MOBIUS Libraries

This is a beautiful book mobile!

Just a great story... Libraries are not failing "because they are libraries." Neglected libraries get neglected, and this cycle, in time, provides the excuse to close them. Well-run libraries are filled with people because what a good library offers cannot be easily found elsewhere: an indoor public space in which you do not have to buy anything in order to stay.

In this well-researched and provocative article, the author argues that a "philosophy" of librarianship is needed that is based on "praxis, not practice."  She argues that rather than explaining our value to the public, librarians should explain their philosophy-- "why we do what we do"-- as that will better help librarians adapt to changes in procedure ("practice") that come with changes in technology. Frustratingly, the author never prescribes an actual philosophy of librarianship for her own part, choosing instead to review the work done by others and recap the current philosophy debate in the field.

A somewhat lighthearted response to all the excitement about the "discovery" of the Leale report, a report made to the Surgeon General by the first doctor to treat Abraham Lincoln after he was shot at Ford's Theater.   It's very interesting that, even though it was in the collection, where it should be, no one thought to use it in research until now.  

"In Our Mothers' House" was removed from shelves of elementary school libraries after a group of parents objected to the content. Librarians are being asked to supply names of other books containing gay and lesbian characters.

The Library of Congress is having an exhibition of the "Books That Shaped America" as part of a multi-year celebration of the book. The initial book list is here. How many have you read?

We're at the dawn of the tablet era now. Earlier this month, Apple sold 3 million of its new iPad during the opening weekend, with some analysts expecting over 60 million of the tablets to be sold worldwide. What's more, e-book readers are selling even more briskly than tablets.

I heard today that after the Govmn't sued Apple and 5 ebook publishers for colluding to keep pricing favorable, 3 of the 5 publishers have already settled out of court. I wonder if Apple thinks they have a strong enough case...

With the recent interest in Maker Spaces for libraries it's worth noting that the prices on the printers have dropped into the $2,000, which is much better than the $10-$30,000 a few years ago.

Via Wikipedia: skeuomorphism is when a product imitates design elements functionally necessary in the original product design, but that becomes ornamental in the new product design This tumblr blog has lots of really amusing examples.

Since I'm just now watching Buffy (don't judge me) I thought this was a good read about what pop culture tells about libraries and not just librarians. Everything is great until they mention National Treasure, but it finished strong so I'm willing to overlook it. Also no Music Man references :(

"The makers of the POD Espresso Book Machine currently installed in fewer than a hundred bookstores nationwide, have announced new partnerships with Eastman Kodak and ReaderLink Distribution Services. Under the arrangement, the company's POD technology will be made available to retailers who have Kodak Picture Kiosks, currently installed in 105,000 locations according to Publishers Weekly, including drugstores and supermarkets. "

This is in Hardy's bookmarks, so I thought I'd give these papers a read.

Hmm.  Justin, you're our R&D person.  What say you?

Completely agree.

OH THANK GOODNESS

I admit that between the title and Justin's response, I laughed.

Coming after Target stopped selling them in May this is likely more from Wal-Mart wishing to promote their online products than from any drop in demand for the Kindle.

Beginning November 1st only limited public appointments will be allowed to see the State of Georgia's archives, and the staff of 10 may be reduced. The move is in response to a $730,000 budget cut. The reduction still has to be approved by the legislature, it's unclear how many operating hours the archives will have; state law mandates only every Saturday.

The city of New York has been investigating ways to reuse obsolete or underused phone booths. The number of phone booths nationwide has dropped by more than half from 1999 to 2007, and 13,000 booths will likely be unused when contracts expire in 2014. Ideas that have been tested include wireless hotspots, touch screen maps, and bolt in bookcases to make a small library. However, unlike other lending libraries that are community supported by an honor system where a book is donated for one removed, the New York libraries tend to disappear within days to weeks. Despite this some publishers and some neighborhoods have been interested in contributing books.

I couldn't find a way to link directly to presentations or their materials. Probably the most interesting sessions I attended were: Solving the Complexities of Ebook Record Management in Millennium INN-Reach: Implementing Peer to Peer Functionality Between two INN-Reach Systems The Ebooks presentation was about checking for duplication, quality control, and making sure all the records an institution paid for are present and have valid links. There were a lot of good techniques that could be relayed to our members as a group of best practices. The Peer-To-Peer INN-Reach is a new product that allows two INN-Reach systems to share materials as if they were one. It was a done in Ohio as a response after one consortium added two public libraries and began to see their single INN-Reach server overwhelmed. From what I could tell it works well, with each INN-Reach server able to retain it's own loan rules and identity, but did require all the libraries and pickup locations to be added to both servers, which quickly would present patrons with a very long list of libraries to choose from. I wasn't very clear where the super-union webpac resided; whether on it's own server or produced from both of them. The users that were present seemed happy with it.

At least two of the big-six publishers are refusing to sign new annual contracts with Amazon. While that could result in their "buy" buttons being turned off, it is more likely that the feud will result in less promotion of big-six publishers' titles on the site.

No real surprise here. With Amazon trying to make deals directly with authors to avoid having to pay big money to these publishers it's no wonder. It's only a matter of time before these big publishers either go out of business or wise up and scale back.