"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.