Year-end Lull

Well, not really.  There are lots of things in the works right now.  For one, we are finishing up getting quotes for remodeling the reading room.  I think it will be nice to restore what was the Rayl Reading Room to its original use.  One of our staff members had a great idea for some wall coverings, the paneling from the old Civic Center building will look nice, and the furnishings chosen by the team are both sturdy and attractive.

Right now the Bru Crue coffee bar is closed for a much-deserved break (and year-end paperwork) but will open up again the first week of January to celebrate 1 year in business!  Changes will be coming once again to our library food and drink policy in conjunction with some new possibilities for the coffee bar.

Oh, and then there is the little matter of re-aligning our people-power to be more in line with our long range goals of greater outreach, becoming more of a community meeting place, and greater continuing education.

Maybe I should take tomorrow off...

Quiet Room - FINALLY!

As we near the end of 2010, we also near the end of the 2010 budget.  The 2011 budget is slightly better and more importantly, the Friends of the Hutchinson Public Library have made a significant donation toward finally realizing the dream of a "quiet" reading space.  For the past few days, I have been ushering through a series of our fine local builders describing the project.  I am confident that we will have a new reading room early next year.

This room will occupy space that was originally (circa 1950) the "Rayl Reading Room".  We'll have some comfortable chairs, some study tables and some peace and quiet for those who come here seeking a place to study undisturbed.

Holiday Cheer!

As we roll along through the hectic Christmas season, with shopping, cooking and preparing for visiting family and friends, it is important to remember to occasionally pause and recharge.  Regardless of religious alignment or political persuasion, it is easy to find some cheer and joy this time of year.  For example, I spent part of Monday evening walking around the neighborhood with a baker's dozen of cub scouts and their adult partners looking at Christmas decorations and generally having a good (but cold) time.  This activity cost nothing, was relaxing, and helped clear the mental clutter of the day.  Plus a simple mug of cocoa afterward erased the chill.

Likewise, Monday I received several books I had placed on hold here at the library.  Wowbrary, my favorite "what's new" tool rarely fails me.  It's a weekly email newsletter that provides links to the library's catalog for all the new acquisitions from the previous week.  It's like an insider's guide to all the cool new stuff HPL has added.  If you participate, you can get your name near the head of the line and read / listen / watch the new stuff first!

My point though, was that I took those books home and as a break from holiday preparations, spent an hour reading.  Cost me nothing (go public libraries!), I enjoyed the relaxation and learning, and helped me reset my priorities and slow down.

Which brings me to my final thought.  If you are still working on holiday buying, the public library can even help you with that.  We have been studying ebook readers here quite intensively and I can safely say that if you have the cash, the Sony Touch is a good choice.  I haven't played with the Nook Color yet, but if it is like the B&W Nook, it would be a good one as well with the bonus that color allows for children's books and illustration-heavy (like graphic novels) books.  If you are not in the financial position to buy just yet, or you haven't studied it thoroughly enough, come by and our staff can provide you with guidance.  The bottom line for me is that I want people to read.  I don't care the format, I don't care about the content.  I firmly believe that reading only expands our experience and knowledge and increases our collective curiosity, creativity and ultimately our productivity.

EBook Update

Here is some interesting news about getting borrowed (OverDrive) ebooks on to your Apple device.  I think this sort of work-around style solution will be the norm until some level of standard acceptance comes about for ebooks.  Here is an article providing some food for thought if you are in the market for a reader currently.  The which-do-I-buy article deals with only a small number of the readers available, leaving out for example, interesting new color readers like the Pandigital Novel.

Another good resource page about ereaders produced by the North East Kansas Library System, a regional library support organization.

EBook Survey Done

[EDIT: 4:00PM]  5 responses fell - literally - through the cracks and have now been added to the responses bringing to 116 the total number of surveys filled out.

The results are in from the month-long survey.  Granted, the survey reached only people who already use the library.  There were both paper and electronic versions collected, 116 responses in all.  Here are the results:

• 28% of HPL patrons already own an ebook reader of some type.
• 62% of patrons responding "No" (do not own a reader) plan to purchase one in the near future.
• 81% of respondents indicated they would borrow ebooks from HPL if a collection were available.
• 85% of respondents stated that they would read high-demand titles in ebook format if that was what they received.

This gives me an indication, at least, that our two new initiatives deserve further exploration and action.  First we will move forward testing the idea of using library-owned ebook readers to circulate extra copies of high-demand books.  We would continue to purchase 1 or 2 paper copies and then fill demand with electronic copies loaded by staff on to the library's ebook readers.

Second, we will explore the options (which are surprisingly few) for download / borrowing services for ebooks so that patrons who already own readers can start borrowing their books from us.  Frankly, the decision has been made for us at HPL, at least for the moment.  Our service for downloadable audiobooks, OverDrive, seems to have their hooks in us.  They offer (according to their website) about 100k audiobook, music, video and ebook titles.  We can begin purchasing ebook titles immediately from them.

We may also look into Netlibrary which offers (again, according to their website) 146k PDF format downloadable books in a variety of genres.

Bad decisions

There are bad decisions, and then there are bad decisions.  And then...there are decisions that make you stop and scratch your head.  Here's one of the latter:  Stealing from the public library.

I realize that we are experiencing hard times in our country and in our community.  And these are exactly the times when the public library's considerable collection of information and entertainment are most needed.  What I can't understand is why, when we are set up expressly to let people - for free - take our stuff home with them, would they choose to try and steal it instead.

Unfortunately, this is a real problem.  Occasionally, as was the case today, we catch the person in the act and are able to recover our materials.  As it turns out, the person trying to steal was a patron whose record was blocked due to non-payment of a fairly large number of fines.  As I told the police officer, I think what people don't know is that we are really friendly, empathetic people who will do everything we can to help a person pay off their fines and get back to using the library.

The bottom line for us is (as is almost always the case) a financial one.  We will have to continue to invest more in security and technology in order to keep the materials we have available for our citizens to use.  We will continue to beef up our monitoring of certain collections and areas of the library instead of simply buying more materials to loan.  A real shame.  The poor decisions of a few always end up punishing the rest of us.

Ebook survey preliminary responses

So far, there have been over 100 responses to our survey about the possibilities for ebooks at the Hutchinson Public Library.  As far as surveys go, that's quite a large number for us without even working to drum up responses.

Here's a summary of the responses so far:

• 29% of the respondents already own an ebook reader of some sort, while 71% do not.
• 55% of respondents indicated they will be buying a reader this year or next, while 27% indicated they had no plans to buy one.
• 83% of respondents indicating they already owned or would be buying an ebook reader stated that they would borrow ebooks from HPL were they available.
• 86% of respondents indicated they didn't care what format they received (paper or ebook) as long as it helped shorten holds lists.
• 6% of respondents did not want to use an ebook reader at all.

What does this information mean for us?  The raw numbers indicate that the opinion of the HPL users is we should move forward with the experiment.  However, I am worried about some of the comments in the "tell us your opinion about ebooks" area at the end of the survey.  Not because they are negative.  On the contrary, the comments are quite positive.  But there is a lot of misunderstanding about how ebook checkout will work here.  Chief among these is that it is clear people do not understand that buying a Kindle ties them to purchase books from Amazon.  There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but people will be disappointed when they are unable to checkout ebooks from the library because of the reader they have chosen.

Here is a quick comparison of "major" name ebook readers and their abilities (detailed comparison here):

Sony Pocket Edition - .epub, .html, .pdf, .txt files, plus compatible with the Library's OverDrive service.
B&N nook - .epub, .pdb, .pdf, .mp3, plus compatible with the Library's OverDrive service.
Pandigital Novel - .epub support, plus compatible with the Library's OverDrive service.
Amazon Kindle - .azw support NOT compatible with the Library's OverDrive service.
Apple iPad -  .... .epub, .pdf support NOT compatible with the Library's OverDrive service.

Interesting to note, the Pandigital and Apple devices have color screens which would be ideally suited to viewing things like children's picture books.  With the variety of formats, proprietary systems battles, and the enormous number of devices just on the horizon, this roiling sea of choices is what we must navigate.

State-wide talks

I suppose you could accuse me of being old-fashioned.  Although I have Skype, access to multiple online conferencing services, chat, email, etc. I still think there is value in a face-to-face meeting.  Even when that meeting requires a several-hours drive as is almost always the case in our state, there is value.  On Monday the State Librarian, Jo Budler, held a second meeting for the directors of the "larger" public libraries - those that serve populations of 20k-100k - here at HPL.

We covered a number of topics including updates to discussions from our first meeting back in August at the Topeka Shawnee County Library.  The discussions could be held, of course, through a variety of the aforementioned media and they often are.  In fact, we heard a presentation from an OCLC (library cooperative) representative about a state-wide library marketing campaign using Webex and Skype.

The thing you do not get from distance-meeting tools though is the opportunity to see the (in this case) other libraries, staff, and towns.  It makes a difference.  It helps put things in context and at least for me, brings better understanding.

And finally, it was interesting to discover that Hays Public Library is contemplating a change similar to what we are thinking about here.  EBooks are not ubiquitous yet, but they will be at some point soon.  Rather than fearing the changes they may bring to public libraries, we need to grab them up and use them for the advantages they can provide.

Public Service

Here it is, another Saturday afternoon at the Information Desk at HPL.  Every third weekend rolls around quickly.  Right now it seems fairly quiet, but it is noon and we have National Gaming Day activities starting at 2pm. Lots of people, my wife included, think that my helping cover at the desks on weekends is crazy.  Afterall, I am the director and "I don't have to if I don't want to", right?  Actually, I think that is exactly wrong.  If there were more hours in the week, I'd actually work more public service time at places other than just the Information Desk.  It's the best way to find out what our patrons are concerned about, what our staff is challenged with, and generally, how well we are doing our job.

What is working well?  I, for one, am using the Reference Dept. iPad all the time.  What a time-saver to be standing out in our far-flung stacks checking availability or similar titles, or completely different topics without having to traipse back to a catalog terminal.

What isn't working well?  Our roof, for one.  The rain from late Thursday through Friday found a couple of new weaknesses.  So it is probably "out to bid" for us on that.  Electrical plugs and seating are another area we could really work to improve.

As I look over the top of the monitor, I see a patron looking puzzled so no more time for idle blogging - off to help.

More Prairie Book Festival Press

The goodwill shown to the library for hosting the Prairie Book Festival back in September has really been fantastic.  A State Library News post featured articles about the PBF, the book festivals in Iola and Osborne, and a nice bit on the Lisa Dale Norton memoir workshop (also held here at the Hutchinson Public Library).  If nothing else, all the planning and effort that went into the Festival has come back to us in the form of awareness-raising publicity.  "Stuff" actually does go on in that enormous beige brick building on Main Street!

I am looking forward to next year with a mix of excitement and dread.  Excitement around the idea that we might produce an improved festival for Hutchinson; dread regarding how much work it is to pull off!  It is worth it though.  It really was a lot of fun and I think a worthy project for the Library.  We are, after all, dedicated to reading.  I think you can build enthusiasm for reading and education by providing opportunities to get "up close" and hear from those talented folks who write.  Lots of fun - thanks again to everyone who helped make it a success and we hope to see you next year!

What to do about "those few"

I have always held that rules for public places (like libraries) punish the honest users rather than deter the few folks the rules are meant to control.  In libraries, none is more basic than trying to hold patrons accountable for items they have checked out and never returned.  I am not talking about the person with $3 in overdue fines, but the few patrons at the other end of the spectrum.  At HPL we have an elaborate system of warnings, notices, and finally a collection agency to try and retrieve our materials from a relatively small number of folks who, for whatever reason, feel like they can check things out of the library and never return them.

Having been a public librarian for quite some time now, I have heard a tremendous variety of excuses from library users who just can't seem to get things back and checked in.  The excuses run the gamut from denying ever having "that book" in the first place to having returned items in the drop box, "so they are here somewhere", trying to make it the libraries fault.  These situations usually involve one or two items and rarely amount to any significant money.  But what really gets me are that small (but expensive) group who decide at some point to deliberately check out a large quantity of items, usually in a narrow subject range, with no intention of ever bringing them back.

What to do about this group then?  They don't respond to collection agency coercion.  They don't seem to acknowledge any sort of correspondence at all, polite, threatening, or otherwise.  Small claims court is an option in Kansas since library materials are included in a state statute covering property crime, I would assume specifically for this type of problem.

This seems like a reasonable solution since there appears to be no other effective method of trying to "get our stuff back".  Though, it brings with it a whole array of publicity issues that would have to be considered.  It doesn't look quite right when the library starts hauling people in to court over some missing books.  But the patrons I am thinking of have hundreds of dollars worth of our materials.  I suppose it comes down to what would be considered acting as a "good steward" of tax dollars.  After all, people who steal from the public library are really stealing from from all of us.

E-books and e-book readers for lending bestsellers

Recently, one of my colleagues here at HPL made a good case for e-books and e-readers as circulating items at our library.  The general idea:  Why not purchase any extra copies of upcoming bestsellers in e-format and load them on circulating e-readers?  We already have a terrible overcrowding problem in our adult fiction collection especially.  Many times, we are forced to move extra copies into our basement storage area.  This practice means extra steps (literally) for staff to retrieve books and extra wait time for patrons.  The purchase of a number of readers - maybe Nooks or Sonys could solve this (I don't think Amazon's Kindle would cut it for this purpose, although I could be wrong).

Certainly, the devices are individually more pricey than a hardback book.  But it wouldn't take many copies of bestselling titles to get up into the $149-$199 range.  The readers could hold a large number of titles and take up a minuscule amount of space.  We could begin to thin out our "overflow" storage and beef up our ability to meet immediate demand.  Sure, we take a risk that the readers might be damaged or never return, but we take that risk with books, DVDs, and CDs hundreds of thousands of times per year.  Hmm...sounds like a new project.

What is it about shelf reading?

For over a year, the most popular post I have written has been this one.  It is a bit of my waxing poetic about shelf reading, of all things.  This is one of the few posts that draws in random readers from all over the place.  (Not very many readers, but readers nonetheless!)  But why do people look at that post?  It's not like there is a dearth of information about "shelf reading".

So, since I needed to think about this, I got up from my desk and went out to get my thinking in order...shelf reading.  The more I think about this, the more I wonder if people really are just wondering from what sort of insanity I must be suffering.

Looking at some of the Google results for "shelf reading" like this guide to stack management, there is a lot of information out there pertaining to shelf reading.  While most of the info I found is far more informative than my info, none of it makes it sound like more than a necessary evil.  I suppose for that reason, I'm proud of my two cents on the subject, regardless of why others might look at it.  I still believe shelf reading is interesting and fun besides being one of the most useful tasks to undertake in a library.

By the way - I know that people have bad days.  I know too that times are hard, nerves frayed and confidence sapped.  But why the spate of people being rude to our public service staff?  We try hard to please.  We don't ask much of you.  Simple things really:  Be respectful of others using the library.  That includes being patient with the staff and our contracting partners.  We are thinly spread and as a group, not the most highly-compensated.  For the most part we all do what we do because we like the idea of the library, not because we're getting rich.  So by all means, let us know where we need to improve but please be civil.

E-book changes...sort of

[EDIT: 10/27]
I read this weekend that Amazon is allowing the lending of Kindle e-books.  My first thought was, "Really?  Because they have been really tight-fisted about content control to date."  So, as I read a bit further into the CNET article I had stumbled across and found the "gotcha".  Mainly what they are allowing, for some but not all e-books, is the opportunity to share a book once, as in "only once...ever".

Honestly, I find this whole new wave of the e-book to be quite frustrating.  It isn't that I'm secretly shedding tears at the impending death of paper books (if that even happens).  It is mostly that I can't stand the fact that just like software, if we aren't careful, we will no longer "own" the books we buy.  We will license a copy.  That's really what Amazon et.al. are doing - they are selling licenses to "intellectual property" produced by writers.  Regardless of the fate of libraries or even used book shops, the idea that a book MUST be purchased each time in order to be shared is not healthy for for authors, readers, or I think even publishers, (though it might help a small percentage of bottom lines).

My personal experience with reading (especially fiction), new authors, and book-buying has been one that, with very few exceptions, has gone like this:  Someone directs me to a title or an author they have read.  I borrow that persons copy or go to the library and check it out.  If I like the author, I look for more and often buy and also recommend to others.  Very rarely will I go out and buy a book on recommendation.  Perhaps I'm cheap.  Perhaps I've read too much so-so writing.  Perhaps I "just don't get it".  I am not sure.  I am sure that I still don't think the ebook concept is fully fleshed out.

UPDATE:  I read this interesting article in Consumerist this morning, posted on a library email list.  Basically, another problem with using your e-reader for anything other than viewing "licensed" material.  Again, it sounds like I am anti-ebook when I am not.  But there are some major issues to be aware of along with some fundamental questions that need to be answered before I feel comfortable with e-books becoming a major medium.

Book Review - Peter Watts' Blindsight

A friend of mine, Jake, who has read more than just about anyone I know, recommended this book.  It is a fascinating tale of first alien contact where a little way in, one gets a foreboding sense that the main characters have already lost the game before their journey to the meet-up even began.  Watts is definitely in the Stephen Hawking camp when it comes to alien contact.

The main characters are interesting folks - humans carved up, reshaped, and reworked as sort-of super humans plus one vampire.  Despite my being thoroughly tired of the much-abused vampire as a character, I thought Blindsight was a great book with a great vampire.  Peter Watts (not, as Wikipedia takes pains to point out, the Peter Watts of Mott the Hoople fame) writes hard science fiction that includes a great yarn and many good turns of phrase allowing someone like me the luxury of not worrying too much about failing to understand all the deep science-y stuff.  After all, I am just a humble librarian.  Even the appendix on the "origin" of vampires was so heavily cited with actual studies that it seems like a reasonable idea that we'd send one on a space voyage to meet aliens.

Blindsight came out in 2006, so I feel a little behind the curve.  Now I'm going to go back and try out Starfish, Watts' first novel from 2000.  Anyway, I would recommend Blindsight if you like a good hard science sci-fi tale.  Plus there's this to look forward too.

Prairie Book Festival

Nearly an entire month without a post - shame on me!  I use this blog to get crazy ideas out of my head, mull, blather on, etc.  Lately though, it seems like I haven't even had time to type for 15 minutes.  My excuse is that we have had a tremendous amount of projects going at the Hutchinson Public Library, the main one for me being the Prairie Book Festival which happened this past Saturday.  This was the inaugural PBF and we hope there will be more to come.  The Hutchinson News had a nice write-up for us on Sunday.

We had a good crowd for a first-time event, despite this:

A nice line of windy, hail-making storms!

The storms arrived around 2:45-3pm and closed down our vendor area a little early, but we moved the remaining authors inside, relocated the storyteller to the storytime room, moved the music into the circulation area and carried right on to the end.

I truly appreciate all of our hard-working staff, volunteers, our great Friends of the Library group, and especially our Prairie Book Festival steering committee - many members of which fall in more than one of the groups mentioned!  They did a fantastic job and produced something great upon which we can build.

Here are a few of the photos taken throughout the day:

Author Carol Murray

Author Jim Hoy

Under the Author Tent

The Anthony Panek Group playing jazz

Book Festival, Reviews and ... Other

Less than one month to go!  The Prairie Book Festival has been getting a lot of great press - thank you Hutchinson News!

I just finished up the Dalai Lama's, Toward a True Kinship of Faiths subtitled How the World's Religions Can Come Together.  It was a fairly fast read and the points made are, in my opinion, spot on.  The similarities in the world's major religions on which the Dalai Lama focuses revolve around compassion for fellow man.  He goes on to show how it is possible to recognize other faiths as valid while remaining true to one's own faith.

Not quite a week ago, I (along with several other library directors) met with the new State Librarian of Kansas, Jo Budler, to discuss several issues of importance to libraries.  Among our discussion points were the state's downloadable audio books program, the state-wide database selection, and the possibilities for future collaboration in other areas.  Mainly, I was glad to see an interest in consensus building at the state level - something that has been sorely lacking in my opinion the few years I have been here.  It seems that there might be some interest among the directors of similar-sized libraries to continue meeting on a regular basis, either in person or through electronic means.  This too was welcome news to me as, again, I know that I can benefit as a director from collaboration and sharing of information.

"The Web" and "The Internet" aren't the same?

Nope.  They aren't.  The Internet has been around much longer than the World Wide Web, of "www" fame.  The Internet can be thought of as the nuts and bolts - the hardware - that makes the Web possible.  The web is a protocol, a way of transferring information using the Internet.  While the Web dominated for a while, it was never the only means of transferring information on the Internet and now its dominance is clearly on the wane.

I usually avoid Wired articles, but this one is a good summary of what has happened in the past few years.  The world of the web browser is waning ( I love alliteration!)  As the wired article points out, we use the Internet - the wires, routers, servers and other hardware - more than ever.  But we use them with specialized tools for specific purposes.  This is an interesting development for libraries, I think.

It lends a sense of urgency, in my opinion, to the library discussions about how to serve the mobile users in our service areas.  Tools like Seattle Public Library's catalog app will be a "must have" for local libraries.  I think we'll have to come up with something for HPL soon!

The other area of concern I see; one that will hit libraries in the pocketbook, is dealing with online published content.  This article talks about the issues much more succinctly than I can and probably more clearly.  Basically, the Web equals wide-open anything-goes forum and the tailored app-based model equals controlled revenue generation, which is the obvious choice for media outlets.

I guess the real question is not, "What happens to the Web?" but looking ahead, "How do we deal with an apps-based online world and what's going to come after that?"

Reading is alive in Hutchinson

While we haven't quite reached the deadline for turning in completed reading logs for the children's program, all the programs this summer were among the best for us in the last 5 years.  We had 1,339 children signed up and 507 of them have turned in completed logs with 2 weeks remaining in the program.  The requirement for completion is 10 books, so that means over 5,000 books were read in June and July!

When you add in the YA (young adult) and adult reading programs, with 550 and 600+ books recorded respectively, HPL readers were reading (in a verifiable way) at a rate of 102.5 books per day during the reading programs.

I know there were many thousands more books checked out during those months, but I am heartened that reading remains such a strong pastime.  Quite a body of research, such as this 3-year study, suggest that simply giving books to children (and allowing them to choose topics that interested them) is less expensive and potentially more effective than summer school.

Imagine all the students who could be helped by combining the forces of the public school systems and the well-established, strong summer programs offered for free at public libraries.  After all, our summer storytimes (there were 32 of them) averaged 55 children per session.

Pirates!

I just finished reading Scurvy Goonda by Chris McCoy.  This is a good middle school-level fantasy yarn about imaginary friends, real friends, bacon, a pirate (the title character), and the role of imagination in the lives of children.  I am not a reader of YA fiction by choice, but being married to a children's librarian I am exposed to a lot of it.  This one is pretty good.  Of course, I am quite partial to pirates and who doesn't love bacon?  Anyway, I would recommend this book.

I think this book came to my wife's attention via Wowbrary.  If you haven't tried this service, it is free and sends you a weekly round-up via email of all the new things the library has acquired the previous week.  There are links directly to the library's catalog so that you can place holds on the new items right away.  If you want to sign up and try it out, just click the link above and enter 67501 in the zip code box.

The Budget (cue ominous background music)

Summer, a season filled with vacations, outdoor activity, fun, and sadly for me, budgeting.  However, for the first time in 2 years, I don't feel like we'll be cutting.  Instead, I think the benefit of the cuts and economizing we have made over the past 2 1/2 years are finally serving us well.  Currently, it looks like our mill levy will stay flat.  But for the first time in two budget cycles we won't be cutting.  Plus, the three critical issues facing us will be addressed; building maintenance, the library's collection, and staff compensation.

We have held steady and made do with what we had in a way that public libraries have perfected over the years.  While that honed sense of thrift might be worn like a badge of honor, it is no pleasant achievement.  With our building showing its age, some "must do" repairs can be put off no longer.  Rather than borrow money though, we have been socking away capital improvement funds and will do more of that in the 2011 budget.  This strategy saves us from having to borrow for, and pay interest on, big expenses.  We will tackle re-roofing the building and potentially replacing some older air conditioning units.  We hope to be able to restore some of the funding that was reduced for library materials.  And hopefully - hopefully - look at some better lighting in some of our stack areas.

The library's fiscal year is the calendar year, so we still have 6 months of scrimping to go, but when things look dark, stories like this always seem to pop up in my reading.  These two interesting articles have shown up in the news lately and I'd like to share them.  This first article is a rebuttal to a Fox Chicago news story about public libraries.  The Chicago Library Commissioner's response is the most polite dressing-down I've read in some time - bravo!  The second article poses an interesting question - could public libraries be poised to be the next big pop-culture wave?  Maybe.  Public libraries are as "local" as you can get and librarians do "know stuff" as the article says.  Who knows.  I like the idea of a TV show because that article writer is correct - there would be no lack of comical, head-scratching, "what the...?"-type material.

Storytimes and other stuff

I was just downstairs checking in on this morning's storytime and got this picture:

The room was filled!  Yesterday for craft day we had 134 children participating!  I didn't really know what to expect for storytime today, but it looks like another successful program from our wonderful Children's Department staff.  The summer programs this year have been really well-attended through the middle of July.  I think that we will find at the end that this was one of the best years of the decade.  I think that this is due in part to the effect of our outreach program to day care centers, but I also think that we get many return "customers" because of the fun programs our staff members create.  Bravo to all of our Children's Department staff members!

We have so many things going on right now, I feel a bit like a side-show act.  You know, the guy who is juggling a chainsaw, a bowling ball, a tennis ball, and an egg?  That's what I feel like!  I am NOT complaining, though.  It is good that we have the opportunity to try new things and to make some needed changes.

Besides putting together the budget for 2011, we have been working on the Prairie Book Festival, the new quiet reading room, our roving reference experiment, and getting ourselves organized for participation in the Kansas Library Express courier.

If you are a fan of HPL on Facebook, you may also have noticed a nifty little post from Wowbrary this week.  Wowbrary is an email newsletter service that sends out to subscribers a list of every new item HPL has added in the previous week.  Now, if you are a fan on Facebook, you'll see a FB post every Wednesday linking to that list of new stuff.  You can be the first to put new things on hold since Wowbrary provides convenient links directly to the items on our catalog system!

Craft Days Begin!

We have a fun little activity going on this month.  Every Wednesday our Children's Department does a come-and-go craft time.  We've spent the better part of a month collecting all sorts of paper towel tubes, shoe boxes and a variety of other stuff.  It's always a fun and chaotic time.  Here are a few pictures from this morning's event after the big rush of kids:

Hard at work making rain sticks and sand art

The colored sand isn't all muddled together yet!

Rain sticks

Waterless fish tanks

 Since we love to count things here in library world, this sort of activity is great because we will be able to count up how many of the craft kits were used and get an idea of how many children participated today ( apparently, we had 108 children who made rain sticks)!

In the coming weeks, we'll have lots of other programs and crafts to boast about.  However, the biggest boast we have right now is the enormous number of children signed up for the most important part of this whole undertaking - the summer reading program.  We are up to 1,134 children signed up to read 10 books or to read for 10 hours!  Once the totals are in from the day care centers that are signed up, I think we'll have close to a record year.  Why is that a big deal?  Early childhood literacy is key to further success in school as the child grows.

Share what you are reading

In this world of social networking, many people and organizations use all sorts of tools, like Facebook, twitter and many others to share information.  The world of reading has a number of similar "niche" sites where readers can create an account and share with one another their reading, opinions about books, reviews, etc.

One such site, goodreads, is featured in the HPL 2010 Project.  I like goodreads well enough, but the owner of the Bru Crue sent me an invite to Shelfari, which I have found to be easier to use, in my opinion.  While I have not had the time to add in all of my favorite books, much less add reviews to them, I have been using it to keep track of my current reading.  I like the slightly gimmick-y "bookshelf" display of the book covers in my Shelfari collection.  I also like the nice step-through process for adding reviews, comments and tags to books I have read or am currently reading.  Combined with Wowbrary weekly newsletters, a nice little service provided through the generosity of the Friends of the Hutchinson Public Library, I'm reading a lot more lately and actually having fun sharing my thoughts!

This reminds me - a colleague of mine and I were talking about forming a science fiction book club.  I am inclined to do so if we find enough interest.  I think a survey might be in order!

Happy Independence Day!  Please be safe and have fun this weekend!

Kansas Library Express - Coming This Week!

On July 1, HPL will become a stop on the Kansas Library Express (KLE) courier system.  I know, "What the heck does that mean?" is surely what you are thinking.  The KLE is a system set up to rapidly exchange library materials between Kansas libraries.  A sort of turbo-charged inter-library loan (ILL) system.  There are about 240 of the 600+ Kansas libraries on the fledgling system so far.  HPL will be able to send and receive books and other material from those libraries with a much faster turn around than by using USPS book rate delivery.

What does that mean for the patrons of the library?  It means that if we can borrow something from a participating library, once ordered through the ILL system, that "something" will arrive within a day or two.  For staff, it means (hopefully) an easier way to ship library material back and forth.  From my point of view, I hope both of those things happen plus I hope HPL saves a little money on postage.  Time will tell for all those things, so please bear with us as we test out the new system.

Sun-baked brain

I have recently returned from a vacation - a much needed vacation.  In fact, since I did not really start to unwind until a couple of days into the vacation, I would have gladly taken another 2 days off at the end.  Alas, duty called and I returned to work instead.  One of the onerous modern-day chores of "getting back to work" is going through all the figuratively piled up email, Google Reader feeds, etc.  As I did this, I came across an interesting blog post at In the Library with the Lead Pipe.   Basically, it is a musing about what librarians really are these days.  The best point made, I think, is that we seem to know more what we aren't rather than what we are.  This is quite true, in my opinion.  Librarians have worked feverishly to shed the stereotype of the uptight, bun-wearing, bespectacled keeper of quiet.  But we have yet to come up with an distinct new  identity.  And in the meantime, though we are still masters of navigating what is now a torrent of information, we seem to have lost the acknowledgment of that authority and skill by the general public.

Somewhat related to that article, but not entirely:  Right now we are making transformations on many fronts at HPL.  Most of them are not showy.  A few of them will be visible, but not in the "Hey look at that shiny new ______ that wasn't there before!"  Many of them have to do with the changing role of the library and the job of "librarian".  One of the visible ones is the changing "Information Desk" area.  Over the next weeks and months, this area and the function of the librarians staffing it will be changing.  We are focusing more on assisting patrons where they are, rather than making them come to a desk and feel as if they are interrupting our "work".  In fact, our work at the Information Desk has always been to be the spot to get a quick answer.  We have had varying degrees of success with that, so we are trying something different.

What's a summer time post without pictures from Summer Reading programs?  Nothing, I say!  Here's a picture of me reading Roger, the Jolly Pirate as part of this week's pirate-themed story time:

Book Review

I just finished reading Matthew Crawford's Shop Class as Soulcraft and I have to say that despite an affinity for casting about fancy words, Mr. Crawford makes tremendous sense.  In fact, I wish all those who are in positions of influencing education policy would read it.  The gist of Shop Class as Soulcraft is that we have, as a society, gone too far down the path of separating thinking from doing.  In the rush to accommodate the "Information Age", shop programs and the like were gutted from public schools.  This was a huge mistake in the sense that it virtually eliminated any alternate paths to what we think of as a satisfying or successful career and life.  It will make you want to read up on Aristotle and his ideas of a stochastic art or techne.

I invite you to take a look at this book and think about the implications for our society.  There is merit in Mr. Crawford's argument that should be seriously considered.

Make a Splash!

We made one.  Some of us did so literally!  I think I went in the tank at least 20 times.  A big thank you to all our hard-working staff members.  The Hutchinson Public Library has the best staff in the world!  Also, a big thank you to the wonderful group of volunteers who helped make all the fun possible.

I hope that everyone who attended had a great time.  I saw a lot of smiles from my rather unstable perch in the dunk tank.  A special thanks to Chris Orwoll from the Kansas Cosmosphere for coming over and helping us out - he's a good sport!

I didn't get to see much of what went on today outside my little cage, but photos are coming in so I thought I'd put a few up here.  I'll post more of them as they become available.  (Thank you Michelle for this batch of pictures!)

This is the Overdrive Digital Bookmobile.  They rolled in and demonstrated all the cool things you can download from their service.  HPL subscribes to OverDrive - all you need is a library card and you can download audiobooks to your heart's content!

I have no idea what is going on here, except it looks like fun!

Hutchinson Fire Department rocks!  They brought the big ladder truck.  I love the ladder truck.

Book Review

Having just finished The eerie silence: renewing our search for alien intelligence by Paul Davies, I thought I would share my opinion.  Davies is a professor at Arizona State University.  In a nutshell, this book, as many of Davies' books are, was both entertaining and thought-provoking.  I am not one to easily grasp advanced scientific concepts, and I always find Professor Davies' books easy to read and understand.  Basically, Davies lays out the case for expanding what we should be looking for if we ever expect to "make contact" with an alien intelligence (think SETI).  Rather than simply searching the universe for radio waves we might want to look beyond what we, as a peculiar species might do (and expect) to establish communications.  I won't bother to go into great detail, but Davies provides chapter after chapter filled with ideas not only for us to use to try to establish contact but for us to look for where someone else might already have tried to contact us.  I would encourage taking a look at this book if for no other reason than it forces one to confront the real challenges and opportunities surrounding, and the deep, deep questions raised by, the fact that there seems to be such an eerie silence out there.

Facebook, privacy, and MORE!!!!!!

An extravaganza!  OK, maybe not.  I think I have mentioned in the past that librarians are a privacy-minded lot.  On the whole, we have taken the idea that what information you access and exchange is your business alone.  I suppose with the one caveat that you "do no harm" to others.  Hmm...does that make us weak libertarians?  People often accuse librarians of being liberal and prone to protecting the rights of criminals and perverts (you know, those folks who try to browse the naughty Internet sites on the public computers).

The truth is, from a certain perspective that's partly true, but with a very good reason.  Don't get me wrong, none of us (librarians) like criminals or perverts.  It is just that now more than ever before, the line between "acceptable" and "unacceptable" in societal terms, has been horribly blurred.  So librarians, as a group, tend to stick to our tried-and-true method of finding the best that we can provide and letting you, the individual, decide what is best for you and your dependents.

For me, it all boils down to an interaction I had with a friend of mine many years ago.  This friend holds many beliefs and opinions that are completely antithetical to mine.  However, we always got along well because we agreed to disagree in some cases.  A statement he made to me one time during a discussion about book banning types and their motivations exemplified what I mean.  Despite his very conservative values, he said to me that he could "never support pulling books from public libraries regardless of how I feel about some of them because that opened the door to someone else removing the books I want, and want others, to be exposed to."

So, how can librarians help patrons with their private pursuits?  With an open mind and good tools.  So where does the Facebook part come in?  This is a great tool to help protect your private information on Facebook.  Bear in mind that the ReclaimPrivacy.org tool is a free tool and provided "as-is".  That said, if you use Facebook, follow the instructions and run the scanner to see what you have out there available to all.  I made some changes to my account based on the results.  Here is an article with more information.

Summer Celebration - with a special guest

Summer is nearly upon us and we are busily preparing for the summer reading program.  This year, the theme is "Make a Splash" so rather predictably, we have a number of fun water-related games and activities in the works for the annual big kick-off.  Among your choices for water-based mayhem will be a chance to soak me in the dunk tank.  I'll bet you all have lousy aim!  (A friendly taunt :-P )

Another nifty activity that day will be a visit from the OverDrive Digital Bookmobile.  The Hutchinson Public Library contracts with the OverDrive company to provide downloadable audiobooks and (so far) a few epub ebooks.  The Digital Bookmobile provides a unique opportunity to try out various electronic gadgets and learn about the wealth of literary entertainment available through the service.

You can check up on the latest information about these programs at HPL's Facebook page.  There are FREE programs scheduled throughout June and July, including our popular craft Wednesdays in July.

I wonder how many books will be read during the various summer reading programs?  Last year we had nearly 1,100 children, young adults and adults sign up for the programs.  The children's program required the reader to read 10 books to complete it and just shy of 40% reached that goal.  The young adults and adults averaged about 5 books per person entered.  Checkouts overall were up 5% last summer over the previous year.  I hope this year they are up even more and I'd love to see us break the 50% mark for children reaching the reading goal!

More HPL 2010 Project Goodness

While the project's initial run-through may be over, if you missed out the opportunity is now here to see what it was all about.  Also, even if you did go through the 10-week project but didn't do all the exercises, you can now go back to any week you wish and try something you skipped.  The modified site will remain active through the end of 2010.

The link to the 2010 Project website is here.

Things to note about the re-vamped site:

1)  There are no more "Report your progress" links.  This is because the reporting feature was our way of keeping track of who was eligible for the contest.

2)  Speaking of contests, they are over.  The real reward though, is the knowledge contained in the project, right?

3)  No one will be monitoring links listed in the "Related Resources" sections (or the main activities for that matter).  If something becomes unavailable, we are sorry but you will just have to move on.  The Internet is littered with good ideas that just couldn't sustain themselves.

4)  The HPL 2010 Project is now truly self-starting and self-paced.  No more gently encouraging emails but also no more deadlines.

Finally, a HUGE "Thank You!" to everyone who participated in the project.  This includes library patrons, library staff, and especially Kristine, the creator and driving force behind the Project.  We learned so much from the participants that will be useful in designing classes, services, and special activities, I can't even begin to describe it.

2010 Project Wrap-up

The 2010 Project is finally [sot of] finished!  I included the "sort of" because the part that is complete is the initial 10-week roll-out of the program.  The initial group of patrons and library staff who signed up to start in late January / early February had the opportunity to go through the program as it was revealed week-by-week and participate in the contests and receive completion prizes.  Now, however, the 2010 Project website is getting a minor re-vamp and will be made available as a link off of our library website in early May.  This link will remain active through the end of the year.  This will allow participants to go back and explore related resources or try activities they may have skipped the first time through.

Most importantly, opening up the 2010 Project site for the rest of the year will allow people who weren't able to start in the first place a chance to try the program.  Of the 300+ people who initially signed up, 150 (give or take a couple) finished.  The participants generated over 100 pages of comments and suggestions!  Here are a few examples:


"Thanks to the HPL Project Teacher and those who support and sponsor these programs it gives old dogs new tricks…" 

"Thanks for the various topics covered. I would not have known about them otherwise."

"This has been a great resource for the HPL to offer. No where else in Hutchinson would you be able to find such a wealth of knowledge for everyone at no cost. This is especially helpful to us technology challenged senior citizens!"

"The truth is, I have been opened to so many new things that I enjoyed each week for a different reason. Taking this class shows me that although I resist the technology forms of "socializing", I am curious about it and want to join in (on my own terms). What a shame it would be to be left behind in this era of technology.  A great project. thanks, HPL."

"This is a great project and I hope you have more of them in the future. Keeping up with technology is a never-ending process and you're helping us get up to speed on the Information Superhighway - thanks!"


"I would be interested in any other online educational projects you might have in the future. This was quick, fun, and easy and I picked up some information I wouldn't have known about. Learning something new just keeps you that much sharper, and you have to be in this technological world."

"Please keep me on your database list if you do another! Thanks!"

That last comment really gets me to thinking.  When we set out to do this we had NO idea how many people would be interested, nor did we have any way to contact and advertise the project cheaply once we decided to do it.  As it turned out, we were overwhelmed by the response.  So I wonder how people feel about signing up for events with a contact and then having the library, from time-to-time, use those contacts to send out alerts for upcoming events?  Hmm...another new project to work on.

Time for a different look

It's Spring, what can I say?  I'll try the left-side links for a while.  I am left-handed after all.

Do you have a Wowbrary subscription?  If not, and you are interested in hearing about all the new stuff that HPL acquires before anyone else, I would highly recommend signing up.  Personally, it has contributed greatly to reinvigorating my desire to read for pleasure.  There are so many great things coming in every week.  One word of warning however, some patrons have been experiencing difficulty receiving their Wowbrary emails when signed up using an email address from Cox Communications (for example, "john123@cox.net").  We are working with Cox to solve the problem, but as of 4/21 it is still an ongoing issue.  I will update with a resolution as soon as we have one.

One of the books I found through browsing the Wowbrary newsletter was Boneshaker by Cherie Priest.  If an action-packed, zombie-filled book set in an 1870's steampunk alternate universe sounds like fun - this is the book for you!  I think it would make a great movie - Ridley Scott would do it right.

I just started The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence by Paul Davies.  Dr. Davies has published numerous works on physics written in a way that even a mathematically-challenged librarian can understand them.  This one is interesting in that Davies examines the SETI program and the search for "ET" to date and describes the possibly erroneous underlying assumptions we've made in trying to detect how an alien species might contact us.  As I said, I've just started this one but it is shaping up to be something I would recommend if you are inclined as I am to occasionally scan the stars and wonder who or what and how many might be looking back.

Clouds and my experience with the "Magic Smoke"

No, this isn't a confessional.  The Magic Smoke I am talking about is something that at my old job we called the "Genie" - that smoke that appears when an electronic device burns up or short-circuits.  Proper usage is, "Dave powered on the reference desk CPU, heard a crackling, and saw the genie escape."  Or one might say in a stern, chiding way, "It's definitely down since you let out the magic smoke!"  While I (thankfully) don't have to deal with it, at least on a regular basis anymore at work, the genie escaped from my home PC about 6 months ago causing a mini-crisis in my home.  After some work, all was well and 99.9% of our home network life was restored (the remaining 0.1% was lost saved games - the kids were a little miffed...)

What's the point, you ask?  A good portion of my documents, spreadsheets, etc. and software were not stored on my genie-less PC, they were stored in "the Cloud".  This situation certainly has its advantages.  I could use our other computer to work in the meantime, for one.  Also, there was no fretting over anything but the inconvenience of having to order new guts for the dead computer.  Cloud computing saved me again a couple of weeks ago when my work computer succumbed after a battle with a drive-by virus.  A combination of keeping important and/or currently used documents in the cloud and on a back-up USB hard drive made the whole experience much more tolerable since I lost no data.

But there are some worrisome aspects of cloud lurking always in the back of my mind.  Not least of these is privacy.  Although that is an 18 month-old article, the fight over who can see how much of your info out there in the "cloud" is still raging.  This brings a definite sense of insecurity to privacy-minded folks, like librarians.  Google, Amazon, and those sorts of commercial enterprises already track our searching to serve us targeted ads, ISPs could potentially (and may be already) tracking much more.  Nearly 5 years ago, an agency of the federal government was alleged to have captured data without warrant and with the cooperation of AT&T, (the folks trying to deflect the issue in that "privacy" article above).

Privacy issues aside, cloud computing appears to be gaining considerable, if sometimes grudging, acceptance.  And, as with all new twists in our technological world, our library and libraries everywhere will continue to wrestle with it.

What would it be like if...

...we didn't have an "Information Desk" on the first floor?  We are beginning to explore ways to give it a try.  Reference service (and the big desk) would remain as-is on the second floor.  But how would anyone get help on the first floor, you ask?  Instead of waiting for you to come to us (which often doesn't happen anyway), we would come to you.  This is a not-new, but not universally embraced idea called "roving reference".

 Why would we do such a thing?  At the root, because of studies like this:

• A study by Swope and Katzer in 1972 suggested that the majority of users who have questions in mind do not approach the reference desk for assistance.(1) This problem was compounded by the large-scale move to online public access catalogs (OPACs) and CD-ROM databases in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

So the idea is that if you won't come to us, we'll come out from behind the desk and help you!  The technology for such an endeavor has never been better - small, light, sometimes hyped, tablet-type devices to wirelessly connect to the Internet and cell phones for making calls would replace the desk phone.  That's all the equipment needed, really.  Maybe a pair of these for each of the reference staff.  What do you think?  Are we crazy?  Bear in mind, of course, that we will be experimenting with this concept regardless!

Learning Day - [UPDATE]

I am spending two days in Wichita at the Kansas Library Association annual conference.  It's nice to take a day or two every once in a while and learn what is going on with other people who do what you do.  It is also nice (sometimes) to sit in a session and think, "Hey, we already do that!"  Other times though, while it might sting a bit, it's nice to hear about a better way of doing something you thought you were doing well.

One thing in that latter category applies to HPL for sure.  It is that HPL has some major work to do on its website.  This is something I have been conscious of for a long, long time.  It's also something for which we haven't had the time / skill set / money to complete.  But those excuses are going by the wayside.  We have a happy confluence of opportunities coming over the next 2-3 months and we are starting the planning phase of a re-vamp.

I am looking forward to this afternoon when I will be learning more about graphic novel collecting and also about the Kansas Library Express which is a state-wide system for sharing books and other material. [UPDATE] - I have looked through the information from the KLE courier system discussion and feel somewhat more confident now about joining the network and receiving real value from it.  They presented a nice map which I will post here as soon as I can get it scanned.  The 200 or so libraries already participating are distributed rather nicely throughout the state.  Some of the larger libraries with which we regularly exchange lots of books are not yet on the system.  However, enough of our lighter-volume "regular" borrowers are on it to warrant a serious look.  Time to start thinking about Monday and putting all these good ideas into practice...

HPL 2010 Project Update

The end is near - but only in a way.  When we started the 2010 Project we always had the intention of leaving the completed project up to be used even after the initial "run through".  Now that we are nearing the end of our 10-week course, it is a good time to take a look at what we have accomplished.

Mainly due to the dedication and hard work of Kristine, our technology trainer, over 300 people have been exposed to scores of useful Internet-based tools and library resources.  On a personal level, I accomplished a change in habit by participating in the 2010 Project.  As I have alluded to in previous posts, I often feel behind the curve regarding the Internet and what tools are the "in" thing.  My new habit, developed over the 10 weeks of the 2010 Project, is to each week try one new tool I've heard about.  Will I ever "be on top of it"?  I doubt it.  But I will be keeping pace, I hope.  Here's one that I just learned about, a radio station locator called Antenna.  This one requires an install and seems to have trouble with Windows Vista - proceed at your own risk!

I've strayed off the topic a bit here, so back to my original thought.  If we assume about half of the 300+ people signed up for the 2010 Project actually complete all 10 weeks, then those 150 folks will have learned a minimum of 10 useful "things" each, hopefully feel much more confident in assessing new tools coming out in the future, and will share their impressions with people they know.  This last bit is important because we will be leaving the HPL 2010 Project website up for the balance of this year.  Although the prizes for completion will no longer be available, the resource will be there for any who want to explore the program.  I will post the web address for the project when it becomes available, so keep it in mind if you didn't get in on the original run-through.

Fiber is your friend

In more ways than one, really.  I am not talking about bran muffins, I am talking about fiber optic cable in this case, although if you are eating something with whole grains right now, more power to you!  Anyway, the library system where I worked prior to the wonderful Hutchinson Public Library was part of a county government.  To their credit, they realized that as their county grew and data demand soared they needed a solution that would get them ahead of the curve.  So about 5 years ago in 2004-5, they started building their own 100Mb (megabit) fiber network.  For comparison, the average home connection speed in Kansas in 2009 was 4.9Mb, not quite 1/20th of what they built.  So this was a pretty progressive and aggressive plan at the time.  In fact, when I left that library system the slowest connection in the county system was the 10Mb pipe to the Internet.

Why am I carrying on about data and pipes and megabits?  Because of this article.  The National Broadband Plan could wire "anchor institutions" such as schools, community centers, colleges and libraries such as good ol' HPL, with 1Gb fiber connections.  A gigabit represents 1 billion bits or 1,000 megabits.  In other words, this FCC proposal would create connection points in communities 10 times faster than the network my old employers built.  The implications are enormous.  A plan of this type could leapfrog the US back into the top tier of nations in the area of Internet connection speed.  Since we currently rank 28th in the world, I think this plan is worth attempting on the basis of lowering our international "Embarrassment-to-Prestige Ratio" alone.

More importantly, it could create the possibility in virtually every rural town for solid, high-speed Internet access.  This quote, from the ArsTechnica article above sums it up for me:  Bob Bocher, who works as a consultant with the Wisconsin State Library, says, "The more than 16,000 public libraries across the country are often the only places in their communities that offer no-fee Internet access to all residents.

This is certainly the case, for better or worse, at HPL.  As our bandwidth needs have grown, an ever-larger chunk of our limited funds have gone toward maintaining a tolerable usability level connecting to the Internet and the library's many paid digital services.  So I am excited about this change.  I wonder if the funding will be found to make it a reality?

The HPL 2010 Project and Ebooks

Typically around this time of year, HPL sponsors a huge number of programs.  This surge in program offerings seems to come from two directions; our own surge in energy following the sometimes-exhausting holiday season, and an urge to try some new ideas.

The HPL 2010 Project is one of those new ideas.  We are now past the mid-point in this experiment in self-paced technology training.  Hundreds of patrons and dozens of HPL staff members have learned about RSS feeds, streaming music, online TV, online newspapers and book reviews, cool library tools, with much more to come.

The responses to this project have been so overwhelmingly positive that I think we will adapt the concept of The 2010 Project for future uses and maybe offer it as an ongoing self-paced teaching tool.

And now a word about ebooks (because I can't help myself).  We receive a variety of questions about ebooks here at HPL.  Most of them revolve around the basic, 'Do you have any?"  the answer to that is, at this point, "precious few".  We have access to more through the State Library's download site, but as is the case with all new formats, it takes awhile to build what one might consider a 'good" collection.  That's not a cop-out, it is simply a function of having the money to do it or not.  One of our considerations is what will become the "standard" so that we don't buy a bunch of titles that are incompatible with the majority of readers.  I read lots about this, having set up a Google news custom section for this topic.  Recently a great article came up that I would like to recommend.  It sums up the current state format standards (or lack thereof) much better than I could do it.

OK, that's enough rambling.  Back to worrying about roof leaks and budgets...sigh.

Books, books, books

Sometimes as we (and by "we", I mean "I") march along, toiling away to keep up with changes in technology, tastes, economies, and on and on, we overlook the fact that as librarians our basic stock-in-trade is still the humble paper book.  Will the "book" die?  Should we add more of format "X" instead of format "Y"?  These are a couple of things I think about a lot.  The former question is answered, I think, by this great article by author John Green.  I guess I should say that it doesn't directly answer whether or not the "book" will die, rather it suggests that maybe we shouldn't sweat that so much as whether reading will die.  This is the fundamental issue.  From a librarian's perspective, we want people to read, we want people to find what they like / need / want to fulfill their knowledge "quest", whatever that may be.

Librarians are closely associated with the place called "the library".  I know...durrrr.  It is a place filled with stuff, currently the stuff is mostly books.  On the surface, there's nothing remarkable about that except for the scale and the organization of it. But underneath is the thing that truly matters about a library collection.  That is the fact that the "things" in it were chosen for a reason.  They were chosen by a skilled professional selector.  The items in a library collection are in general chosen to fill a need AND because that particular item was the best available at the time.  I do not know of any librarian worth their salt who wouldn't strive to find the "best" whatever to fill the gap in their collection.  That, to me, is where the true power lies for librarians.  It doesn't really matter whether it is format "X" or "Y", the value of the item to whatever body of knowledge it might belong trumps format.

I guess I am trying to say that while more formats might appear, it does not really matter.  The savvy librarian who can advertise the fact that he or she has collected the best of what is available, will preserve the place of the library and the librarian as a trusted authority in its community.

Question Time

Not for me, for you.  We are preparing our move toward a "quiet reading room" and I would like to gather input from the general public regarding features desired for inside the space, what the surrounding area should be like, and also what should happen in nearby areas such as those occupied by the magazines and newspapers area and the YAs (young adults).  In order to gather the information, I invite comments here on this blog but I have also created a short survey here and on our website.  Here are some samples:

In this first one, please note that we will not have a glass-walled box.  I was looking more at the furniture.

Again, looking at the furniture - large chairs, study tables, etc.

A much more traditional look in this picture, and closer to the amount of space we have available.

A modern look with a long computer-friendly table on one wall.

We might be able to "fake" a fireplace as in this photo.

The overall idea is to have a place where there is guaranteed peace in which to concentrate and at the same time be comfortable and inviting.  Our room is not gigantic, but it is a good size.  The area outside the room is large but broken up by several columns and by virtue of being near both the YA and magazine areas tending toward the possibility of noise.  Most of the time, however, this area too is fairly quiet.  Part of the decor for the quiet room will be woodwork from the Women's Civic Center.  It is dark, stately, beautiful paneling that I think will lend some gravity to the space.  Other than that, I think any thing that will fit is fair game as are any ideas for the area surrounding the room.  Please lend your opinion, I'd like to hear your ideas!

Computing in the Cloud

Sounds peaceful, even idyllic doesn't it?  For the most part it actually is.  In fact, I think this whole notion of cloud computing (EDIT: this article is a great overview) is the most important increase in Internet usefulness since, well, ever I guess.  I say that because, all the social and interactive tools of the Web 2.0 idea aside, this shift is fundamental.  It moves us away from being tied to a location, i.e. your personal computer / desk / network hardware / building to access your favorite tools.  As long as you have signal, you have access to your stuff on your smart phone, net- or notebook.  Of course, the devil is in the details.

I read this article today regarding the need for privacy and security laws in the realm of cloud computing.  Now, the skeptic in me wonders why Microsoft would be bringing up privacy concerns and security concerns.  Maybe to take the high ground after the whole Google vs. China situation (read about that here and here).  No matter the reason, Microsoft is right.  From my position as a person "in charge" of literally tens of thousands of patron records, data security is pretty high on the list of things to have covered.  Now, we are not anywhere near the stage where HPL could provide an integrated library system in a cloud environment even if we hadn't just purchased a new system and hardware to match.

As an individual, I like the cloud concept and am increasingly becoming beholden to Google.  At this point, using Google Docs / Reader / Calendar / GMail / Chat / Sites / Analytics / etc., I really don't need anything else for work besides access to the library's automation system.  But I also don't really believe that Google can or will live up to its "Do No Evil" slogan if left to its own devices.  And not to pick on Google, they are just the most familiar target for me in this area.

Here at HPL, we have been using various free Google tools in place of internally maintained pieces of software and hardware for various experimental programs.  We are using a lot of shared calendars, for example, in order to keep track of each other and all the events that go on around here.  We are also using Google Docs and forms for our Purchase vs. Borrow program for materials.  But for now, experiments are probably all we will do until the "cloudscape" becomes becomes a little less nebulous.