Teens and Reading

Lots of interesting food for thought in this Nielsen survey: Nielsen Books and Consumers U.S.

The teaser is that despite their growing up with technology as much a part of their lives as anything else, teens lag behind other age groups in ebook purchasing. There are a number of reasons posited for this seemingly strange result. Among them are obvious ones, such as teens are much less likely to have credit cards with which to buy econtent. I think this is a bit of a stretch though, considering every teen I know uses a parent's card or gift cards to Amazon or iTunes for digital content. Another theory is that teens share a lot of books and that is MUCH easier to do with a printed book than with econtent. This seems more plausible to me. It makes me wonder though what more we could be doing as a library to cater to the reading tastes of teens. How can we be more responsive in our collection development and reach out to these younger readers in the same way we've traditionally reached out to other groups of readers.

Tarzan, John Carter, and Julian?

This month, our science fiction discussion group jumped in to the way-back machine and read the first part of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "The Moon Maid". This is a future history story of Earth Burroughs began in 1919. It is pretty safe to say that we agreed this particular story has not stood the test of time. Burroughs didn't spend much time thinking through any of the science, even of his day, around physics, planetary science, etc. The image I had in my mind of the story's narrator was that of the "Great White Hunter" or European gentleman explorer on a trip to some "savage" land like Africa and reporting his observations of the savage peoples he encounters through the thoroughly prejudiced eyes of a man of his time. I guess for me it ended up being more like a fantasy adventure story or western-like story that happened to take place on the moon.

On the plus side, we had candy and cookies and a good discussion of the future reading list!

If you are interested in joining us in 2015, please contact me at gwamsley@hutchpl.org. We have the first 3 months worth of books lined up, but all bets are off after that. each member will be bringing 4-6 suggested titles, we'll combine them in a list and vote on what to read to fill out 2015. Also, at least one choice should have a movie version to go along with it. Finally, we are open to considering a different meeting time if that helps grow the group. Currently, we meet the first Thursay of each month at 7pm.

Next month - Alan Moore's Watchmen

Zone One

The SF Book Discussion group met November 6th and discussed the Colson Whitehead book Zone One. If we had only known, we could have included this book in our 2012 series of apocalyptic science fiction reads! Personally, I was extremely impressed with the writing and think this must be the most literary zombie apocalypse book out there. Whitehead has a great way with words and uses his command of the language to great effect.

Unlike most apocalypse-themed books where mankind is struggling to rebuild, I never had the feeling that the stubborn tenacity of mankind might prevail. Rather, I had this feeling of impending doom. A sense that rather than being salvageable, human civilization itself had become infected and would be better off if someone shot it in the head like any other skel.

As an added bonus, Whitehead introduces the concept of PASD - Post Apocalyptic Stress Disorder. This is why I would have loved to have finished our series of apocalyptic books back in 2012 with this one - then we would have understood, I think, why we all sort of felt the way we did after reading so many depressing, world-destroying books! We were suffering the stresses of surviving the apocalypse.

Silliness aside, I highly recommend this book EVEN IF zombies are not your thing. I think the other members of our discussion group would say something similar. Whitehead's writing makes it worth the effort.

Good Show Mr. Gaiman!

My favorite library advocate Neil Gaiman makes another articulate defense of libraries in this article from The Guardian.

In answer to this: "If you imagine yourself as a kid now, why not get that stuff on your phone? Why do you need the building? " Here's what Gaiman had to say:

"I think, firstly, nobody is curating the information for you. Nobody is giving you a safe space. I used to love libraries at school. Because school libraries had an enforced quiet policy, which meant they tended to be bully-free zones. They were places where you could do your homework, you could do stuff, whether it was reading books, or getting on with things that you wanted to get on with, and know that you were safe there. And people responded to your enthusiasms. If you like a certain writer, or a certain genre, librarians love that. They love pointing you at things that you’ll also like. And that gets magical. If you like RA Lafferty, you’ll like Ursula Le Guin, you’ll like Tolkien. And there’s web access. I’ve talked to a lot of librarians, and one of the things that they do is help people who do not have web access. Most job applications, and a lot of information on benefits and things like that, are out on the web. We act as if a smartphone and internet access are now handed out at birth. But it’s simply not true. A lot of people don’t have web access."

This is the heart of the matter here. Libraries curate the information. Librarians care about you and your interest. It doesn't matter what the interest is, they're going to help you along with it. It doesn't matter if you're looking for a pastime fiction book or a new career, there's a resource for it ready and at your disposal.

Thank you Mr. Gaiman.

Author Visit - Laura Moriarty

We had a fantastic turn-out last night (10/9/14) for visiting author Laura Moriarty! About 70 people packed the auditorium to hear Ms. Moriarty talk about her writing process and her book, "The Chaperone". It was a great program - thanks Laura!

Libraries and the Digital World

The article found here by Kathryn Zickuhr includes a slide show of the findings of 3 years of study into American's relationship with public libraries.

I find it fascinating! Among the many revealing tidbits in the slide show summary are slides like this one showing the results of their e-reading vs. print book reading habits is especially heartening to me:

The reason I find it heartening is that 76% of American adults (18+) read a book in the past year - 3 out of every 4 adults reads! The troubling part to me though is where public libraries fit into that number. If our usage statistics are any indication, 3 out of 4 Hutchinson residents might be reading, but far less than 3 out of 4 of those are borrowing those books rather than buying them. If this is due to the rise of e-reading, the answer is kinda simple - library ebook platforms are, well, not to put too fine a point on it, "awkward" to use. I'm not going to say anything rude, like "they suck", although that might be a fair assessment; nor am I going to say something paranoid like publishers are intentionally trying to squeeze libraries out of existence to theoretically "maximize" profits.

No, instead, I'm going to say that libraries need to do better in the ebook arena. I'll take the liberty of putting that on our collectively broad public library shoulders and say that we just need to find another way. There are ideas out there - JukePop is one that provides an interesting example of what people are trying to create looking at libraries as partners instead of competitors. JukePop seeks to provide libraries with a ready and easily accessible source of independently published ebooks while helping the authors of those ebooks get editorial, publishing and promotional support.

There are many other initiatives that seek similar outcomes. The thing is that people are still reading, public libraries need to reach out to them and show them, with easy-to-use tools in hand, that we can help.

Further in the article and slideshow listed above is this slide:

Public libraries clearly act, even in this "modern" digital age, as a great leveler. In every single category listed, lower income Americans value public libraries for their services. We must continue to provide the cost-effective, obviously much wanted and needed services, but in the best ways we can, not just the same ways we always have.

Library ebook rights

Sadly, I doubt even this baby step could ever happen in the US, but there is an interesting case working through the EU courts right now involving a copyright case in Germany. It is far from resolved, but the issue is whether or not libraries in Europe can digitize books and offer them electronically.

Here is an article summarizing what's happening.

Basically, the argument is that because of the way EU copyright law is written, libraries can digitize a book in their collection and then make it available to the public on "designated" terminals in the library. The result is that if a patron makes a copy to a flash drive or emails it to themselves or otherwise creates a copy, then responsibility is on the patron, not the library for any copyright violation.

That is a big legal issue, but not much of a convenience, usability, or "freeing of information" issue for people or libraries. The solution to this problem is a payment model that allows sharing of copyrighted information while providing compensation to the intellectual property creators and owners. That is a pipe dream at this point in the process, but it could happen some day - in fact something MUST happen. The person who figures it out will be the equivalent of the creator of the printing press, in my opinion.

Not library-related, but...

Autumn in Kansas (yes, I know, it's still technically Summer):

Chart courtesy of Weather Underground

100-ish today for a high, 54 for a high by Friday.

What Should a Public Library...

I've spent some time wrestling with a title for this post. The reason being is that I think I may have wandered too far afield in my thinking of the purpose, the reason for being, the meaning of a public library.

When I began my library career, roughly 20 years ago, the Internet was truly a novelty. Internet meant text, clunky searching, slow connections, and meager results Libraries were the places where information was collected, organized, and stored. Most people associate great stacks filled with books and quiet nooks in which to study. Back then librarians were the experts; programs focused on reading, culture, and the arts; and authoritative sources of information were organized and ready for researchers. A public library's mission was to provide information to fuel ideas, provide low- or no-cost entertainment, and to educate in a sustaining, life-long way.

Now, two decades later, a public library is a place where people can consult expert librarians and tools, attend programs ranging from story time for toddlers to art exhibitions to Talk20 gatherings for sharing ideas and community building. ...Wait a minute. Are we really doing the same things for which we've always been known? Is our mission still relevant?

So what is the issue? Why do we (as a library) feel like we need to "find our purpose"? I think this identity crisis comes from one source - the patrons who are less and less frequently availing themselves of our services. Are they not reading as much? There is some indication that this is the case. Do people really find the answer they need using Google? Here, let me Google that for you... I think it is simply that we feel like we don't have time to do any "library things" IRL anymore.

What we as public librarians don't really know is, "What do you want from us?" Apaprently, we don't even really know how to ask you that question. If you can find the time to tell me what you want the PL to do, we'll try to do it. I'm not talking about getting the latest season of Game of Thrones on DVD for you, I'm talking big picture what-would-make-us-central-to-your-lives level thoughts here. What makes a public library relevant to its community in our world today?

Paper v. Screen

Image from the American Library Association website

A couple of studies have been done recently regarding reading comprehension and reading from a paper source or an electronic source. This study from Norway looked at 10th graders and found that information read from a paper source creates a deeper level of understanding and is retained for longer.

It will be interesting to see where this goes if results can be replicated elsewhere. There is a massive shift going on currently with text books. Many schools are shifting to digital-only distribution of materials to students. As you know if you've read more of my rambling entries on this blog, I am no luddite. I enjoy technology and the clever and inventive ways libraries and librarians put it to use. But I have to wonder if it will turn out that ebooks and their ilk will, rather than supplant, end up coexisting with their ancient counterpart, the paper book

Renewed interest in bibliotherapy?

I read a lot about reading. Really, it makes more sense than it sounds. I am obsessed with the idea that early reading - pre-school reading - is the key to success in school more than just about anything else. As I read about reading though, I come across many articles about other uses, focuses, etc. This is one of those from Smithsonian Magazine: Doctors are now prescribing books to treat depression.

This is no new idea, in fact it was an old idea when I studied counseling psychology in college. Intuitively it makes sense to me that reading would help if one felt totally isolated from those around her or him. It might even "trick" you into coming out of that inward-spiraling cycle that is depression.

Talk20 Returns!

It's the return of the six minute and forty second challenge! Come listen, mingle, and learn about something new. Listen to local stories you might never have imagined. Here's a description of what I'm talking about. It was an amazing success the first time out and this second event promises the same. July 18th at 7pm here at the Hutchinson Public Library.

The list of presenters will be up soon - check back for the line-up!

Prepare for your Robot Overlords

Some people know that I have a tongue-in-cheek "obsession" with Skynet, the computer network from the Terminator movie series that becomes self-aware and concludes that humankind are not necessary. It's a bit of science fiction that hopefully will not become reality, but that makes for a great action movie premise.

To (again tongue-in-cheek) help this future become a reality, HPL has deployed a new RFID system from Bibliotheca to help us cut down on the amount of tedious, repetitive work and focus more on customer service.

Our new check-in shelves help our staff AND you in several ways:

• You can now see in real-time that the items you've returned are actually checked in.
• We can see right away when an item "on hold" has been returned, so we can process it right away.
• By placing items on shelves instead of dumping them in a bin, we all save wear-and-tear on the materials.
• The items you return are immediately available for another patron to use, simply by browsing the return shelves.

Our new self-check kiosks are similar in ways to many others we have had over the last 10-15 years. The new ones do have a couple of enhancements:

• We have added extra security - you must enter a password (PIN) to check out items.
• Multiple items check out simultaneously.

What does this new equipment mean for us in terms of saving time? Here is one example involving the process to check in an item. The old process (once you dropped it off in a bin) went as follows:

1. Staff waited until bin was reasonably full (this meant digging if we needed to find an item to check in early, such as when a patron had reached the limit for certain types of, like DVDs)
2. A staff member rolled the filled bin to a separate check-in space.
3. The staff member checked in each item one at a time
4. The staff member sorted, printed holds slips, etc. one at a time
5. The items were loaded back on a cart and rolled to reshleving areas
6. Items were ordered on the carts and reshelved.

The new process eliminates steps 2,3, and 4 and shortens steps 1 and 5. The end result being that staff members have more time to help patrons use the library to its full potential.

I think anything we can do to focus more of our time on actually serving the public rather than performing tedious, repetitive tasks is a good thing. Our investment in this system may be "buying in to" whiz-bang technology, but the goal has nothing to do with getting the latest-greatest thing and everything to do with being available for our users.

2014 Summer: Fizz, Boom, READ!

HPL kicked off summer reading with its annual Summer Celebration today. It was a HUGE success due to the hard work a dedication of library staff and a small army of volunteers. You can check out some pictures of the fun on the library's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Hutchinson.Public.Library.ks

My little part in the show was helping kids make paper airplanes to throw over the balcony rail at various targets on the first floor. There were lots of great plane designs - and hey, how often are you encouraged to learn a little bit about aerodynamics by throwing paper airplanes in the library?

The rain held off today but the clouds we did have provided shade for the usually toasty outside activities! Thanks again to all the staff members who have put in so much time to pull off this event and double thanks to all the volunteers who run the gamut from Boy Scouts from Troop 21, YA Advisory Board members, RSVP volunteers, sisters, brothers, husbands, and more.

Special thanks to the Hutchinson Fire Department for bringing the big ladder truck and another truck to display. Thanks also to all the other organizations who came out to celebrate science and reading including the Cosmosphere, The Kansas Kids Museum, the Great Plains Nature Center, and I'm sure others that I am momentarily forgetting!

There are programs and event going on all summer at the library and they are all free! Give us a call (620)663-5441, check our website, or contact us on Facebook. Hope to see you in the library this summer!

National Library Week, April 13-19

Lots of cool things will be going on at libraries across the country this week. One of the cool things being done by a company is being done by Oxford University Press. For the week, all of their online resources (Think Oxford English dictionary, for example) will be free to use.

Here is the link to the announcement.

New Job Search Tool!

The Hutchinson Public Library has added a new search tool to its arsenal of job search and business information offerings. A to Z databases is a great resource for jobs (a quick search turned up over 20,000 jobs listed in Kansas). If you are an HPL library card holder you can access this tool from anywhere. If not, and you are in our building you can still access the tool through one of our computers.

It has 10s of millions of business listings, resident listings and even a cell phone # database besides the job bank.

Warning: Education Rant Ahead!

Ordinarily, I try to not stray far from the areas of reading, libraries, the effects of technology on libraries, and activities at HPL here on this blog. But today I am going to stray off topic and into the realm of education, migration, and the economy. With that in mind, the following are my opinions, not my library's, and I am expressing them to blow off steam...

First, education: Our great state of Kansas has long struggled with providing public education. Wide-open spaces, few people, and a great divide between the rich and the poor have long caused strife and acrimony. Mostly, we've ended up in court because we can't decide how to solve the problem ourselves as citizens and law-makers.

This past go-round has been different. The courts ruled that the legislature needed to better-fund schools. The legislature though, caught up in the lunacy that is "all taxes are bad, no taxes would be Nirvana", are on the verge of crippling our state by failing to provide any real solutions to the education issue. The group to suffer? Maybe you think I'm going to say the poor or disadvantaged. Of course, they always end up with the raw deal. No, the people who are going to suffer most are all of us. There are so many things wrong with the current funding proposals, I am not at all sure where to start.

Lawmakers in Kansas seem fixated on destroying public schooling. They hate Common Core (you can read the standards yourself at that link). Whatever. I hated No Child Left Behind because of its good intentions but unintended outcome of forcing teachers to teach the test so that they didn't lose their jobs. After reading about it, I can't imagine Common Core will be worse. What I find outrageous about the funding bill are the attempts to eliminate more taxes while supposedly fulfilling the funding obligations of the State. For example, Kansas lawmakers have tied tax breaks for corporations to private schooling in the education funding bill. What? If the schools are broken, we'll give you money to go elsewhere RATHER THAN SPEND THAT MONEY TO FIX THE SCHOOLS? What happened to providing for the common good? I am a tax payer with children in public school and in no way do I want to support an "opt out" philosophy. Well, hey, at least we're not embarrassing ourselves debating evolution or something.

The real problem though is my second and third gripes;  Kansas lawmakers keep cutting taxes to businesses saying that it's the only way to grow the economy. Information has come out that shows Kansas, despite gutting its revenue streams lags all states around us in economic growth post-recession. The State collects less in taxes, but has shifted much of the burden to counties and municipalities. The economy is still sluggish. That leads to more people moving away. Of course, that has been a topic of worry since I was in school some 30 years ago. Youth leave and never come back. Interestingly, the trend of folks (not just youth, but all ages) leaving the state at a faster rate than before has accelerated.

Here's my theory: people want to live in a place with a sense of responsibility. A place where corporate interest is balanced by responsible taxation. No one wants to move to a state where you can (theoretically, 'cause it ain't happenin' here!) get a great job, but have terrible, under-funded schools in towns that have to charge high property taxes just to keep the doors open. Would we all like to pay zero taxes? Of course! But reality intrudes into that simplistic desire. We want good education to build smart, capable young workers, to attract business...to grow.

OK, rant over. If you've stuck it out this long, here's a picture of Batman riding an elephant as your prize:

Most Engaged Library Users? Also the Most Tech-Savvy!

Another study indicates something counter-intuitive (at least upon first glance) about libraries and technology. It turns out that the most engaged library users are at the same time heavy users of technology. This might not surprise librarians, but it should be a surprise to so many in news media that have been trumpeting the end of or obsolescence of libraries. A recent Pew Internet study indicates 2/3rds of Americans are engaged library users. The core of the report (for me) is this:

“A key theme in these survey findings is that many people see acquiring information as a highly social process in which trusted helpers matter,” Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project and a main author of the report said.

And many find that librarians have access to networks of information and information sources that complement the research tech-savvy adults can do on their own. I might live to see the day when my opinion is held as truth: That the librarians - the actual people - are any library's most valuable asset. Read the survey results here.

Bravo my fellow librarians! Carry on!

Reading - A Conundrum

The United States has an obsession with reading - and not in a good way. It's really an obsession with who is reading, what those people are reading and for how long. I have the feeling that it is one of those things with which we have become overly concerned. We are focusing on it so intently and picking at it like an itchy scab that it is never going to be fixed.

These are some curious ideas: How Public Libraries Are Solving America's Reading Problem. There is a lot of talk about merchandising and displays, dumping the Dewey Decimal System, etc. I say the ideas are curious because none of these ideas are new. This discussion has been worked over for more than a decade; the article is mostly about merchandising books rather than warehousing them.

HPL is decidedly a warehouse - mainly out of necessity. We have so many items in our collection that we have to use every shelf, every corner and every nook that we can to store them. Heck, we even have an overflow area for items with seasonal interest!

Many of the ideas in the Forbes article linked above would require radical shifts were HPL to try them. Would you be more likely to search for your next great read in a bookstore-like atmosphere rather than our VERY library-like library?

Would you be interested in using a building that had fewer items out for immediate access, but displayed in bookstore-style "subject areas"?

The fact of the matter is that the use of our library has flattened out both in terms of people walking through the door (-3%) and circulation overall (-2%) in 2013. The question is open though as to whether people are reading less, or just reading differently than the ways they used to read. How can the library best serve you in helping to promote reading?

Compelling Arguments

In the ongoing transformation of libraries from information storehouses to community hubs (or whatever other speculative "end result" at which you might want to try and guess), the great fear expressed by many has been that libraries will disappear altogether.

My personal opinion is that public libraries will continue to evolve as they have for the past 180+ years in the United States. Libraries have always been a place to find information. Likewise, they have been a refuge for the resource-poor patron, the self-motivated scholar, the curious and the beginning reader( of all ages). I think libraries will continue to fill these roles even as they add services to cater to the technological whims of the day.

One day the eBook world will settle down and the walled collections of eMaterials that publishers have built will be opened for sharing in some fair and equitable way. I really think that there is a place where consumers, creators, and publishers can all find common ground and be fairly compensated and well-served.

All this rambling and digression to point your attention to this well-written article from the IT trends blog at a company called Laserfiche. To summarize, it presents the argument that paperless should not mean libraryless.. I think this quote is key and is something we're trying to work toward at HPL:"Today, many people use their local library to learn a new language for a new era - the language of technology."

We'll see how well HPL can adjust, but we will continue to grapple with our transformation into a place where patrons can come to get answers to whatever questions they may have. Specifically a place they can come to get answers not found simply in a book or other resource but that may require learning a new tool or building a new skill through interaction with a friendly, knowledgeable staff member.

“Today, many people use their local library to learn a new language for a new era—the language of technology.” - See more at: http://simplicity.laserfiche.com/content/saving-our-public-libraries-paperless-world#sthash.hUvZ0PJV.dpuf

“Today, many people use their local library to learn a new language for a new era—the language of technology.” - See more at: http://simplicity.laserfiche.com/content/saving-our-public-libraries-paperless-world#sthash.hUvZ0PJV.dpuf

 

“Today, many people use their local library to learn a new language for a new era—the language of technology.” - See more at: http://simplicity.laserfiche.com/content/saving-our-public-libraries-paperless-world#sthash.hUvZ0PJV.dpuf

“Today, many people use their local library to learn a new language for a new era—the language of technology.” - See more at: http://simplicity.laserfiche.com/content/saving-our-public-libraries-paperless-world#sthash.hUvZ0PJV.dpuf

“Today, many people use their local library to learn a new language for a new era—the language of technology.” - See more at: http://simplicity.laserfiche.com/content/saving-our-public-libraries-paperless-world#sthash.hUvZ0PJV.dpuf