for accessing digital content every day, and there is not a groundswell of support for change to this.  Libraries need a fair use exemption to allow us to lend digital content.  But more than anything, the circulation of content is a dying method of distributing content.  We need to prepare for that.
Steve Potash, the President and CEO of Overdrive, spoke next.  Potash says that his company’s work with libraries has been “a journey.”  eBooks are now in 2/3 of American libraries, up from 38% in 2005.  Circulation of eBooks went up 73% from 2009 to 2010.  He wants library subscribers to know they will get a good return on investment for the books they buy from them.  They’re releasing more information on their updated mobile apps and a new mobile user experience that enables first time users on the web to go to the library app and see books and with one click read the books.  (I’m glad to hear they’re simplifying the mobile apps, because they are currently unusable, imho.)  He also noted that they’re adding DRM-free epub format books too (also good).  They’re adding open access to Project Gutenberg and other free eBooks through Overdrive’s interface as well.  Today they offer over 70,000 eBooks under the LEAP program (Library eBook Accessibility Program) through a partnership with Bookshare.  (This is free to libraries, so if you’re not using it, check it out.)
Barbara Fister spoke next very briefly.  The publishing industry is facing some huge problems in that they’re trying to allow for an antiquated business model that doesn’t really work for digital content.  The use of publishing text books and eBooks and trying to make money, don’t sign anything that won’t let you share content.
eBooks: Libraries at the Tipping Point Online Conference
Ray Kurzweil Keynote

Kurzweil is a legend and it was fascinating to listen to him.  The reality of information technology is that its growth is exponential.  But our intuition about the future is linear in nature.  This causes us problems in predicting the future accurately and being able to prepare for it.  We’re at a point where eBooks in libraries are real.
We will experience 20,000 years of progress in the 21st century, if today’s rate of information technology change continues.  Information technologies double their price performance over a single year.  Moore’s Law, baby!  Communication technologies, biological technologies, are all increasing.  The size of the internet in terms of bandwidth usage and pages hosting is exploding as well.  Kurzweil predicts that we’ll put screens into our eyeglasses and view screens at any magnification we choose, looking at eContent, augmented reality applications, and web content.
U.S. education expenditures have increased exponentially too, which Kurzweil connects to more of an investment in training on technology.  (I must disagree with him on this.  Schools have very poor technology investment in general.  And expenditure increase has not seen any connection to increase in performance or graduation rates, so throwing more money at the problem won’t help.  We need to fundamentally change our approach to education.)
People are still asking for more text-to-speech capabilities, books read aloud to them, and more flexibility.  He demo-ed Blio, an eBook Store with a million free eBooks: http://www.blio.com.  It’s out for the PC now, and they’re building iPhone & iPad, Android, and Mac versions now.  Looks a lot like other eBook Stores with covers, reviews, publisher info, etc.  Downloading the book preserves the original format, page by page — anything with a rich graphical format benefits from this.  You can preview pages, turn the pages and they flip as with a printed book, use reference tools, magnify, etc.
There needs to be a social compact that people will respect intellectual property rights.  The technical means to break them exists, but the respect to not break them is the key.  Kurzweil stresses that “it’s not cool to take intellectual property without paying for it.”
The graphs from Kurzweil’s presentation on the evolution of many things can be found at http://www.KurzweilAI.net/pps/KurzweilPowerPoint/

Friday, August 20, 2010

Jason Griffey in Library Technology Reports 8/10

"When it's possible for you to read text, click a link to a video, and then leave a comment correcting something about the original text, your relationship with the consumption of media has changed. "
"Digital distribution that separates the content from the form allows producers to create different keys for each person who happens to buy a copy of the content, which limits the usage of the content in ways that should make libraries and librarians uncomfortable."
"DRM is, in a manner of speaking, treating paying customers like criminals. It prevents legitimate customers from doing what they want with their content while doing absolutely nothing to the people who acquired the same content illegally. The music industry finally realized this, and it's my belief that book publishers will do the same. I'm hoping that it doesn't take another decade for it to happen this time around."

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Ways to Share List Longer & Longer

(Sorry the copy and paste wouldn't add the hyperlink.)
Bookmark & ShareX List of Social Networking Aug2010
.netShoutout
100zakladok
2 Tag
2linkme
7Live7.com
A1‑Webmarks
Add.io
Adifni
Aero
All My Faves
Amazon
Amen Me!
AOL Mail
Arto
Aviary Capture
Baang
Baidu
Bebo
Bentio
BiggerPockets
Bit.ly
BizSugar
Bleetbox
Blinklist
Blip
Blogger
Bloggy
Blogmarks
Blogtrottr
Blurpalicious
Boardlite
Bobrdobr
BonzoBox
Bookmarked
BookmarkingNet
Bookmarky.cz
Bookmerken
Bordom
Box.net
Brainify
Bryderi.se
BuddyMarks
Buzzzy
Camyoo
Care2
Chiq
Cirip
CiteULike
ClassicalPlace
Clickazoo
Cndig
Colivia.de
Connotea
COSMiQ
Delicious
DesignBump
Designmoo
Digg
Diggita
Diglog
Digo
Diigo
Dipdive
DoMelhor
Doower
Dosti
DotNetKicks
Douban
Drimio
Dropjack
Dwellicious
Dzone
Edelight
eKudos
elefanta.pl
Email
Embarkons
euCliquei
Evernote
extraplay
EzySpot
Fabulously40
Facebook
Fark
Farkinda
FAVable
Faves
favlog
Favorites
Favoritus
Flaker
Floss.pro
Fnews
Folkd
FollowTags
forceindya
Fresqui
FriendFeed
Friendster
funP
fwisp
Gabbr
Gacetilla
Gamekicker
GiveALink
GlobalGrind
Gmail
Google
Google Buzz
Google Reader
Gravee
GreaterDebater
Grono.net
Grumper
Haber.gen.tr
Hacker News
Hadash Hot
Hatena
Hazarkor
Healthimize
Hedgehogs
HelloTxt
Hipstr
Hitmarks
Hot Bookmark
Hotklix
Hotmail
HTML Validator
Hyves
ideaREF!
Identi.ca
ihavegot
Informazione
Instapaper
InvestorLinks
iSociety
iWiW
Jamespot
Jisko
Jumptags
Kaboodle
Kaevur
Kipup
KiRTSY
Kledy
Kommenting
koornk
Laaikit
Ladenzeile
Librerio
Lifestream
Link Ninja
Link-a-Gogo
LinkedIn
LinkShares
Linkuj.cz
Livefavoris
LiveJournal
LockerBlogger
Lynki
Mashbord
Mawindo
Meccho
meinVZ
Mekusharim
Memori.ru
Menéame
Messenger
Mindbodygreen
Mister Wong
Mixx
Moemesto.ru
mototagz
Multiply
myAOL
Mylinkvault
MySpace
N4G
NetLog
Netvibes
Netvouz
NewsTrust
Newsvine
Nujij
OKNOtizie
Oneview
Orkut
Osmosus
Oyyla
PDF Online
PDFmyURL
PhoneFavs
PimpThisBlog
Ping.fm
Planypus
Plaxo
Plurk
PopEdition
Posteezy
Posterous
Prati.ba
Print
PrintFriendly
Propeller
Pusha
Quantcast
Qzone
Read It Later
receeve.it
Reddit
Rediff MyPage
RedKum
Scoop.at
Segnalo
Sekoman
Shaveh
She Told Me
Simpy
Slashdot
SMI
SodaHead
Speedtile
Sphinn
Spoken To You
sportpost
springpad
Spruzer
Squidoo
Startaid
Startlap
StoryFollower
Strands
studiVZ
Stuffpit
StumbleUpon
Stumpedia
Stylehive
Surfpeople
Svejo
Symbaloo
TagMarks.de
Tagvn
Tagza
Technorati
TellMyPolitician
The Web Blend
Thinkfinity
ThisNext
Tip'd
Transferr
Translate
Tulinq
Tumblr
Tusul
TweetMeme
Twitter
TwitThis
Typepad
Viadeo
Virb
VisitezMonSite
VKontakte
Vyoom
Webnews
Whois Lookup
Windy Citizen
WireFan
WordPress
Worio
Wykop
Xanga
Y! Bookmarks
Y! Buzz
Y! Mail
Yammer
Yardbarker
Yazzem
Yigg
Yoolink
Yorumcuyum
Youbookmarks
YouMob
Zakladok.net
Zanatic
ZooLoo


Bookmark & Share

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

You know you're a 21st century librarian when...

http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2010/8/8/you-know-youre-a-21st-century-librarian-when.html
After seeing this month's American Libraries Direct article/link, I had to add my own version.

Last week on "vacation" I was exploring Book Passage, reknowned Bay area book store and author haunt in Marin County, when I was struck by how I could catch up on a bit of collection development whle browsing. I posed my somewhat strange idea to Nick, BP staffer behind the desk, and he gave me the OK.

I proceeded with what would be the 21st century librarian's vacation photo album: snapshots of books that I soon ordered upon my return to work. Sitting at my desk, browsing through my photos (ahhh...fond memories of book flaps coupled with anticipation of future reading extravaganzas) while typing titles and authors into Baker & Taylor.

As we move into the world of Android barcode scanners and QR code applications on phones, I think of the all the time saved and improved quality of collection development that is now at our fingertips. And it blows me away. After a bit of practice with Android, I'm going to see if I can make make my next vacation an even more efficient collection development experience.

Watch out Powell's!!!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

How eBook Catalogs at PL’s drive Publishers Sales

IF
How eBook Catalogs at PL’s drive Publishers Sales
THEN
Let's use this as leverage when negotiating for collection development.

Metaweb - Connect your site to the web's best sources

Metaweb - Connect your site to the web's best sources: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

I can't wait. Soon we'll be able to get rid of our expensive ILS and let Google tell us if we have a book and if it's on the shelf.

Google Buys Metaweb - mediabistro.com: WebNewser

Google Buys Metaweb - mediabistro.com: WebNewser: "

Librarians really are going to need advanced skills to stay relevant. (Why did I put that in future tense?) We need them yesterday.

Ryu Murakami to Release Novel Directly Through Apple iPad - Japan Real Time - WSJ

Ryu Murakami to Release Novel Directly Through Apple iPad - Japan Real Time - WSJ: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Hurray! The novel as multimedia has arrived. (I can't wait to see what this looks like for librarians.) Brooks from NYT recently playing on McLuhan's "The Medium is the Message" says the "The Medium is the Medium." If we weren't already confused enough...

He makes a strong argument for EFF: " It could be that the real debate will not be books versus the Internet but how to build an Internet counterculture that will better attract people to serious learning."

Saturday, July 3, 2010

The OtherLibrarian's blog about professional & librarian as oxymoron

My response as follows:
I haven't read all the replies yet, but one thing comes to mind as a distinguishing factor when I explain to others how I differentiate professional from para-professional and it doesn't really have anything to do with the list mentioned here. I was one of those who pooh-poohed the idea of MLIS while working in a library as a page with master's degree in literature at minimum wage. After receiving my MLIS, of course, I had a different take on the whole thing. Making more money was a big incentive for supporting getting the degree for me, but in getting the degree I made a commitment over and above the one I had prior to the degree. I made a commitment to consider the role model associated with the title, a commitment to supporting lifelong learning not only for myself but for everyone, a commitment to not make assumptions but rather "look it up" (research) and provide supporting statistics when possible. I could go on, but suffice it to say that with the "commitment" to the field came the "professional" standing, not just the degree. For para-professionals, being a librarian (one who works in a library) is often about a "job" rather than a vocation. It's more like "a calling" for those that choose to make the commitment to be a professional librarian, though, as in any field, the degree is only one step of the journey. We practice our academic skill set and learn from our day to day experience, all the rest of the numbered items are of consequence only in this regard.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Information Quotes

Information Quote(s)
especially
Where is all the knowledge we lost with information?
T. S. Eliot

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Suggestion from Self

Idea for Virtual Leadership Workshop
Difference between
Change
Progress
Growth

in reference to: NYM--not your mother's--LIBRARY: PLA 2010 Leadership Pre-Conference (view on Google Sidewiki)

PLA 2010 Leadership Pre-Conference

Much thought given to why this didn't work for me.
Comments from Leadership Task Force members were that perhaps it seemed uninformative because it wasn't new to me, but that other attendees may not already be aware of simple concept of know yourself, know your community and get a seat "at the table."

I don't buy it. I wish it were possible to survey the participants to find out if this was new information. It seemed to me that the presenter must think that librarians are living under a rock if this is to be perceived as professional level insight.

I had hoped to be able to bring something back to the library leaders in my system libraries, but the learning experience was limited to the networking done at the break out tables with peers. When we came back to the larger group to share our take on the case studies, for the most part we were all on the same page. The case study was lame, in that it wasn't even a library case study. I really had the feeling that the presenter didn't care if we got something from the workshop or not. Had any work gone into the preparation? (Was obviously canned to me.) I had the sense that he thought he was doing us a favor by showing up. Maybe he was doing it for free. That would explain a lot.

One positive note is yet to be played out. Our closing exercise was to discuss with those at our table what we planned to take away with us to apply at home. My hope is that we will have an opportunity to do some social networking with each other so that we might support one another in making sense of how to lead after the pre-conference ship has sailed.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

PLA Preconference (background reading: Wheatley)

"When an individual changes, its neighbors take notice and decide how they will respond. Over time, individuals become so intermeshed in this process of co-evolving that it becomes impossible to distinguish the boundary between self and other, or self and environment. There is a continual exchange of information and energy between all neighbors, and a continuous process of change and adaptation everywhere in the system. And another paradox, it is these individual changes that contribute to the overall health and stability of the entire system."

I like this quote, and I totally agree with her POV (what I've seen or read so far). However, none of it sounds new. Is it just me or has "new age" finally been adopted into business management strategy as as a new paradigm?

Leading at PLA

NOT ENOUGH GENERALS WERE KILLED
PETER F. DRUCKER, FOREWORD IN
THE DRUCKER FOUNDATION (1996), THE LEADER OF THE FUTURE

I have been working with organizations of all kinds for fifty years or more - as a teacher and administrator in the university, as a consultant to corporations, as a board member, as a volunteer. Over the years, I have discussed with scores - perhaps even hundreds - of leaders their roles, their goals, and their performance. I have worked with manufacturing giants and tiny firms, with organizations that span the world and others that work with severely handicapped children in one small town. I have worked with some exceedingly bright executives and a few
dummies, with people who talk a good deal about leadership and others who apparently never even think of themselves as leaders and who are rarely, if ever, talk about leadership.

The lessons are unambiguous. The first is that there may be "born leaders", but there surely are
far too few to depend on them. Leadership must be learned and can be learned - and this, of
course, is what this book was written for and should be used for. But the second major lesson is
that "leadership personality", "leadership style", and "leadership traits" do not exist. Among the
most effective leaders I have encountered and worked with in a half a century, some locked
themselves into their office and others were ultragregarious. Some (though not many) were "nice guys"" and others were stern disciplinarians. Some were quick and impulsive; others studied and studied again and then took forever to come to a decision. Some were warm and instantly "simpatico"; others remained aloof even after years of working closely with others, not only with outsiders like me but with the people within their own organization. Some immediately spoke of their family; others never mentioned anything apart from the task in hand.

Some leaders were excrutiangly vain - and it did not affect their performance (as his spectacular
vanity did not affect General Douglas MacArthur's performance until the very end of his career).
Some were self-effacing to a fault - and again it did not affect their performance as leaders (as it
did not affect the performance of General Marshall or Harry Truman). Some were as austere in
their private lives as a hermit in the desert; others were ostentatious and pleasure-loving and
whooped it up at every opportunity. Some were good listeners, but among the most effective
leaders I have worked with were also a few loners who listened only to their own inner voice.

The one and only personality trait the effective ones I have encountered did have in common was something they did not have: they had little or no "charisma" and little use either for the term or for what it signifies. All the effective leaders I have encountered - both those I worked with and those I merely watched - knew four simple things:
· The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers. Some people are thinkers.
Some are prophets. Both roles are important and badly needed. But without followers,
there can be no leaders.
· An effective leaders is not someone who is loved or admired. He or she is someone whose
followers do the right things. Popularity is not leadership. Results are.
· Leaders are highly visible. They therefore set examples.
· Leadership is not rank, privileges, titles, or money. It is responsibility.
Regardless of their almost limitless diversity with respect to personality, style, abilities, and
interests, the effective leaders I have met, worked with, and observed also behaved much the
same way:
· They did not start out with the question, "What do I want?" They started out asking, "What
needs to be done?"
· Then they asked, "What can and should I do to make a difference?" This has to be
something that both needs to be done and fits the leader's strengths and the way she or
he is most effective.
· They consistently asked, "What are the organization's mission and goals? What constitutes
performance and results in this organization?"
· They were extremely tolerant of diversity in people and did not look for carbon copies of
themselves. It rarely even occurred to them to ask, "Do I like or dislike this person?" But
they were totally - fiendishly - intolerant when it came to a person's performance,
standards, and values.
· The were not afraid of strength in their associates. They gloried in it. Whether they had
heard it or not, their motto was what Andred Carnegie wanted to have put on his
tombstone: "Here lies a man who attracted better people into his service than he was
himself."
· One way or another, they submitted themselves to the "mirror test" - that is, they made
sure that the person they saw in the mirror in the morning was the kind of person they
wanted to be, respect, and believe in. This way they fortified themselves against the
leader's greatest temptations - to do things that are popular rather than right and to do
petty, mean, sleazy things.

Finally, these effective leaders were not preachers; they were doers. In the mid 1920s, when I was in my final high school years, a whole spate of books on World War I and its campaigns suddenly appeared in English, French, and German. For our term project, our excellent history teacher - himself a badly wounded veteran - told each of us to pick several of these books, read them carefully, and write a major essay on our selections. When we then discussed these essays in class, one of my fellow students said, "Every one of these books says that the Great War was a war of total military incompetence. Why was it?" Our teacher did not hesitate a second but shot right back, "Because not enough generals were killed; they stayed way behind the lines and let others do the fighting and dying."

Effective leaders delegate a good many things; they have to or they drown in trivia. But they do
not delegate the one thing that only they can do with excellence, the one thing that will make a
difference, the one thing that will set standards, the one thing they want to be remembered for.
They do it.
It does not matter what kind of organization you work in; you will find opportunities to learn about leadership from all organizations - public, private, and nonprofit. Many people do not realize it, but the largest number of leadership jobs in the United States is in the nonprofit, social sector. Nearly one million nonprofit organizations are active in this country today, and they provide excellent opportunities for learning about leadership. The nonprofit sector is and has been the true growth sector in America's society and economy. It will become increasingly important during the coming years as more and more of the tasks that government was expected to do during the last thirty or forty years will have to be taken over by community organizations, that is, by nonprofit organizations.

The Leader of the Future (1996) is a book for leaders in all sectors: business, nonprofit, and
government. It is written by people who themselves are leaders with proven performance records. It can - and should - be read as the definitive text on the subject. It informs and stimulates. The first section of this book looks at the future of organizations and examines the role of leaders in the emerging society of organizations. The second part of the book gives vivid accounts of today's and tomorrow's leaders in action. It then turns to look at leadership development strategies, and it concludes with some powerful personal statements from effective leaders.

This is a book about the future. But I hope it will also be read as a call to action. I hope that it will
first challenge every reader to ask, "What in my organization could I do that would truly make a
difference? How can I truly set an example?" And I hope that it will then motivate each reader to do it.
Peter F. Drücker - Claremont, California, October 1995
Continue to Chap 1 – The new Language of Organizing and its implications for Leaders

Saturday, January 9, 2010

PULL

Just started David Siegel's new book, Pull: The Power of the Semantic Web...
Have been thinking a great deal about information, reading, books, internet, libraries, knowledge management basically. I'm finding that I am not reading books less these days, but with computers and the internet, I'm reading a bit differently.

I'm reading in both medium simultaneously. I'm broadening my reading experience by in-filling from the web. It is a brave new world with lots of scary big brothers and uncle sams looking over our shoulders, but it's a world where governments will be more transparent along with our personal lives. As with most things, we've got to take the good with the bad and make the most of it.

Back to PULL. Here's one of the ways I'm reading these days, I guess we could call it reading for future reference. (In the not too distant future, I'm sure this blog post exercise will become unnecessary as all the links from the book will be made available as part of the publishing package. But until then, here's the wysiwyg where "structured data comes out of the deep web and onto the open web, forming the foundation of the semantic web."

sciencecommons.org

ARTstor.org
McMaster.com
NIN.com
rhapsody.com
LiveLeak.com
crunchpad.com
jolicloud.com
freebase.com
semantic-mediawiki.org
instedd.org
thepowerofpull.com
commonapp.org
LarKC
Cyc
umbel.org
viaf.org
id.loc.gov
neighborrow.com Zoe member of readers anon???
onix.com pub format
zillow.com
transparensee.com
adaptiveblue.com
zantaz.com
daylife.com
autonomy.com
healthline.com
microformats.com
seamless.com
siri.com
delicious-monster.com
goodguide.com
dpreview.com
linkeddata.org
grainger.com
superpages.com
youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE
xbrl comp lang
fpml comp lang
rubee new rfid
Dvorak keyboard
jolicloud.com
optimus maximus keyboard
crunchpad.com
liveleak.com
yammer.com
revolutioncard.com
ibm.com/think
fairtax.org
iousathemovie.com
y-t-c.com
e-patients.net
monitor.creativecommons.org
digital signatures
Ambient Findability Peter Morville
identityblog.burtongroup.com
srmsblog.burtongroup.com
identityblog.com
dataportability.org
mismo.org
trulia.com
streeteasy.com
dwellicious.com
ambient intelligence
3ds.com
legalzoom.com
hResume microformat
voice.google.com
inames.net
w-41.com
spime.com space + time (sterling, b)
widetag.com
gsi commerce

Web 3.0 = context Semantic web Get used to it. It's upon us.
Except for content metadata or format metadata. Intended use of data or content can determine designation.
Web 3.0 = smart data or metadata: maps, menus, manuals, receipts, invoices, catalogs...etc. The only thing that isn't metadata is content.

"...if you're not findable, you're not relevant. ...Bot to be relevant, you'll have to make a difference in people's lives." Peter Morville

"...the solution to the overabundance of information is more information." David Weinberger

"In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future." Eric Hoffer

Today at the gym, in the sauna, young woman reading an ebook on her iphone. Welcome 21st century readers, this twit's for you.