HPL apps and tools

New tool round-up:

• 3M Cloud Library
• OneClick eAudio Service
• Transparent Language Online
• And my new favorite - OWL iLibrary.

This last tool is a handsome and powerful app that allows you to use the library's catalog and your library account like you would using a traditional computer and browser.  It's available for Apple and Android-based devices and it's free.

If you read (or listen to) your books "e", then HPL has three different services for you.

• We have OverDrive, which has both ebooks and eaudio downloads.
• We have the 3M Cloud Library, a new service which is ebooks only.
• We have OneClick Digital, another new service that is eaudio only.

If you are interested in learning a new language or brushing up on a disused one, we also have a new learning program called Transparent Language Online.

If you click the library logo, you will be taken to the Hutchinson Public Library website.  From there, click on the "E-Everything" menu on the far right of the gray bar.

The only prerequisite for using any of these tools is an active Hutchinson Public Library card - and that's free too!

We've been "MacMillan'd"!

Maybe that's not the catchiest phrase, but public libraries have been graced with the possibility of "buying" and circulating ebooks from one of the Big 6! This should be great news, right? It is not terrible news, but it fits in the grand scheme of things at about the "meh" level.

First, it is a pilot project. Second, the titles are from the backlist of MacMillan's Minotaur imprint which publishes mainly crime/mystery fiction. Third, the titles will cost libraries $25 each and have a "shelf life" of 52 circs or two years, which ever comes first.

In other words, we get to circulate to you, our patrons, old titles you may already have read and unlike old PAPER titles you may already have read, they won't languish on our virtual shelves - they'll automatically weed themselves in two years!

Maybe I should be more worried, sooner rather than later human librarians will be obsolete.  We are being replaced by publishers who are cutting out the middle man.  Don't worry though, the business men will look out for culture and history.  They'll make it all available to the individual, I'm sure...for a low recurring monthly payment.

Libraries vs. Publishers

The article I have linked below (Thanks, Robert!) was sent out on a library email list. It is, as is often the case, far more eloquent and clear than I could ever be in arguing what the future of public libraries and ebooks should be. Where I get angry and rant, the author of this Forbes article, Mr. Vinjamuri, is clear and reasoned.

I agree with him on almost every point, both about the failings of the "Big 6" publishers and the missed opportunities and failings of public libraries in their responses. Regarding public libraries, this is the major issue of our time. Nothing else will influence what I do for a living and what you use as a patron more than the outcome of the book's transition from a paper to an electronic medium.

If you are interested in the ebook brouhaha and the future of public libraries, please read this article: Why Libraries Matter: And How They Can Do More, by David Vinjamuri, contributor at Forbes magazine.

Why do we have public libraries?

Some (most, probably) will think I'm a little slow-witted asking this question.  The "educated" technophile might say public libraries are an anachronism and that everything needed research-wise or recreational reading-wise can be obtained online or through Amazon.  The hard-line libertarians would most assuredly say that the money spent on them would be better utilized by the individual to choose to spend on their own education if she/he so desired.  The cynic might say that we (society) have to provide SOME place for the homeless and disturbed to hang out.  Yet other people never even think about the library as a useful tool at their disposal, having had at some point in their lives a bad experience with fines or fees or even SHHHHHH! ... librarians.

There are some days where I can at least see the reasoning for some of these stances.  I have to remember that I have a vested interest in this whole concept.  And yet...

Many of the same social conditions that existed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and that were the impetus for creating free public libraries, exist today.  In fact, poor educational level, poverty, sub-par work skills and the accompanying lack of upward mobility have intensified since I became a librarian in the mid-1990s.

Back to the title of this article: Why do we need public libraries?  Early childhood literacy.  If I could say nothing else about them, if I could answer in only one way, this is a role public libraries fill and succeed in like no other "free" public institution.  Study after study has shown that the single most important factor to success in school is mastery of basic math and reading skills by Kindergarten.  Public libraries have been working diligently at this for decades.  Bring your child to story time, check out some books to read with her at home and BAM!  You've received a huge ROI on your tax dollar because your child is positioned to succeed in school and ultimately in life.

Honestly, we need as many avenues to literacy, competency, life skills and work skills as we can possibly manage in our current world.  The gap between the rich and poor has grown once again to an enormous chasm.  While libraries need to remain relevant by adapting to new media, they must continue to focus on their strengths.  First, the librarians and specialists that can instill the love of reading and learning at a young age and provide support and training throughout the lives of our patrons. Second, the power of being free to all who want our services.  Third, the willingness to explore those new tools as they come around and to bend them to our will - helping our patrons grow and learn.