I should start this post by saying that I feel like I am really out of my element with this one. I have been working for the library for just under 3 years now. Since I am somewhat secluded in my office doing "financial stuff", I don't feel like I have a really good grasp on how libraries have already evolved and how they might evolve in the future. Nonetheless, I will do my best to come up with something!
For this exercise, I read Seth's Blog: The future of the library and found it quite interesting. I definitely agree with some of his points, like the fact that Netflix is a better "librarian" when it comes to movies. However, I believe that there will always be library patrons who use the library as a way to avoid incurring costs where they don't need to - renting movies, or having a Netflix subscription is one of these. On the other hand, the availability of movies and television shows on DVD are not good at the current time and I think this would be a good place for expansion.
I see the library of the future as being a place for people to come and learn how to use the resources available to them in the most efficient way. Searching the internet about a specific topic can be a bit daunting when the result of your search is 526,176 matches. There is also the question of learning how to distinguish reputable sites from those whose information may not be accurate or up to date.
While I don't think paper books will be fully replaced for quite some time, I do see the number of physical books purchased going down and the number of electronic books going up. At the current time, I don't believe the selection of ebooks is very good, so it will be interesting to see the shift if there are just as many e-book titles available as hard copy books. If a patron had the choice and both were available at that moment, which would they choose? I agree with Seth's assessment in his blog that a future library would also have many more computer terminals with internet access than currently.
Though the cost and possibility of breakage would be high, I think it would be a nice benefit for a library to lend out various e-readers to patrons so they could decide which one they liked.
I can also see things, such as check-out, becoming more automated in the future. Less personal interaction, more efficiency. I think that eventually all libraries will have a self-checkout equipped with a place to put cash or a credit card to pay for any fines.
There is one thing that I don't think can be replaced by all of the new technology that is being introduced, and that is person to person interactions. Whether it is a storytime for a group of children or a book discussion group between adults, there is something about this that I do not think can be replaced.
What the future will bring, I have no idea....I just hope that we as a society don't lose interaction with people altogether.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Thing #9: eBooks
I'm still not 100% certain how I feel about eBooks, but they are growing on me. When I first saw my co-workers sitting at the break room table reading on their Nooks, I told myself that I would never go there because I liked the feel of a real book. I also wasn't sure how I would feel about looking at a screen that resembled the computer screen I already stare at all day long. When I was able to buy a Pandigial E-Reader at a really good price (less than $100), I decided to go for it. With it, I can not only read e-books but also access the internet and android apps, though I must say I haven't quite figured out the whole android thing yet. Today I also explored some of the sites for free e-books and downloaded a few of them.
When it was time to download my first e-book from Overdrive, I used our library's Nook instructions and they worked well for me. As far as I can tell, they are still up to date and were easy to follow. I found Overdrive fairly easy to use and search for what I was looking for. I wish the selection of books was larger, but that is another issue altogether.
Now that I have had a chance to spend some time reading e-books, I can say that I do think they have their place for me personally. I recently went on vacation and it was great to be able to bring a few books along on the trip and not have it take up too much space. The only annoying part was having to shut it down on the airplane during takeoff and landings. Since my e-reader has a computer-like screen, I am not able to see it at all outside in the sun so it certainly will not replace real books for me. I can also see a huge benefit for people in certain professions who need to refer to textbooks for facts and information on a regular basis. Being able to carry this around with them in such a small package could be hugely beneficial, as long as they were able to access the data they required as easily as in a hard book. Perhaps it would be even easier if they could search for particular keywords.
I am not entirely sure how I feel about the whole controversy with libraries and e-books. I can understand how a publisher may not want to permit a library to lend one purchased copy of an e-book to multiple patrons at one time. However, I think restrictions on the number of times the e-book is able to be lent out is totally ridiculous. I know there is a whole debate about not comparing e-books to real print copy books at all (I read one of the articles posted on the CDLC page), but there is no restriction to the number of times we are able to lend a hard copy book, other than until it falls apart or gets destroyed. Coming from working at a printing company, I know that the cost of printing books is pretty significant and that publishers are reducing their expenses when it comes to digital books. (Though I don't know enough about the publishing industry - perhaps there are other costs involved) It seems like the publishers want to restrict libraries even more than on print copies. It doesn't make much sense to me, and I am interested to see how everything will be resolved in the years to come as I'm sure digital media will become more and more popular.
When it was time to download my first e-book from Overdrive, I used our library's Nook instructions and they worked well for me. As far as I can tell, they are still up to date and were easy to follow. I found Overdrive fairly easy to use and search for what I was looking for. I wish the selection of books was larger, but that is another issue altogether.
Now that I have had a chance to spend some time reading e-books, I can say that I do think they have their place for me personally. I recently went on vacation and it was great to be able to bring a few books along on the trip and not have it take up too much space. The only annoying part was having to shut it down on the airplane during takeoff and landings. Since my e-reader has a computer-like screen, I am not able to see it at all outside in the sun so it certainly will not replace real books for me. I can also see a huge benefit for people in certain professions who need to refer to textbooks for facts and information on a regular basis. Being able to carry this around with them in such a small package could be hugely beneficial, as long as they were able to access the data they required as easily as in a hard book. Perhaps it would be even easier if they could search for particular keywords.
I am not entirely sure how I feel about the whole controversy with libraries and e-books. I can understand how a publisher may not want to permit a library to lend one purchased copy of an e-book to multiple patrons at one time. However, I think restrictions on the number of times the e-book is able to be lent out is totally ridiculous. I know there is a whole debate about not comparing e-books to real print copy books at all (I read one of the articles posted on the CDLC page), but there is no restriction to the number of times we are able to lend a hard copy book, other than until it falls apart or gets destroyed. Coming from working at a printing company, I know that the cost of printing books is pretty significant and that publishers are reducing their expenses when it comes to digital books. (Though I don't know enough about the publishing industry - perhaps there are other costs involved) It seems like the publishers want to restrict libraries even more than on print copies. It doesn't make much sense to me, and I am interested to see how everything will be resolved in the years to come as I'm sure digital media will become more and more popular.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Thing 8: Video
The video from YouTube that I picked is about the top things to do in Seattle since I am headed there for vacation tomorrow morning! (It's on the brain...) I added this video by clicking the "insert a video" icon in Blogger and searching YouTube. After I did this, I found the direct link to blogger on YouTube which I had missed the first time around. Either way - it was pretty simple overall. I think there are many ways that libraries could use videos, maybe for advertising upcoming programs / author events, maybe for book reviews as a video instead of written.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Thing #7: Productivity & Collaboration Tools
I had fun looking through the list of possible tools and choosing the ones I wanted to try out. In the end, I couldn't choose just two, so I ended up with three.
First I tried Workflowy which was from what I could tell very simple and easy to use as a to-do list that you could add and remove things from throughout the day. It is nice that it's web based so you could access your to-do from anywhere....and it wouldn't get lost like your standard handwritten to-do list could. I definitely would use this again if I knew I had a list that I needed to access from multiple places.
Next, I signed up for Delicious. This was a very neat concept as there are times I think "dang, I favorited that at home and I don't remember the site now". Having to just remember the delicious site seems to be much easier! I think it is also useful for those favorited items that you may not look for too regularly, but would like to keep saved. I will continue to use this in the future.
I also signed up for Evernote which also appears to be quite simple in concept, but a good idea nonetheless. As with the to-do list, I like being able to access these items from anywhere and I think it might definitely be a useful place to store a bunch of recipes. I'm sure there are uses for this tool that I haven't even thought about yet but will continue to ponder.
Another interesting week! Thanks CDLC :)
First I tried Workflowy which was from what I could tell very simple and easy to use as a to-do list that you could add and remove things from throughout the day. It is nice that it's web based so you could access your to-do from anywhere....and it wouldn't get lost like your standard handwritten to-do list could. I definitely would use this again if I knew I had a list that I needed to access from multiple places.
Next, I signed up for Delicious. This was a very neat concept as there are times I think "dang, I favorited that at home and I don't remember the site now". Having to just remember the delicious site seems to be much easier! I think it is also useful for those favorited items that you may not look for too regularly, but would like to keep saved. I will continue to use this in the future.
I also signed up for Evernote which also appears to be quite simple in concept, but a good idea nonetheless. As with the to-do list, I like being able to access these items from anywhere and I think it might definitely be a useful place to store a bunch of recipes. I'm sure there are uses for this tool that I haven't even thought about yet but will continue to ponder.
Another interesting week! Thanks CDLC :)
Thing #6: Online Meeting
This week our learning experience covered webinars/online meetings. I like the concept and definitely find it interesting, but I didn't have very good luck in the execution. I watched an archived meeting in Eluminate but it was somewhat difficult. The software slowed down my computer significantly and I thought I was on the verge of a crash multiple times. I also had a hard time hearing and understanding the presenters, even when I put up the volume. Overall, I much prefer in-person meetings but I would try the online version again in the future.
Thing #5: Reflection
So far I have been quite pleased with the Learn with CDLC program. I loved learning how to create my own blog and share photos on it - I may use this sometime in the future to start a food/cooking blog! I also really love my new igoogle page and all of the fun things I have been able to add to it. It is so much easier to follow blogs that I like to read and see when new things are posted - I really didn't know you could do this! I can't think of any improvements I would make at this time, but I look forward to seeing what I am going to learn next!
Thing #4: Online Communities
I'm a little behind on my "things" but I am trying to catch up before I head to Seattle for my vacation! I already belong to all of the online communities that I have interest in: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, GoodReads and Ravelry. I explored these communities a little further and found several local libraries on Facebook. I think that social media is very valuable to libraries as a way to communicate instantly about a variety of things. They could promote programs that people may not otherwise know about, or remind people of closings due to weather, changes in hours or holidays. I think it is a superb tool and one that will be used for years to come, perhaps with some interesting improvements (though I'm not sure what they will be!).
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