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Tuesday, February 12, 2002 |
I talk about this in my Information Shifting presentation, but here's why you need to pay attention to digital audio titles, which right now means MP3s. You may have seen libraries that are integrating bib records for eBooks into their online catalogs (usually for netLibrary). Maybe you're even one of those libraries. All a patron has to do is search the catalog, view a record, and click on the link to the online version, all without leaving their PC.
So take that scenario one step further. Let's say I'm a patron that wants to borrow "Pomp and Circumstance" for a party for my new graduate. What if I can go to your catalog, search for it, click the link, and download it for a two-week loan period, all without leaving my PC. Now I don't have to come in to pick up a whole CD (that you hopefully have); I can just download the one song that I wanted.
Of course, that's if your library has access to digital files such as eBooks and MP3 audiobooks in order to circulate them. Don't ever forget that the bigcos don't want you to have that access.
8:58:41 PM 
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Eric's been holding out on me. I thought his Libtech blog was on the Radio servers, but he's actually elsewhere and I've been missing his posts. Today he posted a link to an Eastside Journal opinion about the King County Library System's MP3 audiobook program. I'm a big proponent of both MP3 audiobooks and the company they are partnering with, Audible.com.
In fact, our SLS Tech Summit last September featured Audible, with presentations by both a rep from the company (thanks for coming that day, Matt!) and Eric Welch from Highland Community College Library (Eric is also circulating Audible titles on MP3 players). I'm still hoping to jump start a group discount for SLS libraries, but the KCLS program is a great model, as well as proof that this works.
As the Up for Library Innovation editorial notes, "Thumbs up for the King County Library System, which is continuing its record of being on the cutting edge of information services. The latest is acquiring 200 MP3 players that allow patrons to listen to audio books. The 3-ounce devices are much smaller than ordinary cassette tape or compact disc players. They can hold the equivalent of 20 cassettes and the material is merely downloaded onto the device. If you want to use one -- you can check one out for 28 days -- be prepared to stand in line behind 753 people who already have their names on the waiting list. The good news? The library will double the number of MP3 players by year's end."
If you want to see the presentations from last fall, find them on the SLS InfoTech site.
If you want to find out more about the wildly successful KCLS program, visit their eAudio site. They used to have their quarterly reports available online, but I can't find them now. I'll look it up tomorrow at work and see if I can track them down.
If you want to know if your library should pursue this, then just take my word for it and do it. You don't have to be a big library system to offer a new, quality service to your patrons. Trust me - they'll thank you for it.
8:36:06 PM
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Sorry, Time's Up! "The latest fad among jobless techies in San Francisco? Taxpayer-funded Internet access at public libraries.... As local unemployment has surged to 5.7%, once-quiet bookworm oases now swarm with surly surfers.... Librarians say the congestion has even sparked Web rage. In December, one user screamed for 10 minutes at a librarian who kicked him off a terminal. "He threatened to sue," says Eleese Longino, 26, a patron who saw the incident." [Tip of the hat to Shirl and WEB4LIB]
Well, leaving aside the 19th century stereotype of libraries as "once-quiet bookworm oases," where has the media been? I had people yelling at me in 1996, swearing, and just plain being ornery, all for more time at the Internet PC. And that was on a dial-up modem! What exactly here is news? That there's a few more of these people now so we can officially name it?
1:51:15 PM
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A Matter of Trust: "Blogging should be mandatory for every CEO. Screw insider trading disclosure, open up the walls that shrould Fortune's top 500 in secrecy. For never again will I trust the words of an analyst, accountant or spokeperson. if it doesn't come from the horses mouth, it just doesn't cut the mustard." [CurryDotCom]
For those of you non-librarians out there - and actually for you librarians, too - here's the thing. You do trust libraries, even if you haven't used one in a while. Librarians have a built-in trust with the public because of the great service we provide (I'm talking customer service here), the great service we provide (I'm talking housing, organizing, and disseminating information here), and the great service we provide (I'm talking the consistency day in and day out - we're still here, what about all of the .coms that were going to replace us?).
If you go to the Librarians' Index to the Internet, you inherently know you can trust what they present to you. Actually, don't go there, and just think about what the title tells you. You can't count on companies, politicians, or the media anymore, but you can still count on us. Just try and find someone who has never once used a library as a child, a student, a parent, a person. Go on. I dare you.
So if you haven't used a library in a while, come on back. You'll be surprised what we have to offer (still). And librarians, let's build on that trust that's been sitting in the back seat and continue asserting ourselves in our domain - information. We need to get our message out to the masses that we're still here - better than every, thank you very much - and you can still trust us.
7:10:45 AM
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Comments by: YACCS
© Copyright 2002 Jenny Levine.
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