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

Talk20

Six minutes and forty seconds is quite a challenge - but I think it will be fun. What am I talking about? We're supporting an idea here at the library that involves... sharing ideas! Here's a link to a better description of what the program is about. This isn't a one-time deal, but it won't be offered all the time either. It is something that will hopefully get the community talking and learning about the things in which our neighbors are involved.

I like the idea of a library as a place here not only is knowledge collected, organized and stored; but a place where knowledge is created.

The Edge Initiative

The Hutchinson Public Library will have a great 2013, I think.  As we look toward the future, planning for a new first-floor Technology Center and bring our tech skills to the fore-front, a new tool such as the Edge Initiative seems perfectly timed to help us.

Set to be released in its final form early in 2013, HPL will use this to help us focus on what skills, connections, and programs we should be focusing on to best serve our patrons.

We can start right now though, and you can help us.  What do you want from the Hutchinson Public Library?  What can we do to help you succeed in the endeavors you have planned for 2013 or those you have already underway?  Ideas I have heard when asking this question elsewhere:

• A makerspace
• Teaching / learning sessions for my particular tablet/smartphone/computer
• More emphasis on ebooks
• More options to get a book (send it to an address / print on demand / sell it to me)

The broad question is:  What new areas should HPL be exploring that would help you in your life?  Please share your thoughts in comments or by calling/emailing the library, commenting on our Facebook page.

Summer Reading

We've started a new service here at HPL, one fueled by our patrons.  We're collecting book reviews from participants in our Summer Reading program for adults (although I would love to add reviews written by young adults and children as well!)  So far, we have 40 reviews of an incredibly wide variety of fiction and non-fiction titles.  You can read them here and find them under Programs & Services | Services on our library's website, www.hutchpl.org

I am very excited about this project because it gives us all a view of the reading tastes of our friends and neighbors.  Sure, there are big, fancy websites out there where people from all walks of life can add their book reviews, but those don't reflect the very localized flavor of our site.  This is what Hutchinson and Reno County reads!

If you would like to participate, come in and sign up for our Adult Summer Reading program and start rating and reviewing books today!  We post ONLY first names and last initials and no contact information.  You can do as little as simply rating the books you read on a 1-5 star scale and be entered into weekly drawings for some fun prizes.  Or, you can write a review for one, some, or all of the titles you read.  The more you tell us about what you think of the books you read, the more valuable the review collection will become.  If you are involved in our YA or children's summer reading program and would like to participate in the book review process, send your reviews directly to me at gwamsley@hutchpl.org

We have some wonderful, thoughtful reviews already, I hope that you will consider adding yours.

TED again

I've been doing some background work on what to do about the live stream of the next TED conferences because I think there would be interest in the library hosting it.  But one of my colleagues sent me this link, and now I hesitate.  The article, while obviously opinion, points out some strange inconsistencies regarding the organization.  For my part, I was not aware that TED existed before its recent rise to Internet glory.  Also, I think that while a case can be made for whether the "censored" talk was good enough to be posted, there is a fair amount of insular, "out-of-touch-ness" in the quoted portions of the article that bothers me.  I'm going to have to do some more investigation before we shell out the fairly steep sum (for us) to buy the right to stream their conferences.

After all, I like the TED talks.  They are often thought-provoking, if only rarely earth-shaking in their topic selection.  It bothers me though that an organization would claim to not be censoring their content when their "permanent" members list includes people fitting exactly the description of the type of person targeted by the censored talk.  The action has that "where there's smoke, there's fire" feel to it.  As a library, we stand for freedom of speech perhaps, these days, more than any other institution in the country.

Time for a new look...

Does this happen to everyone?  One day you look at something you've seen everyday and decide, "You know what?  It's time to spruce this up!"

I've reached that day with this blog.  I think it is time to try a new look.  As much as I like the clean white, it has become a little stale.  I've played around with the Blogger HTML5 templates and I really like a couple of them.  I set up the "flipcard" template for use with our new staff/patron book review site and it looks great since there is jacket art for each flip card.

I think for this blog, I'd rather use the "sidebar" template because I don't always have a nice photo to accompany my ramblings...although maybe that would be a good challenge for me.  Anyway, there's a listing down the side (surprise!) and the main body of the post appears on the right.  These templates use the latest whiz-bang stuff:  HTML5, CSS3, and Ajax to allow fast switching between posts and much more rapid image loading, etc.

Just so I have something by which to remember the old look:

As an aside, while I was looking for something new for this blog, I did a Google image search for "sample blog styles" and this was the 6th image in the list:

Bloggers like a nice pint of Porter?

Anyway, the look may change again if I try this one out for a while and it doesn't suit me.  Let me know what you think.

Thank you for reading!

What is TED?

Nope, it's not some guy with a peculiar way of shouting his name.  TED bills itself as a non-profit "devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading".  Here is a little bit about the organization.  There are some very powerful and influential folks behind the TED organization: people like Larry Page, Ray Kurzweil, Craig Venter and Seth Godin and many more.

I invite you to take a look at some of the recorded TED talks here to get an idea of what one would see and hear attending (virtually or in-person) a TED conference.

HPL is considering purchasing a TED Live membership which would allow us to stream the next two TED conference in their entirety for up to 50 audience members.  It isn't an inconsequential fee for this program, so we want to make sure there is a good deal of interest before making the purchase.

So, tell me what you think.  Would you like to attend a TED conference with access sponsored through the library?

Hive-mind in Hutchinson...

...or maybe further afield as well.  We are starting a collection of reader submitted book reviews on our website.  At the moment, you can go to www.hutchpl.org, click on "Programs & Services" and under the services heading is a link shouting "BOOK REVIEWS".  Right now, there's pretty slim pickings, but we want to expand it.  We'll be adding the reviews from our Book Bucket List program, we'll continue to add other staff member reviews as they roll in, AND we would like to include reviews from our patrons as well.

If you would like to submit a book review for inclusion on our page, here's the guidelines:

• It should be fairly brief (I'm going to say no more than a couple of paragraphs)
• It should include a synopsis and a "Why I like/dislike this book" section.
• It should include cover art
• It should be your original work, with citations and attributions for any borrowed content.
• It should NOT be published elsewhere
• It should include a brief (1 or 2 sentences) statement about you, the reviewer.

Submissions should be sent to gwamsley@hutchpl.org

D-Day: The Battle for Normandy

Click link to go to the catalog

Title:        D-Day: The Battle for Normandy

Author:        Beevor, Antony

Catalog:    940.5421 BEEVOR

Synopsis:

[From the HPL catalog] The #1 internationally bestselling history of D-Day is now enhanced with rare video footage from the NBC News Archives for the ultimate narrative of the battle for Normandy.  The definitive account of the Normandy invasion by the bestselling author of Stalingrad and The Fall of Berlin 1945.  From critically acclaimed world historian, Antony Beevor, this is the first major account in more than twenty years to cover the whole invasion from June 6, 1944, right up to the liberation of Paris on August 25.  It is the first book to describe not only the experiences of the American, British, Canadian, and German soldiers, but also the terrible suffering of the French caught up in the fighting.  More French civilians were killed by Allied bombing and shelling than British civilians were by the Luftwaffe.  The Allied fleet attempted by far the largest amphibious assault ever, and what followed was a battle as savage as anything seen on the Eastern Front.  Casualties mounted on both sides, as did the tensions between the principal commanders.  Even the joys of liberation had their darker side.  The war in northern France marked not just a generation, but the whole of the postwar world, profoundly influencing relations between America and Europe.  Beevor draws upon his research in more than thirty archives in six countries, going back to original accounts, interviews conducted by combat historians just after the action, and many diaries and letters donated to museums and archives in recent years.  D-Day will surely be hailed as the consummate account of the Normandy invasion and the ferocious offensive that led to the liberation of Paris.

Why I like this book:

As a grade-schooler I was fascinated by World War II and read everything on the shelf at my elementary school library.  I also read everything I could from the public library.  I think I was mostly fascinated by the sheer scale of it all and the huge variety of machines, weaponry, and equipment that were created for it.  As an adult, I retained my fascination regarding WWII, but in a slightly more human-centered way as I read more stories about the experiences of the soldiers themselves.  To be honest, this was a tough read.  Not because of the writing or the tremendous volume of material, but because of the detail and the images of war that come out of the descriptions.  In fact, I did judge this book by its cover at first.  Once I looked at that picture, and having seen the visceral Saving Private Ryan, I felt a tinge of dread as I started reading.  The reward is that Beevor is a good writer and his research is solid.  There are a tremendous number of very helpful maps to keep the reader on track with the myriad events occurring all at once during such a massive military action.  This is a book I will read again in the future and would recommend to anyone who wants to really understand just how astonishing, audacious, and miraculous was the allies’ invasion of Normandy.

Books I Like...

Available at the library

This will be book recommendation #2.  I think I may have written about this book in the past, but I've heard that there is a possibility that it will be made into a movie (much as I thought <cough, cough>).

Title:                    Boneshaker

Author:                Cherie Priest

Catalog:               F Priest

Synopsis:

[From the HPL Polaris Library Catalog]  In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest.  Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska's ice. Thus was Dr. Blue's Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.  But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.  Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city.  Just beyond it lives Blue's widow, Briar Wilkes.  Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing - until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.  His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.

Why I like this novel:

This novel fits into the Steampunk genre of fiction.  It is an alternate history story, which I find to be generally thought-provoking and fun.  With this book, it’s mostly fun.  However, Priest has a great way with words and keeps the story rolling along.  As I read the book, I could see many of the scenes as movie scenes.  I liked the Civil War-era setting and the pretty good attention to accuracy and detail given to the technology of the day.  The machinery and other “fantastical” creations in this alternate-history world reminded me a lot of Jules Verne.  This book really would make a great movie, I think.  It has all the elements of a good action film - that is, "good action".  It has some elements of romance, some good twists, and it has zombies and larger-than-life hero/characters.  Oh, and a capable and determined female lead character who kicks butt.

Books I Like...

I don't read nearly as much as I should.  But I do read some.  I thought I might share a few of my favorites and why I like them.  You may agree or disagree with my assessments and that's OK.  I'll be posting them from time to time and they represent my opinions, and not necessarily those of my library or other staff members here.  Although they might want to post some recommendations of their own and I will put them up if they ask!

Recommendation #1:

New Cover

Title:                     More Than Human (originally published – 1953)

Author:                 Theodore Sturgeon

Catalog:               HPL does not own

Synopsis:

My copy has this cover

This is a 3 part short novel expanded from a couple of short stories.  (Sturgeon was primarily known for his short story writing.)  The novel is comprised of 3 parts: The Fabulous Idiot, Baby is Three, and Morality.  Over the course of the story, six extraordinary characters come together and “blesh” (a combination of “blend” and “mesh”) into homo gestalt – Sturgeon’s view of the next step in human evolution.

The book begins following the character “Lone” who has the telepathic ability to make people do what he wants.  He suffers various trials and ends up living in a shelter in the forest with 3 runaway children – one a telekinetic and a set of twins who possess the ability to teleport.  Over the course of the 3 sections of the novel, the characters gradually become aware that they have “bleshed” into a new form of human being – homo gestalt becomes self-aware, a new type of organism.  It isn’t until the final section however that homo gestalt is complete, receiving the final portion of its consciousness in the form a character that provides it with a conscience.

Why I like this novel:

First off, I am a fan of Science Fiction.  Sturgeon comes from that “Silver Age” of SF writers when unconventional themes were explored to the extreme and, to me at least, the real potential of science fiction was beginning to be realized.  No longer was an SF story simply a space opera with burly heroes, rockets and lasers, and oozing, evil alien beings.

Sturgeon had a fabulous way of writing – a gift for turning a phrase that I have found in precious few other writers.   In many ways, to me at least, he is more of a poet than anything else.   More Than Human stands out to me as a masterpiece in his body of work simply because he takes a story fitting his interests and writing style and expands it fully into one of his few attempts at novel-length fiction.   The idea that the next step in human evolution would be a mental one instead of a physical one appeals to me as well.

Cow Creek Book Festival 2012

A HUGE "thank you" goes out to everyone involved in making the inaugural Cow Creek Book Festival a great success!  We had a great crowd for Clare Vanderpool at 10:30 Saturday morning.  We had a wonderful time with our great friends and partners, the Hutchinson / Reno Arts and Humanities Council and the excellent refreshments they provided.  And our Friends of the Hutchinson Public Library group sent a tremendous amount of used books out through the library garage with their 1/2 price sale kick-off event!

Here are a few shots from the day (more author pictures on the way):

Clare Vanderpool

Clare Vanderpool speaking about her book "Moon Over Manifest"

Author Roy Bird

Friends Book Sale - so many choices!

Author Steven Farney

Newbery Medal winner Clare Vanderpool!

Snapshot Day Success!

We had a great day this past Tuesday finding out the "who, what, when, and how" of the patrons who frequent our library.  HPL participated in this project which is sponsored by the Kansas State Library, the Kansas Library Association, and the Kansas Association of School Libraries.

The goal is to show just how important libraries are to their communities.  Sometimes, people take institutions such public libraries for granted, assuming that they will always be there.  However, funding for many libraries is being reduced in ways that will threaten their very existence.  It might be possible to absorb a reduction in State funding for a year, or one at the local level, or to do without a federal grant for one round.  But many of the reductions being made to library budgets will last longer and are combined in ways that will overwhelm already drastically-reduced operating budgets.  So, the idea of showing what libraries do for their communities in just one day out of the year, Snapshot Day was born.

Here's HPL's snapshot:

• 879 people came through the doors
• 204 questions were answered.  Of the questions recorded at the Reference Desk, 54% were 0-4 mins (ready reference-type) and 46% were 5-15+ mins (reference)
• 1,278 circulation transactions were made
• 150+ computer lab users came in
• 272 people filled out the questionnaire

From the questionnaire group, a sampling of answer totals:

• 136 checked out items,
• 44 were job hunting,
• 84 used research tools/services,
• 27 attended meetings,
• 26 were here for tutoring/homework,
• 150 for computer use,
• 23 for wireless use,
• 37 for online library resources,
• 17 to get a library card.

 That's a day in the life of a public library.  We have some pictures on the library's Facebook page.

All-in-all, I am amazed at all the good things that get done in just one day at a library.  The one thing that isn't mentioned here though, or that is hard to see through the numbers, is that all that good is done by a wonderful and hard-working group of people.  I am extremely thankful we have such a great staff here at HPL and if you use this library, you should be too!  Please give them a "thank you" next time you get the chance!

Man, this soap box is getting rickety!

Here I am again, stepping up on my virtual soap box.  I've been having a lot of difficulty lately reconciling all the budget slashing affecting not only the library world, but public services in general with the total lack of accountability for those folks who ran the financial ship on to the rocks.  So, now the public services that help people get back on their feet are being threatened with gutted budgets at the very time the "regular folks", i.e. you and me, are using them most.  Maybe I'm off base.  But I don't think so.

[Steps off soap box]

Here's something MUCH cheerier:  The paint is dry, the wainscot up, and the floor is in our new Quiet Reading Room.  Right now there are two sample lounge chairs in there, available for testing.  If you are local, go and have a sit and let us know what you think.  Bear in mind that each chair is customizable regarding seat width, back height, firmness of cushions, etc.

Another good development is that the design process for our new library website is rolling along.  I think we are moving in the right direction and I think that the patrons will like the awesome new features.  Among them will be a calendar that will allow direct registration for library events, straight-forward jargon-free language, and a vastly simpler navigation.  We're expecting a mid- to late-spring launch.

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!

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

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.

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!

Borrow or Buy?

Halloween, 2009 marked the start of a new experiment at HPL.  You see, despite a good effort, we don't have everything every patron wants exactly when they want it.  We tend to borrow 3,000 to 4,000 items per year from other libraries on behalf of our patrons.  This is a very expensive process, both in monetary terms and in terms of staff time.  Don't get me wrong though.  I think that interlibrary loan (ILL, for short), is a fabulous service.  It expands an individual library's collection far beyond what it could ever be by itself.  The trade-off is that it is sometimes more expensive than simply purchasing an item and adding it to the local collection.

For quite a long time, HPL has struggled with how to decide when to purchase or when to borrow an item a patron requests.  In this time of tight budgets and great uncertainty, we have decided that it makes more sense than ever to try and solve the puzzle.  So, we are going to use a function of Google documents, Google forms, along with a slightly modified process to try a new way of getting what our patrons want.  Our new internal process inserts the collection development staff ahead of the ILL staff.  If the collection staff decides something requested would be of value in our collection, we will buy the item instead of getting it on loan.  If the item requested doesn't fit with our collection or collection policy, then we'll borrow it instead.  The ultimate goal is to shape HPL's collection in a way that more closely reflects our community.

Here's how the thinking goes:  I did a little bit of calculating and came up with a conservative figure of $16 as the average cost for HPL to borrow an item through ILL.  That represents an average of $12 for staff time, $3 postage, and $1 packing material.  Obviously then, if a patron requests an item in the $12-$15 range or lower, it is more cost effective to buy the item than get it on loan, even if we don't expect the book will get checked out more than that one time.  If we buy the item and it goes out several times, we've both saved money and improved the collection.  Even if we buy something that costs double that $16 threshold, the item would only need to get checked out one more time after the initial check out for us to break even.

I think we will finally be putting the horse out in front of the cart with this change.  We will test this process over the next few weeks, refining as we go.  With luck, the experiment will not disrupt normal service in any noticable way.  With a little more luck, we will improve the collection and maybe save some money in the process.