Bear Flag Republic Radio Weblog

Andrew Drucker has provided some of the most interesting comments I've received yet about my Google Answers versus free libraries question. With his permission, I'm posting some of his comments in the hopes that my librarian readers will take them to heart. All emphasis is mine.

"I associate the local library with having a lot of books, I'm afraid I don't tend to associate it with highly knowledgable people. When I was young, it was the place I went to borrow my weekly allotment of reading.  When I was at University, it was the place you went to discover they only had 3 books between 60 of us on the course. Nowadays it's the rather nice looking building (2/3rds the way down this page: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/g.blaikie/american.htm) that's only open when I'm at work....

And I think you're right that libraries aren't advertised as helpful places that can help you find what you're looking for.  Librarians have more of a reputation as scary people who shush you.  And this is considering that one of my old university friends worked in a library for quite some time, helping tourists track down genealogies and historical details....

I like the idea of libraries very much - I think they're very important, to allow people that wouldn't otherwise have access to books to get access to a huge range of information.  It's just that largely they seem to be more trouble than the use I'd get out of them....

[Interlibrary loan is] partially an incentive, but (and I'm somewhat unusual in this, I know) I tend to buy my books solely online. I read reviews in magazines (real and virtual), make a note in my wants list and then do an Amazon order (or whoever is cheapest that week) and wait for them to deliver. If libraries had a similar service, I'd happily post books back (or drop them back in a slot, like Blockbuster allows).  In fact Blockbuster is a good example.  They're open late, I can just drop in and pick something up at 8pm and I can return the book at any time. I suspect that 'the books are free!' isn't enough of an incentive for me at the moment as I have a fair amount of money....

I wouldn't use it very often, but I'm sure that [remote database access] would be occasionally incredibly useful.  And like most conveniences, once you've used it a few times, you'll wonder how you ever did without it."

We need to pay attention to Andrew's perceptions because they are not unique. The great thing about this is that we could easily win back Andrew's patronage if we did a better job of marketing our services. For example, many libraries provide remote database access, bookdrops, live online reference services, and relaxed rules (eg, we've not going to break your bank over fines).

My home library is pretty small, but residents can access four databases online by just putting in their library barcode number. They also opened on Sunday nights from 5-9 p.m. and this has become one of their busiest times of the week. In fact, the Board just voted to make Sunday hours 4-8 p.m. all year round instead of just during the school year.

In addition, they got rid of the ridiculous rule that you couldn't renew a book over the phone. They let you bring food and drinks into the building, and they put in a drive-up bookdrop. They're talking with Audible about circulating MP3 titles, and they're subscribing to LearnATest.com (online practice exams) for their residents.

All in all, they're doing a much better job of reaching out to the community and making themselves more convenient. We're working on making them more portable (they also got a grant to start bookmobile service this year), but what they really need is a line item for professional marketing. Here's hoping.

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Java: The Future of the Wireless Web.

"Liken its significance, if you will, to the impact on Hollywood in the 1920s of the first sound cartoon ó Walt Disney's Steamboat Willy, featuring Mickey Mouse.

Java promises to bring the best of the Net ó the ability to display real-time news, for example ó to your telephone handset. It's a big improvement over the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology, the current form of phone access to the Web.

With a tiny Java program on a mobile phone, stock quotes roll across the small screen, or the most recent photograph of Yasser Arafat pops into a top news story about turmoil in the Middle East.

Industry players and analysts see Java as one way for U.S. Consumers to finally discover the mobile Internet....

To date, the mobile Web has been anything but exciting ó unless you happen to live in Japan, which has a two-year head start on the rest of the world.

In Japan, people on the go use color-screen Java phones to play games, place bets, send e-mail, or even tend to the "care and feeding" of virtual pets. More than 10 million Japanese own Java-based mobile phones that let them play real-time backgammon against distant opponents, or check train timetables.

Enter Java software innovators such as Mediabricks, a two-year-old start-up from Sweden.

It developed a tiny Java application that is a compact 30,000 bits of data in size. When you run a copy of MediaBricks' program on your phone, Web pages refresh themselves.

If you're a sports fan, you can track professional basketball or Major League Baseball scores as they happen. In Europe, phone-connected fans can keep track of English premiership rugby action and German Bundesliga soccer scores on Saturday afternoons, receiving updates replete with a message, picture and, in a few years' time, a video clip....

In North America, Nextel is aggressively pushing Java handsets, selling 1.3 million so far.

Motorola says all its new handsets will have Java.

'At the end of this year, we will even have an entry-level Java phone,' said Motorola's European mobile phone president Fernando Gomez, referring to lower-cost, mass-market phone models." [USA Today]

[The Shifted Librarian]
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Lyndon B. Johnson. "If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is doing the thinking." [Quotes of the Day]
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