March 8th, 2011 Brian Herzog
I've stayed mostly quiet on this whole HarperCollins/Overdrive ebooks situation, mainly because what I have to say is negative, and doesn't add much to what others already said. But I noticed a couple things in the last few days that I wanted to share.
First, my consortium is (one of many) considering boycotting HarperCollins ebooks. This makes me happy: happy in that I think it's a good move, but also happy in that lots of other librarians are thinking like me.
Also, Sarah has had a couple good posts - one from Thursday about the ALA's apparent inaction on this issue, and another Monday with a sample letter to express opposition to HarperCollins' policy.
But it seems as if the ALA isn't as totally out to lunch on this issue as they may seem. Michael is blogging the ALA's Electronic Content Access Task Force Retreat (official ALA page). The first post didn't mention this ebook debacle directly, but I can't imagine a group of librarians meeting to discuss electronic content access and not tackling this issue head-on, so I have hope.
Something else I recently learned about is the ALA's Emerging Issues website, which has a section devoted to ebooks. There's not much meat there yet, but at least it shows this issue is on the ALA radar, which is also a cause for hope.
Ultimately, I don't know how this will play out, but I can't really see library access coming out on top when it comes to ebooks - at least not without legislative action. But I do strongly believe that this should be the modern watershed moment for the ALA - if you can't be the voice of American libraries and resource clearinghouse on such a critical issue, there is no real reason for your existence.
For some more views on ebook lending, check out Well done, HarperCollins: librarians must change old thinking (via LISNews), and the Ebook Library's non-linear lending model - perhaps the way forward is in one of those.
Update 3/9/11:
I saw the dispatch below on a listserv after I posted this:
American Library Association tackles new challenges in the e-environment
March 08, 2011
Recent action from the publishing world in the e-book marketplace has re-ignited interest and sparked many questions from librarians, publishers, vendors, and readers. Two ALA member task forces - the presidential task force on Equitable Access to Electronic Content (EQUACC) and the E-book Task Force - were recently created to address these complex and evolving issues. EQUACC met this week in Washington, D.C., to provide ALA with guidance and recommendations for a coordinated ALA response to the challenging issues.
In light of recent publisher changes affecting libraries' ability to provide e-books to the public (e.g., restricting lending of e-books to a limited number of circulations) and the refusal of some publishers to sell e-content to libraries entirely, the task force will:
- Work to establish meetings between ALA leadership and publisher and author associations to discuss model lending and purchase options for libraries.
- Establish mechanisms for interactive and ongoing communication for ALA members to voice concerns and pose questions to ALA leadership.
- Establish communication and solicit input with other ALA member divisions and units, including the Office for Intellectual Freedom.
In addition to the above, the task force recommends that ALA pursue the following:
- Conduct an environmental scan to understand the current landscape and project future scenarios.
- Work with appropriate partners within and outside of ALA to improve access to electronic information for all, with a particular focus on people with disabilities.
- Identify and support new and emerging model projects for delivering e-content to the public.
- Develop a national public relations and education campaign highlighting the importance of libraries as essential access points for electronic content.
ALA members and the public can communicate with ALA on these issues through a new website dedicated to the challenges and potential solutions in libraries for improved access to electronic content. This site will be live within 10 days, and the URL to be announced at launch. These efforts reflect on libraries' long-standing principles on equitable access to information, reader privacy, intellectual freedom, and the lawful right of libraries to purchase and lend materials to the public.
ALA calls upon all stakeholders to join us in crafting 21st century solutions that will ensure equitable access to information for all.
Also, Jessamyn linked to http://readersbillofrights.info/, which is worth checking out.
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March 5th, 2011 Brian Herzog
About once or twice a year, we get reference questions via USPS from a prison inmate somewhere in the US. One came in a week or so ago - the question itself wasn't difficult, but I laughed when I addressed the return envelope:
[inmate name] #[number]
Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex
200 Road to Justice
West Liberty, KY 41472
Good job, Kentucky Department of Corrections.
Tags: address, clever, correctional, inmate, jail, libraries, Library, mail, prison, prisoner, public, Random, Reference Question, usps
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March 1st, 2011 Brian Herzog
This post isn't about the current ebook debacle, because Bobbi and Kate are doing a better job than I could.
This is just a quick announcement that I've updated the Library Use Value Calculator - here's a rundown of the changes:
- Updated costs, in conjunction with staff from the MLA
- Added lines for ebooks* and music downloads
- Removed the distinction between magazines/newspapers browsed in library and those checked out (my feeling was, if they used them at all, it counts)
- Changed some wording and reordered the services to (hopefully) make things more clear - materials at the top, services at the bottom
- Added additional instructions on how to host or modify the calculator code yourself
I also wanted to add a "Share on Facebook" link, but I haven't tackled that yet. If anyone is looking for a project, let me know.
All of this is available at http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/librarycalculator. If you already had the calculator embedded in your library website, the updates will take effect automatically.
If anyone has any questions, or needs help with the calculator, please let me know.
*Ironically. Perhaps I need to add more javascript so that if someone enters a number higher than 26, the calculator automatically adds additional copies to the cost.
Tags: calculator, cost, economic justification, embed, funding, libraries, Library, library calculator, library use calculator, library use value calculator, library valuation, library value, Marketing, public, value, value of libraries
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February 26th, 2011 Brian Herzog
Ten minutes to eleven one morning, a patrons comes to the desk in a little bit of a panic. He asks,
Can you look up to see what's on Jerry Springer today? It starts at eleven.
On our entertainment subject guide page, we have a link to the Boston Globe's television listings. I scrolled to find Jerry Springer and read the show description to him:
Jerry Springer
Episode: I'm Leaving My Wife for a Tranny (NEW)
A man wants to leave his wife for a transsexual; a woman reveals a secret; a man worries his one-night stand could end his marriage.
When I finished, the patron said, "whew, nothing that I'm interested in" and went back to his computer.
But wait, there's more!
About 11:45 the phone rang, and it was this patron - I didn't see him leave, but apparently he went home to watch the show anyway. He was calling to ask what Jerry Springer's phone number was to get tickets, because they said it too fast on the show and he couldn't write it down.
In the course of looking for that, I found a listing of other Jerry Springer phone numbers - one for each of the show's areas of specialty. Now that was enlightening.
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February 22nd, 2011 Brian Herzog
Lots of library-related secrets this week at PostSecret:
I have never found a note someone left in a library book, but what amazing potential.
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February 19th, 2011 Brian Herzog
One afternoon, a middle school-age patron asked to borrow a protractor. Normally, requests like this aren't a problem - we have lots of school tools and office supply stuff that we let people use all the time. But this time, I looked everywhere - Reference, YA, Childrens, and our supply closet - and there wasn't a protractor anywhere.
After my search, I went back to the table where the patron was sitting with her tutor to apologize for not having one for her. As I did, kind of spur of the moment, I offered to see if I could find one online to print out - if that was okay with them.
The student and tutor both kind of looked stunned, but then said sure, a printed one would probably work fine - although they both seemed kind of skeptical.
I went back to the desk and searched Google Images for "protractor" (limited to Large size since I was going to print it).
The very first result seemed perfect, so I printed it and took it, along with a pair of scissors, over to their table.
As I handed it to them, I think it finally dawned on them what I was doing - and that they now had to cut it out. They both were laughing and kind of delighted with the novelty of adding a craft project to math homework.
An hour or so later when they were finished, the student came to return the scissors to the desk. I asked her if it worked okay, and she smiled and said she liked it so much she was going to save it to take to school.
Meanwhile, my homework is to go to the dollar store to get a protractor to leave at the Reference Desk.
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