Hutchinson Public Library needs to do this

I think a partnership with USD308 and USD313 at minimum such as the one described in this article would be fantastic! Making student IDs a substitute for library cards? Why not? Our goal as a library is not to be a substitute for schools, but a resource to draw upon. Specifically, we want to be a resource for the individual student.

Sometimes, a barrier for kids is not getting to the library, but having their own cards. "But that's subverting parental rights!" you say. This could be true. But notifications could be sent, benefits of the idea could be shouted from the roof tops so that parents are aware of what's going on. And no other effort would have to be made on the part of the parents.

And what would be going on is reading. My goal would be that HPL could be the place where a student gets connected with her or his passion. That passion might be something that leads to a career or that feeds a life-long hobby. It might simply an escape from the day-to-day "work" of studying and school that can sometimes (I can attest personally to this) takes the joy out of reading.

Science Fiction Discussion 2/11/2016

This month we read Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, which many people will associate with the Will Smith movie of the same name. A few people may associate it with the cheesy 1970's-era Charlton Hesston movie Omega Man. In fact, the book has been made in to a movie three times. The oldest version stars Vincent Price and is called The Last Man on Earth.

Our group compared and contrasted the book with the Price film. I think the overall decision was that The Last Man on Earth followed I Am Legend very closely. The other two movies did so to a lesser degree. Personally, I really liked the Matheson story. I thought it was paced well and kept me interested. While it felt very much a product of its time (1954) in moral sensibilities, it is still very readable. Price played the main character pretty true to the book. The only problem for me was that no matter what, it was still Vincent Price. Kind of like the Charlton Hesston version, Robert Neville (main character of the book) was there in name only - it was Charlton Hesston the whole time.

All-in-all, I would recommend the book. I liked the Vincent Price version of the movie - very low-budget, but I thought it was true to the novel.

Next up: Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Join us on March 3rd at 7pm here at the library!

Bicycle Book Delivery

Oakland Public Library's effort

I think this is just fantastic! This article talks about libraries that are bringing mini-collections of books to book-poor areas of their cities and towns by bicycle.

Hutchinson, KS is an extremely bike-able town, size-wise. I'm not sure what we'd do in winter months here, but you could easily bike a trailer of books to Third Thursday or to a city park or a community center with very little effort. I think even an out-of-shape old man like me could do it!

The article seems to indicate that most of these libraries are using targeted collections for the event or area they are visiting with their pedal-powered bookmobiles. This seems like a great way to do some major good will in one's community while helping a literacy issue that just doesn't go away - the inability to get books in to some people's hands simply because of a lack of availability or access.

e-Books vs. Print Books

[Insert maniacal laughter here] I find a sense of shadenfreude in this New Republic article about reading.  The person being interviewed has been gathering evidence, other than anecdotal, about reading and the use of electronic books versus paper (or "traditional") books.

Turns out that there seems to be a host of component factors to reading that are unsatisfied by reading on a screen. There has been a slowing of ebook sales in the past 5-6 quarters that have puzzled publishers, pundits, and others alike. Why haven't ebooks continued their meteoric rise?

I've wondered about this before and it's good to see someone look at this issue with a certain amount of diligence. I've always thought, with nothing empirical to back it up, that people become distracted when using a device to read versus a paper book. As the article above states, the book provides immediate feedback AND you can't just "quickly" check Facebook.

Anyway, maybe it will turn out that "I told you so" and ebooks will be just another medium for delivering information. They have shortcomings and strengths just like any other medium. To me, it makes sense that ebooks will fill the needs better than paper for some purposes and vice versa. And the best part is that libraries will still be here to help you find what you need. [Insert more maniacal laughter].

Where are ebooks headed?

I don't think anyone really knows what's happening in the ebook world. The sales of ebooks plateaued in 2015 and no one really knows if that was a pause or the peak. My thought is that with about 1/4 of the total book sales, ebooks probably haven't reached their peak yet. I do think that the future for them is very uncertain, as is the future of ebooks in libraries.

I say this because the big, mainstream of the ebook publishing world seem to be satisfied with selling ebooks as if their potential to be something more than their paper counterparts isn't worth pursuing. Think about what you could do with ebooks. At the very minimum, like digital versions of movies, you could have added features, interviews with the author, etc. Things that are not possible in paper.

Libraries need to figure out ways around the stranglehold ebook publishers have on them. After all, history has shown that libraries are one of the main places for people to try out, with very low or no risk, new authors, new media, etc. I maintain that publishers are shooting themselves in the foot and driving the growth in the the independent and self-published ebook explosion by making library acquisition of ebooks so clunky and restricted.

Libraries could be the biggest and cheapest sales force a publisher could want. Librarians like reading, we like sharing, and we promote by word-of-mouth the good stuff, the new stuff, the overlooked stuff. It's like having an army of volunteer sales people. Because readers buy the books they like. If they find a new author in a library and they come to love that author, they'll start buying that author's new material rather than wait to borrow. It happened years before ebooks were even remotely a thing.

What got me ranting about this old topic again? This article, which is a pretty good article from American Libraries magazine with the opinions of four experts in the field. I'd recommend a read.

Science Fiction Discussion: 1632

This month our SF discussion group read 1632 by Eric Flint (beware - that link to wikipedia does contain spoilers to this story and the series story arc). This is an action-packed story about a small West Virginia town from the late 1990's or early 2000's that is transposed in time and place with an area from Thuringia (Germany) in 1632. 1632 you might know, would be smack in the middle of the Thirty Years War which took place mainly in what is now Germany on the European continent.

The resulting tale follows the Grantsville, WV townsfolk through the various trials and tribulations that such a time/space shift would cause. This is definitely more of a free-wheeling tale with combat and real-life grit than the past few books we have read.

All-in-all, I think our group's collective rating was "meh" (in the adjective sense, not the exclamation).

For the next discussion (in January), we are reading Nancy Kress's After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall.

Very much looking forward to this...

I have always been a history reader. Definitely not a historian, but an avid reader mostly of ancient history, and also modern history especially around the World Wars. A couple of years back I read and was amazed by Antony Beevor's account of the D-Day invasion, D-Day: The Battle for Normandy. The book was not an easy read, but it was amazingly insightful and very well written.

Now, Mr. Beevor has a new book coming out that I am anxiously awaiting. It is titled Ardennes: 1944 and is an account of Hitler's last big offensive, the long-shot gamble for Germany to break out in the west and split the allies. The review from The Guardian linked above is quite complimentary, so I'm now even more excited! Hurry up, publisher!

Storytime resurgance

An interesting article from the New York Times about the growing popularity of story times in public libraries. This phenomenon is due, I think, to the focus (not everywhere, unfortunately) on the importance of early childhood literacy. Educators and policy makers have been pushing development of pre-k programs to make sure that young children are familiar with the basics of letters, numbers, and the like by the time they hit kindergarten. I thought this quote from a nanny in NYC was telling:

“It used to be, ‘What do you do when the child cries?’” she said. “Nowadays, they’re like, “We would like to have library time.’”

Of course, I'm giddy that people are finding value in a service that all public libraries provide! We are earnest in our collective desire to help children grow up to be the best adults they can be and we think that we have skills and services that are extremely valuable and in many cases quite under utilized.

Here in Kansas we have a Six-by-Six program emphasizing six skills that all children should have by age six. Besides pre-k, toddler, and soon baby story times, the Hutchinson Public Library has created the E.L.F (Early Literacy Fun) area in the Children's Department to support early literacy. This area contains hands-on activities for children based on general topics. The intention is for parents to work with their young children in the area. This activity strengthens bonds and better prepares these little people for the challenges of school.

The Importance of Being...

Educated. Not earnest, but educated. In a world where everyone seems to be outraged by everything because it offends them, or a group, or might offend someone, or might possibly contain something that could potentially trigger a person, sometimes (indeed often times) people miss the mark badly.

This is an example so filled with sweet, sweet irony, I have to share it. It involves a Tennessee woman and her attempt to ban a biography. The book in question is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. It is part of the STEM curriculum reading list in the school district attended by this mother's child.

Here is a good summary article of the rather disturbing misunderstanding that gynecology does not equal pornography.

The scary thing to me is that even in the face of facts, the person is still trying to ban the book from the school district. From the article, clearly the administration, teachers, and I assume the vast majority of parents, understand that the story of Henrietta Lacks is perverse for no other reason than the fact that ethical considerations for her as a human being were completely shoved aside in the process of scientific discovery.

This seems like exactly the kind of book you want to have being read by young people everywhere. It seems perfectly aligned with the new frantic emphasis on STEM education.

This situation is a textbook example of someone needing to read a little, ask a few questions, or maybe actually read the book in question before "going off half-cocked" as they say.

Science Fiction Discussion: Stranger in a Strange Land - Original Version

Our SF discussion group read Robert Heinlein's classic work, Stranger in a Strange Land this month. Actually, we read a newly-released version of the book that included a huge amount of material that was edited out of the original in order to meet the publisher's requirements.

I have to say, while this version was aided by the extra material, I didn't grok it. Just like a director's cut of a movie, this version of Stranger felt to me like it included what Heinlein wanted us to see about our society. However, the extra exposition sometimes felt too heavy-handed. Maybe I just didn't quite get it. I remembered liking it when I read it 20+years ago, but that was the shortened version. Re-reading it, I found much that was familiar but I somehow didn't totally get into it. This might have been because I was distracted trying to remember if this or that was in the version I'd read before. Or, as one of our members pointed out, if it was because I am at a different place in my own life and could relate less to the themes.

There were mixed feelings about it around our table. I think the final thought was that this is a book that would very much appeal to the rebellious, limit-pushing younger age reader. Not the 14-year-old necessarily, but the senior in high school or the college student. I still believe this book is a classic. It had great influence on other SF authors and on the genre as a whole.

Science Fiction Discussion: Deathworld

This month our group read Deathworld (book 1, beware: spoilers in the wikipedia link) by Harry Harrison. This is the first book in a trilogy about Pyrrus, the most dangerous planet in the galaxy.

The settlement on this planet is facing extinction. The flora and fauna are extremely dangerous and seem to be becoming more dangerous with every passing moment. The main character, a gambler named Jason dinAlt gets involved with the Pyrrans when he is enlisted to turn a large sum of money into a massive fortune by gambling. dinAlt has psychic powers that he can sometimes harness to influence his gambling "luck".

The main story develops on Pyrrus when dinAlt and the Pyrran ambassador, Kerk Pyrrus return to the embattled colony. dinAlt discovers some secrets of life on Pyrrus which really improve the story and are, in my opinion, the only reasons to read the book. The style of the book was very pulp sci-fi action adventure - the sort of storyline that you could set in colonial period Africa, or the wild west of the United States. There is a lot of action though which keeps the pages turning. I'm not sure I could really recommend this one. I think Harrison's more famous series, The Stainless Steel Rat, is a better bet.

The discussion group's opinion was that this is a book to be avoided.

"Deathworld" by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Deathworld.jpg#/media/File:Deathworld.jpg

E-books and reading

This is something I have long wondered about: will e-books ever "eclipse" print books as the medium of choice?

So many different types of media have come into the mainstream and then become "just another option" or simply faded away when superseded by another medium.

This article from the New York Times seems to indicate that the frenzy for e-books might be cooling. That might mean that at least in libraries e-books, like any other new media, will simply be assimilated into the collection. I personally think that the more ways we can have to share ideas with each other, the better.

I could be smug and say, "I told you so!" and that I thought e-books were a fad or something. But I would be lying if I said that I really thought print books were never in danger of disappearing. There have been moments, especially with the sustained media frenzy over e-books, that I thought the tide had risen too high for print. And, of course, print still might disappear someday. The information about sales in the NYT article seems to indicate though that print books, book stores, and libraries might still have a place in society and an important one at that.

Free Downloadable Magazines

The Hutchinson Public Library is now offering free downloadable magazines. All you need is your library card! The service is available here on the library's website.

These are not some strange magazines you've never heard of or digest versions missing content. On the contrary they are popular, everyday journals and magazines that you know and are in an easy-to-use format. Check them out!

Summer 2015

Summer Reading Program - a ritual so ingrained in our staff member minds that it's jarring when you run in to people who don't know what it is or how to participate in it. This was the case with our State Governor a few years back when he created a program for children to continue to read throughout the summer. Apparently, no one on his staff told him that practically every public library in the nation, let alone Kansas, has a summer reading program.

Our theme this year was "Every Hero Has a Story", and we had visits by heros ranging from firemen and policemen to the Batman!

This year, Hutchinson Public Library had:

1037 children sign up for the program with 601 reading 10 books/10 hours or more! That means in a period of about 10 weeks, over 6,000 books were read!

103 young adults signed up with 65 turning in 5 or more completion forms! There were a grand total of 1035 completion forms turned in (these represent either 1 hour of reading or 1 book read)

 More than 550 children came to the Summer Reading kick-off Celebration, 1136 children attended summer story times, 238 people participated in family time programs, and 395 children came to July craft days.

CREEEEAK! (flutterflutterflutter)

Damn bats! Always with the bats in here! Phew! Dusty too.

In defense of a Liberal Education by Fareed Zakarias a compelling read. I liked it a lot, not because I hold a liberal arts degree (majors in English Lit. and Psychology), but because something is being lost in our society - critical thinking. There is a lot of talk about the importance of technical education, engineering and the like. No doubt these are very important to our collective success. However, a successful engineer needs to be able to tell a compelling story, sell an idea, think laterally at times and most importantly enjoy learning.  If we've learned anything in the past 2 decades it's that you have to continually learn new skills, change with the technology, and be mentally flexible to succeed. A background in the liberal arts provides you with the skills to survive the ever-changing world we live in..

Give Zakarias' book a read.

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

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.

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.

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