It's happening!

Robots will be replacing us in libraries! Sure, this article says the intention is to relieve librarians of "menial" tasks but that's only to get their foot in the door. We all know that our robot overlords are just biding their time, gradually insinuating themselves into our everyday lives. Before you know it, we'll all be scurrying around like rats in the rubble of our meat-bag civilization as the robots take over.

OK, maybe I'm getting a bit carried away. This is actually a really interesting technology. The robot could search the stacks at night, and help us humans find mis-shelved and lost items in our stacks. The Hutchinson Public Library has well over 250,000 physical items. It takes a considerable amount of time to keep the shelves in order. It is also very time consuming to look for items that didn't get checked in properly.

I'm looking forward to this step towards Skynet myself.

You think data caps won't affect you?

Think again. This article from the website Techspot drives home the real issue with out current FCC / cable industry / Internet provider dynamic.

The data caps are punishing the group of people (of which I am one) called "cord cutters". These are folks who have left their cable TV subscriptions behind for a variety of reasons. There are two major reasons our family cancelled cable TV - cost and lack of use. By lack of use, I mean that we watched a handful of the channels to which we were subscribed and rarely viewed bundled-in channels on the various tiers we had to carry in order to see the few we wanted. That was tied directly to the cost factor. We could not justify $100 per month for the 4 or 5 channels we wanted.

So, we went our merry way with a data plan and Netflix and Hulu subscriptions. We could watch what we wanted when we wanted, so long as we could wait for our shows to appear on the service.

If you are streaming a lot of video though, you can easily hit lower-tier data package caps. I am convinced, as the article above states, that this is intentional with the aim to drive people back to cable TV packages.

What is needed is competition, cafeteria-style cable channel selection, and some governmental and regulatory backbone to make those things happen (in my humble opinion, of course).

Maker spaces should be more than 3D printers

The idea of a "maker space" is very appealing. For me it conjures a vision of walls of tools and cluttered work benches. For others it seems to simply be a 3D printer. Don't get me wrong, I think 3D printers are pretty amazing tools. But when I let my mind wander though and think about what people want to do compared to what tools they can acquire themselves, I see a more wide-ranging maker space. I see a sound lab for recording and editing music or the spoken word, such as collecting local oral histories. I see a video recording studio. I see a place with tools not easily afforded by the individual citizen. I see a place to connect with an editor for one's literary work and even a place to print a book. I see the library becoming a place where knowledge is created in many ways along with the creation of actual "things".

These spaces are being created in libraries all over the country. In this article about Oregon libraries, you can read about what some libraries there are doing. It's happening in larger places all over, but I think it could happen in the middle of Kansas as well.

Robots in the work place

Most of the time, when you think of robots in the work place, you think of those giant arm-like machines precisely and rapidly welding automobile frames. In the world of telepresence though, robots, controlled remotely, roam around offices. These kinds of robots allow telecommuting or travelling employees the ability to "be present" in meetings. A staff member controls the robots movement and sends it from place to place allowing the human to interact with co-workers as if she were actually present.

This is one example, there are many companies making these.

I've been thinking a lot about these robots and how they could be used outside of the world of business. While researching, one of our staff members discovered that they are already being used in schools to allow home bound students the ability to participate in school and classroom life.

What about other uses? Another HPL staff member suggested nursing homes. This seems like a fantastic application to me. Imagine being able to visit your Great Aunt Betty by arranging use of the nursing home's telepresence robot! You could roll to her room and have a visit no matter where you are in the world.

Health care seems like a natural place for these sorts of robots. With a fairly sensitive sound and vision package, a doctor in a distant hospital could consult with local doctors and even be present when examining a patient.

I'm interested in these robots at HPL for gimmicky reasons like using one to roam around the Smallville Comic con to answer questions a la  Barbara Gordon (Bat Girl) who was the librarian at Gotham City's Public Library.

But, HPL could also lend the robot to other organizations including schools and medical facilities if they needed it. It could be lent for other purposes as well. What do you think?

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].

Obsolete?

Cool! I think this is probably an indication that librarians are NOT obsolete:

newsworks article

Is it the same job Ida Day had when she was here at HPL in the 1940s and 1950s? Nope. And thank goodness!

As that article states, Google hasn't made us obsolete so much as it has off-loaded some of the more routine questions (what we used to call "ready reference") and allowed us to focus on the more in depth questions. We can help match people with tools that will get them straight down their research paths rather than possibly wandering around on a digital snipe hunt.

I have high hopes for the future of my younger colleagues. I may be one of the old, stodgy library administrator crowd now, but I haven't lost (I hope!) my inquisitiveness, my love of the hunt for the next cool thing, or my ability to recognize a good idea when I or one of our staff sees one.

Affordable broadband Internet?

This is an article from techdirt, an online technology magazine. The article is from their if-you-build-it-they-will-come department:

After A Decade Of Waiting For Verizon, Town Builds Itself Gigabit Fiber For $75 Per Month

I'm interested - Gigabit fiber for $75 per month? But how did they do it? The municipalities that were being ignored by the big Internet service providers got together and built it themselves.

After the $50 per month charge to offset the building cost, the actual subscription costs $25 per month...for Gigabit bandwidth. That's TEN times faster than the "up to" speed advertised by my local cable provider and their price (with TV of course) is $120 per month.

Reliable, inexpensive REAL broadband is a selling point for communities in today's growing work-from-anywhere job pool. I cannot understand why more small municipalities who want to attract people wouldn't want to consider this sort of public utility approach to Internet service. After all, it is just another connection like water and sewer.

I have nothing against commercial Internet, telephone, and TV providers. I just think there should be healthy competition, you know, like we talk about all the time. Competition is supposed to be the name of the capitalist game, right? That competition isn't going to happen when there are maybe two, or only one, or even zero viable providers in your area. There is no incentive to expand, no incentive to increase speed and capacity, and no innovation.

Danger Will Robinson!

Lost in (cyber?) Space

This is a true danger to democracy, to the citizenry of the USA and to the USA's standing in the world. The continuing push to cripple Internet access will throttle innovation and growth.

What sort of hysteria is this? Why the shrill alarmist tone? Because I truly believe that this is a threat to what's left of our open society.

This article from Motherboard details a disturbing phenomenon identified in a recent Pew Internet study: broadband Internet adoption in the US has DECREASED since 2013.

The article points out the obvious - in the same time frame from 2013-2015, smartphone adoption has increased the same amount that broadband adoption has decreased. Why? Cost. The cost of broadband Internet is appallingly high for what you get and in some locations not even available. There are towns within 30 miles of where I live that you can get satellite and wireless plans but nothing else. No speeds to knock your socks off (maybe 4G LTE) and with high cost and caps. The plan I found for Alden KS residents had 15Gb shared data per month for $100. $1200 per year to participate in what is arguably the most plying-field-leveling and democratizing creation in history - the Internet. There are no options in Alden for wired Internet, at least through AT&T and there are no cable companies there.

From the article:

The evidence is everywhere; the walls are closing in from all sides. The net neutrality victory of early this year has rapidly been tempered by the fact that net neutrality doesn’t matter if you don’t have solid access to said ‘net.

My point is that cost is prohibitive for many, services are unavailable or very limited for many, and if you are lucky enough to be able to overcome those hurdles, there are a myriad issues around data insecurity and data caps with which users must contend. People have to then make a choice - broadband or wireless. Wireless has been winning out because (I think) it goes where you go, mostly and you can sort of do most things you need to do on a smartphone.

Because of this choice though, again, from the article:

Many Americans may soon be left with an insecure, surveilled, and capped Internet connection dominated by broadband and cellular providers that funnel traffic to the companies they've made deals with.

So people have to pay right? That's how capitalism works and the USA is the King of Capitalism. But the free market in this case is not free. The government regulates it in a way that favors the big companies, crippling competition, and stifling opportunity and entrepreneurship. The exact OPPOSITE of a free market.

Ultimately, this situation cripples our future as well. How can we as a country compete with other high-tech economies if the virtual world is capped, available to only some, and controlled by entities who have strong incentives to stifle competition?

The answer is, we can't. We will continue to lose ground in the world because we fail to make this most important of tools - access to information - a right rather than a privilege.

Who can change this? Only us, the citizens of the USA. We still have a right to vote. We can still make our voices be heard. Those we have elected to office are bought and paid for by corporations and individuals who DO NOT have the best interests of the United States in mind. Access to the Internet - a good, solid, secure, uncapped access - needs to be a right and not a privilege. Treat it as a utility. Treat it as you treat electricity, gas service, or water. You need those things at home and you need them to grow a business or create new things. The Internet is the same - it COULD be a tool of innovation but it is still being treated as a toy, a frivolity, an "extra" that one can do without. This is a false and dangerous view to take.

New Computers, New Services

A Christmas present for the Hutchinson Public Library patrons and staff! Now that we've finished the big task of moving our public computers downstairs, we are adding some new services and changing the way we allocate our public computers.

We are adding software called Envisionware PC Reservation. This piece of software will allow patrons to reserve a public computer for the time period of their choosing even days ahead if desired. It will also allow patrons to sit down at empty computer stations right away. This software takes the staff out of the process of checking people in and out and tracking time allotted. Staff members will be more free to help instead!

Integrated in to the software is another product called LPT:One which controls printing. Currently, a patron will choose something to print and the printer will spit it out without regard to number of pages, etc. This can cause needless printing of unneeded pages. LPT:One holds the print job at a designated print computer which will be right next to the printers. Patrons can then select and print only the jobs they want. It will save us paper and toner and hopefully save patrons from printing things they don't need.

A side benefit of this software is that it will provide HPL with wireless printing! If all goes well, patrons should be able to send print jobs from their own devices to the print station.

Free Music with your library card!

We've been testing out our new music service for a few weeks now. I'm on my second album download (you get 5 free mp3 downloads per week)! So far I personally have found the webpage to work the best. I have android mobile devices and the app available for those seems to work pretty well, but doesn't have the full functionality of the website.

We'll continue to feature this tool at events like Hutchinson's Third Thursday. If you have questions about the service, please call us and we'll help you get started!

Just as a reminder though, that our music service is REALLY easy to use. To get access to almost 10 million songs and your five free downloaded tunes each week, all you need is to visit www.hutchpl.org (the library's website) and click the image you see below and enter your library card number to login:

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.

More to lynda.com than just computer software

I may have given the impression that the only thing lynda.com is good for is getting you out of a software jam or learning a new piece of software.

Actually lynda.com contains a myriad of learning opportunities on scores of subjects. You can learn new business skills, add to your photography or music recording skills, learn basic skills like typing and computer use, and much more.

Remember, the service is free to Hutchinson Public Library cardholders (either inside or outside the library through the links above) and is self-paced so you learn at the rate you choose.

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!

Need skills? HPL has the training tool.

The Hutchinson Public Library is now offering a great tool to expand your skill set, help you move up in your job, or just provide a way to learn something new at your own pace. All you need is your library card! The service is free to any HPL card holder - info here.

The tool, lynda.com, has a 3,000-and-growing list of courses on topics ranging from business, web development, and photography to computer skills and specific software like Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office.

The courses are totally self-paced, divided into easy-to-digest modules. The service tracks your progress and allows you to pick up whee you left off. You can search the service and find answers to specific problems and questions, or browse and pick a new skill to learn.

Normally, this service requires a paid subscription, but by simply providing the barcode number and PIN for your active Hutchinson Public Library card account, you have access for free! This service is available inside the library or anywhere you happen to have an Internet connection outside the library!

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.

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

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.

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

BIG change ahead

Sometimes you see big changes because of the flash and glitter associated with it. Other times you notice things have changed subtly - but profoundly - around you. Over the next few months as HPL, there will be some of both. We expect the process to take a good portion of 2014 to complete.

What am I talking about? The library has contracted with a company called Bibliotheca to convert our collection management over to an RFID system. The changes will be both subtle and really, really slick and visible.

The subtle:

Our entire collection - from books to media to ephemeral items will be tagged with an RFID tag. These tags hold information about the item that allow us to more easily locate and manage the collection.

Our staff will have RFID readers at their stations to facilitate startlingly speedy, accurate check-out and check-in and other routine material processes. The upside to all of this is greater efficiency handling the mundane, repetitive tasks that staff must perform every day. This will allow more staff time to be devoted to actually helping people find what they are looking for during a visit to the library. It will also allow us to focus more on "helping" in general and less on clerical work.

The flash and glitter:

New self-check units for patrons. Not only do these units look nice, clean, and modern, we found them to work extremely well in real-world observation during our product research phase.

A new way of returning items you've checked out. This return looks like a regular bookshelf. Unlike a regular shelf though, when you bring your items back in to the library, this shelf unit checks your books back in for you! It will even alert staff when a "book on hold" has been returned. As an added bonus, patrons can then print out a receipt or check their account right there to make sure everything is returned.

Oh, Thank Goodness!

Actually, thank Steve! I feel like I can breathe again - the new WiFi system is installed and working. I can even get a signal way back in the corner where my desk is squirreled away! Someone needs to update Maslow's chart for certain. WiFi IS a basic need. So, bravo to you Steve, our dedicated IT department head, we can once again get a strong signal pretty much anywhere we wander in the building.

Oh, and we have some nice new chairs and tables too! Thank you Charlene for steering the color scheme in the right direction. The lounge chairs are comfortable AND durable, the coffee tables are very nice, and I've already heard compliments on the wooden charis and tables. Once we get the Technology Center plans hung on the wall (the frames are on their way), we'll have a nice area to sit, relax, read, compute, AND contemplate how to make the larger plan a reality.