Thing #20: Books 2.0

MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY

Thing #20 begins "With all the emphasis for online tools for learning and socializing in the library, what has happened to the book?"  After the shock and trauma of Thing #19, that's exactly what I was thinking.

Before coming to work for the Library District, I worked in a bookstore for seven years.  Prior to that, I was an English major with a concentration in creative writing.  I'm a novelist.

Books are the whole reason I work at the Library.  They are the sun around which my world revolves.

I recognize on a professional level the tremendous importance of the public library as a citizens' forum and community center, where people meet to socialize, discuss, and learn.

However, neither individual nor group interaction are appetites that libraries satisfy for me on a personal level.  For me, libraries are all about books.

FUTURE OF THE BOOK

I found the FotB blog extremely interesting.  It hadn't occurred to me that anyone was seriously advocating doing away with print media--for all the many reasons mentioned in FotB's blogposts.

I added the RSS feed for FotB to my Bloglines account and feel inordinately proud of myself.  See?  Library 2.0 is already sinking in.  I am learning.

LITERACY DEBATE: ONLINE R U REALLY READING?

Interesting article.  As a kid, I can remember reading cereal boxes, toothpaste tubes, magazines, comic books, and numerous instruction manuals for appliances my parents couldn't seem to wrap their minds around.  I also watched quite a bit of television.

Adults sagely informed me that all these activities would rot my brain, lower my self-esteem, and result in physical ailments of every kind.  Hairy knuckles and spinal degeneration were favorite predictions.

Unicorns do not have knuckles.  My brain, spine, and self-esteem all appeared in good enough shape to me.

So I just ignored my elders, who didn't seem to be doing nearly enough reading themselves.  Unicorns hunger for knowledge.  Any kind of reading is fun to us.

I'm therefore not sure I can get all that alarmed over self-motivated kids reading six hours a day on the Internet.

I found the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus webpage hysterically funny, and the one on sasquatch even funnier.  I wonder how many adults would have been similarly taken in had they encountered the same spurious information in print?

Perhaps a similar percentage of the population to that which read Midnight, The National Enquirer, and The Star--or checks out from the public library nonfiction works on UFOs, Bigfoot, and . . . um . . . unicorns.

I hadn't previously considered the keyword searchability of the Internet to be a research aid for the dyslexic, but I see now how that could be.  Most keyword searches bold the word searched as it appears in the found text, which doubtless also helps.

FICTION READING INCREASES FOR ADULTS

I guess I'm supposed to feel encouraged that more adults reported reading something--anything--in the last 12 months, but I find the statistics depressing.

The slight upturn isn't much, and only about half the adults surveyed admit to having read any sort of traditional work of literature (novel, short story, poem, or play) over the last year.

It saddens me to think how many people don't seem to share my love of reading.  Reading's so enjoyable to me, I can't imagine going a whole year--much less even a day--between reads.

NEA REPORT READING ON THE RISE

This article was basically a reiteration of the information contained in the New York Times article above.  I was quite interested in the statistics on the more dramatic increase in teen reading than that among adults.

To hear NEA tell it, their Big Read, Poetry Out Loud, and other initiatives were key factors in the turnaround.  Supportive as I am of the National Endowment for the Arts, I'm a bit skeptical.

The Harry Potter and Twilight phenomena were much more widespread, touching many more teens.  I tend to think that it was these and other popular fiction works that made a more significant contribution to the upturn.

HOW LIBRARIES CAN SURVIVE IN THE NEW MEDIA ECOSYSTEM

Overall, I like the points this PowerPoint presentation made.  For example, that in the Information Age, information has become abundant, cheap, personally oriented, and designed for participation.

Also, the 10 fundamental ways in which the information ecosystem has changed:

1)  The volume of information has grown.

2)  The variety of information has changed.

3)  The velocity of information has increased.

4)  Venues and availability of information have expanded.

5)  People's attention spans have both truncated and elongated.

6)  Media environments have become compelling places to hang out and interact.

7)  Better searching and customization have improved the relevance of information.

8)  Information has democratized, enhancing the visibility of its new creators.

9)  Voting and venting about information has proliferated with tagging, rating, etc.

10)  Social networks have changed the structure of friendship.

I especially like Lee Rainie's recommendations for how libraries can leverage these changes to reach their patron base and remain relevant:

1)  Be findable and available.

2)  Become a news node and information hub.

3)  Emulate social networks.

4)  Build social capital using links.

5)  Use Web 2.0 applications.

6)  Solicit feedback.

7)  Demonstrate how well we are paying attention.

8)  Help patrons master the new literacies:

a)  Graphic

b)  Navigation

c)  Context

d)  Focus

e)  Skepticism

f)  Ethics

g)  Personal

KINDLE 2

I have to say that when the original version of Kindle hit the market a year or two ago, I took a look at it, but concluded that it was too bulky, heavy, and that the text resolution was not sharp enough.

The new Kindle looks better.  Sleaker, slimmer, more streamlined, lighter weight.  The text resolution on the grayscale screen looks sharper.  Text size is adjustable.

I wonder if you can turn the screen sideways to enable it to be enlarged a little further?  That would be a nice feature.

The attribute that appeals the most to me is text-to-speech, enabling the reader to switch from visual text to audiobook format.  This is something I've been interested in for years.

The $359 price tag is awfully steep.  Reading matter is limited, especially for those of us on the long tail who are not always interested in the latest bestsellers.

It's also expensive.  I'd have to see the cost of downloads cut in half before I could seriously consider a Kindle for myself.  It's an interesting concept, though.

I wonder if Kindle has any plans to come out with a color screen and the ability to play video for its Kindle 3?  Multimedia capability would definitely up my interest and make me willing to reconsider the steep pricetag.

KINDLE IN LIBRARIES

I think if Amazon will allow libraries to lend Kindles to the public, the practice will give their product a great boost in popularity.

I know that I myself might be much more interested in a Kindle if I had the opportunity to check it out myself before having to make a purchasing decision.  

Being highly tactile, I prefer a test drive if at all possible.  Does the item feel right?  That's an important question for me that cannot be answered except by a hooves-on demonstration.

If the Kindle feels better than expected, that might go a long way toward ameliorating my hesitation to drop $359 on a Kindle.

A MOMENTARY COMPLAINT

I notice that Thing #20 consists of 6 articles to read and 8 categories of book-related online tools to sample.  It has taken me several hours to finish reading and blogging about the 6 articles.  I wonder how long it will take me to do the 8 mandatory categories?  (There are two optional ones as well.)

If I were in charge of designing 23 Things, I would divide Thing #20 into half a dozen or more individual Things, each of which would take about 45 minutes to an hour to complete.

Designing a Thing that takes hours and hours to get through is setting participants up for failure.  Staff in my own Departments have been asked to schedule no more than two hours of work time per week on 23 Things.

I have heard of similar time limits being observed by other Departments.

Making Things too time-consuming invites cheating.  Not everyone is willing to devote their days off to this venture.

Nor is everyone willing to put in the time necessary to form even a nodding acquaintance with the material.

In this unicorn's humble opinion, 23 Things should not be encouraging its participants to give this ostensibly vital training only a quick skim.  Cursory participation is unlikely to produce deep or lasting results.

BOOKS ON YOUR PHONE: TWITTERLIT

TwitterLit looked like fun.  I love reading the first lines of novels.  I added the RSS feed to my Bloglines account.

READERS ADVISORY: BOOKTRAILS

BookTrails looked interesting.  The trails I followed were "Great Readalouds for Kids 5 - 6," "Fantasy Wonderland," "Great Fantasy Series," "Books I Have Read and Would Read Again," and "Fantasy / SciFi."

ONLINE BOOK COMMUNITIES: OVERBOOKED

I took a turn through Overbooked's 2008 and 2009 Speculative Fiction lists.  This website has possibilities.  I'll be back.

BOOK GROUP RESOURCES: LIT LOVERS

I chose to explore LitLovers for my book group resource.  The sections of the site most interesting to me were the LitLoversBlog (I visited LibrarianInBlack.net) and the LitCourse Catalogue.

AUDIOBOOKS: LIBRIVOX

Librivox's ambition to record all public domain books as audiobooks using volunteers strikes me as innovative and admirable.

I wish their site contained an audio sample that didn't involve downloading.  I don't have time at the moment to download one of their books in order to check out the quality.

Whether or not this free service catches on will almost certainly depend on the quality of its volunteer narrators.

Audiobook listeners--myself included--are very picky about narrators.  We want to hear the book read well.  Mediocre is not good enough.  Reading aloud skillfully is an art.

BOOK REVIEWS: BOOKBROWSE

A quick foray through BookBrowse's "SciFi / Fantasy / Alternate History" list (found under "Book Themes" on the "Find a Book" tab) showed me that this is a site I'll be back to visit.

The titles listed on this list were definitely my type of reading.  I think this will be a good place to get suggestions on what to read next.

BOOK RENTAL: BOOKSFREE

I was disappointed that BooksFree wasn't actually a free service.  Only the shipping is free.  Still, that's something.  The selection looked good, especially in the fantasy / scifi audiobooks--but the pricepoint is still too high.

The basic plans (one item at a time) were restrictive, the more liberal plans (multiple items) expensive.  The audiobook rentals were costly even at the basic level.

However, because for most of its plans BooksFree has no time limit for borrowers (in other words, no due date: just return items when finished), it occurs to me that a family, book club, or group of friends with similar reading tastes might be able to pool their resources, all chip in to purchase a high-end plan, then pass the books or disks around among members of the group before returning them.

Such a plan would drop the price far below the basic rate of one-at-a-time audiobooks for $22.95 per month.  Six people could share six audiobooks and, by splitting the six-at-a-time cost (of $62.9 per month) only pay $10.42 per month individually.

That works out to six times the number of audiobooks as the basic service for less than half the cost.  Not bad, provided you and your group could agree on what to order.

FACEBOOK: GOODREADS

Since I'm already a member of GoodReads, I decided to add my GoodReads bookshelf to my Facebook account.  I did so and invited 5 friends to exchange book reviews with me.

FORGING AHEAD

I'm embarrassed how many hours I spent on this Thing.  I reiterate my protest about better Thing design being needed.  These Things are taking much, much too long.

Thing 2: Figuring Out Just What Is Web 2.0?

Thing 2 in 23 Things @ NEFLIN consisted of a viewing a YouTube video, a blogpost, and an online journal article, plus several extras (a series of five journal articles, another video, and a Wikipedia article).

It took me about five hours to complete: 3.5 for the reading / viewing and 1.5 for the blogpost.

I can see that if the time commitment is similar for future elements in 23 Things, I'm going to have to do them all at home on my own time.  There just isn't going to be time at work.  I find this troubling.

Now for my reactions:

The Stephen Abrams Kicks Off 23 Things at Murdoch University Library Video

I was interested to hear about all the new technologies Mr. Abrams is already incorporating into his life.  He must be rich and have oodles of free available time.

When the interviewer asked Mr. Abrams how a 23 Things participant might find time to explore the various technologies, he mentioned having previously smoked three packs of cigarettes a day before quitting.

A pack of cigarettes contains 20 cigarettes.  Three packs contain 60 cigarettes total.  If Mr. Abrams did indeed, as he stated, find 7 - 15 minutes per cigarette, that totals 7 - 15 hours per day spent smoking.

Mr. Abrams implied that all of us have hours and hours of time in our daily lives similarly devoted to unproductive pursuits that, if redirected to 23 Things, could enable us to participate without too much inconvenience.

I must protest.  I don't doubt Mr. Abrams' statement that he smoked three packs a day.  I'm sure he did.  But smoking is an activity that can be conducted while doing something else.  One can smoke while one works, while one drives, while one eats, etc.

If one gives up smoking, one still has to work, drive, eat, etc.  So the question becomes, if one gives up smoking, can one participate in 23 Things while still working, driving, eating, etc.?

I venture to say no.  23 Things is something to which one must give one's full attention.   So what exactly am I supposed to give up to make time for 23 Things?

My private life contains almost no discretionary time as it is.  If there's no time at work, I may not be able to finish the course.  This realization bothers me. 

John Blyberg's BlogPost about the Library 2.0 Debate

The main questions seem to be: Is Library 2.0 real?  Is it a big deal?  Is it inevitable?

I confess I don't quite see what the debate's about.  Web 2.0 is happening all around us.  If libraries don't adopt current trends in technology and adapt themselves to social expectations, we'll become irrelevant.  Nobody will use us.  What's to debate?

What I found even more interesting than the blogpost itself was reading through all the commentary at the end.  Interesting, but time-consuming.  Again, I find my thoughts turning to whether or not I'm going to have time to devote to 23 Things.

"The Ongoing Web Revolution" an unattributed article from Library Technology Report 43.5 (Sep - Oct 2007 issue)

I thought this article stated the case for Library 2.0 pretty clearly.

The two most interesting aspects for me were:

(1)  The video entitled "Web 2.0 . . . The Machine is Us/ing Us" by Michael Wesch, which I thought demonstrated the new accessibility and link-ability of information via the Web wonderfully well in contrast with the constraints of traditional print technology; and

(2)  The mention of Gene Smith's "Social Software Building Blocks" (identity, presence, relationships, conversations, groups, reputation, and sharing) along with the fundamental question, "How can library systems and library Web sites include these building blocks?"

These seven factors are just exactly what our users want, need, and expect.  It seems to me that our job is to figure out how to revamp library services to deliver them.

"Web 2.0: Where Will the Next Generation of the Web Take Libraries?" in Next Space: The OCLC Newsletter, No. 2, 2006 issue.

A.  "Away from Icebergs" by Rick Anderson

I like the three icebergs Mr. Anderson mentions:

(1)  Traditional print collections at the expense of other, newer types of collections.  I agree that libraries don't need as many books as they once did.  Other collections need funding, too.

(2)  Librarians as teachers.  Again, I agree that library staff don't have time to give the public in-depth, one-on-one tutoring on how to use library resources.  We need to choose resources that are self-explanatory and very easy to use so as to maximize both our own and our patrons' time.

(3)  The traditional "Come to Us" model of library service.  Again, I'm in complete agreement here.  Libraries no longer exercise the information monopoly they once did.  Our customers don't have to use us.  It would behoove libraries to make our services as inviting as possible and position them where potential patrons are most likely to encounter them and use us.  (Remember the old adage, "Location, location, location"?  Right now, that location is online.)

B.  "Into the New World of Librarianship" by Michael Stephens

Mr. Michaels's new world of librarianship sounds like a utopian ideal in an Obama-esque, "Yes, We Can" watershed era of dramatic change.  I'd love to work in a library such as the one he describes!

Empowered staff.  Progressive change.  Fiscal responsibility (as opposed to the unbridled consumerism of "technolust").  Transparency.  Accountability.  Sounds good!

Unfortunately, I wonder if the higher-ups at most libraries trust staff enough or give them sufficient credit to allow this to happen.

My unhappy impression of many other libraries, garnered from a few conversations and limited reading, is that most managers and administrators instruct their (often very bright, energetic and motivated) staff to shut up, do as they're told, and stop making suggestions.

Strangling feedback has, in my observation, been the first act of many new managers and administrators.  I think that's a pity.

C.  "To More Powerful Ways to Cooperate" by Chip Nilges.

This article advocates boldly for "Harnessing collective intelligence" for collaborative revision of libraries' missions and services.  I'm all for it.

I've heard this sentiment expressed elsewhere as, "None of us is smarter than all of us."  I have a little bit of trouble parsing that, so I like to reword it as, "No one among us is smarter than all of us working together."

I also love the idea of networking all libraries into a searchable WorldCat with no authorization required.  Resource sharing is so much more efficient than separate collections.

Ditto the idea of allowing users (not just library professionals) to collaborate in the library community cooperative.  Yes!

Mr. Nilges's third and fourth points ("release lightweight services" and "build better data") didn't resonate with me as immediately as did his earlier points.  But maybe I was just getting tired.

D.  "To Better Bibliographic Services" by John J. Riemer

This article was all about the need for federated searching to access all the many sorts of databases (a.k.a. information storage systems or "silos") in order to:

(1)  Make their data more efficiently available;

(2)  Make it available in nontraditional (nonlibrary) settings;

(3)  Incorporate Amazon.com and Google features (e.g., reviews, tagging, etc.) that users want / need / expect;

(4)  Simplify the creation of metadata; and

(5)  Eliminate reduplication of effort.

To all these points, I say, "Rock on!"

E.  "To a Temporary Place in Time" by Dr. Wendy Schultz

Dr. Schultz asserts that Library 2.0, like all trends, is transitory.

According to her, Library 1.0 offered books as commodity.

Library 2.0 seeks to package the commodity (meaning information / books) into product with librarians cast into the role of "experienced tour guides."

Library 3.0, she predicts, will offer service via Web 3D (virtual world technology) with librarians as VR information coaches.  These avatars will have the potential to become celebrity "superstars" based on the quality of their service.  That's a neat thought.

Another key point Dr. Schultz made is that despite the rise of virtual reality, bricks-and-mortar storefronts will continue to exist "if they offer a compelling experience."  (I.e., one that is authentic, humane, experiential, impassioned, relevant, and participatory.)

I found this point fascinating, because the litany of the seven attributes of a compelling library experience echoed eerily a list of personal core values I came up with in a recent library-related workshop I attended.  These are just the things a job needs to have in order for me to find it satisfying!

Finally, Dr. Schultz postulates that Library 4.0 will offer experience, becoming a sort of art salon, aesthetic environment, dream society, gymnasium of the mind, idea lab, and / or knowledge spa that will absorb and incorporate all previous library incarnations.

I loved all those descriptions and found her vision extremely exciting.  It's along the lines (though much more complete and better articulated) of something I--and I'm sure many others--have been thinking over for some time now.

Why does the library have to change (become something wholly other than what it already is)?   Why can't it simply grow?

As a child matures, does he metamorphose into an entirely new and alien being?  No, he's still recognizably who he always was, there's just more to him now than there used to be.

When the electric light bulb was invented, did candles suddenly (or even eventually) cease to be?  No, they're still around.  They work fine.  They're still good, and we still use them.

I like the idea of the library growing, becoming more complex, more varied, more user friendly.  I think that's a lot more accurate description than the more abstract and rather sweeping descriptor change.

Change can mean a lot of things, not all of them good.  I think growth has a much more positive connotation.

"Library 2.0" in Wikipedia

This article speaks of Library 2.0 as featuring user-centered and participatory library services, where information flows back from users to the library instead of using the old uni-directional information flow of previous models of library service.  (I.e., Library 1.0.)

I agree that this is one of the hallmarks of Library 2.0 and also one of its most positive characteristics.

However, I'd also like to see more information flowing from staff and increased participation by staff as well as by users.  By virtue of their unique experience, staff are ideally positioned to give very valuable input into the transformation process libraries are currently undergoing.

In order to be able to do this, however, staff will have to be enabled to participate: not only encouraged to do so, but given time to do so.  Inviting staff to participate in 23 Things or Library 2.0 is exciting, but even more important is allotting them time to participate.

Right now it looks like I'll be doing 23 Things entirely on my days off from work.  Oh, well.  Who needs family interaction, personal hygiene, or sleep?  The Internet calls.