future of libraries

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Seth Godin library piece sparks a debate

Submitted by richardcadler on Wed, 05/18/2011 - 07:57
url: 

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/05/the-future-of-the-librar...

Marketer Seth Godin throws up an article about the future of libraries, basically arguing for a new definition that moves away from books as their core, and sparks a debate that includes posts like this one and this one which actually side with him more than one might expect.

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Eli Neiburger on the future of library reference

Submitted by richardcadler on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 08:35
url: 

http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/890328-264/geeks_are_the_future_a....

Not long after his interesting presentation, Libraries are Screwed, in Connecticut, Eli Neiburger weighs in again, this time about the future of library reference, which he feels belongs to the geeks:

"We need big servers and the geeks to take care of them," Neiburger said. "What are we going to cut to be able to hire a geek? We are going to cut reference staff. Reference is dead," he said."

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More on ebook lending restrictions

Submitted by richardcadler on Wed, 03/23/2011 - 23:40
url: 

http://www.slate.com/toolbar.aspx?action=print&id=2289012

A Slate piece about Amazon restricting ebook lending, perhaps due to pressure from traditional publishers.

Lendle, "a web clearinghouse for people who want to loan out and borrow Kindle books," got shut down (and then opened again):

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Libraries, 'one of the last true commons in modern life'

Submitted by richardcadler on Tue, 03/15/2011 - 09:00
url: 

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/soapbox/ar...

Kate Sheehan of Publishers Weekly notes how HarperCollins' scheme threatens the dependence on the right of first sale, and the resource sharing, that lie at the heart of what librarians do:

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The Pareto principle, HarperCollins ebook lending scheme, and the long tail

Submitted by richardcadler on Tue, 03/15/2011 - 08:02
url: 

http://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2011/03/pareto-principle-and-true-cunn...

Eric Hellman takes a statistical approach to HarperCollins 26-ebook-lending scheme and suggests there's an anti-long tail strategy at work here:

"So here's the cunning. By focusing on popularity-driven revenue mechanisms, HarperCollins is pushing money towards the smash hits and away from the long tail. Libraries may be adversely affected, but they're collateral damage. It's the long tail publishers that HarperCollins is trying to destroy."

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Preparing libraries for a post Google Books Settlement world

Submitted by richardcadler on Thu, 03/10/2011 - 11:13
url: 

http://orweblog.oclc.org/archives/002160.html

Lorcan Dempsey addresses the fate of the library in the coming, post-Google Books Settlement world. Some of his presentation (an embedded Slideshare on the page) is familiar, but it offers some insight into how librarians see their situation at the moment. In particular, it speaks to the idea that libraries will be redefined by the declining presence of physical books (even if they don't go away entirely). But if they are bound to be redefined, what will be at the heart of that new definition?

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$39.5 Million Hi-Tech Library Opens In Illinois - Slashdot

Submitted by Sam Rose on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 12:50
url: 

http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/03/08/171223/395-Million-Hi-Tech-Libra...

The new $39.5 million Fountaindale Public Library features: flat-screen TVs, video games, self-checkout stations, a variety of e-readers, and a cafe. Library officials say the new facility is a blueprint for libraries of the future, and will focus on using new technologies. From the article: "The Fountaindale Public Library, with its state-of-the-art, Wi-Fi equipped space, is starkly different from the previous antiquated library, a nearby one-story brick structure built in 1975 that awaits the wrecking ball.

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Digital Public Library of America meeting at Harvard

Submitted by richardcadler on Wed, 03/02/2011 - 08:39
url: 

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2011/03/01/digital-public-library-o...

Several people, including Brewster Kahle, historian Robert Darnton, and UM's Paul Courant, assembled at Harvard's Berkman Center to discuss the Digital Public Library of America project.

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HarperCollins' absurd plan to pawn off limited ebooks to libraries

Submitted by richardcadler on Sun, 02/27/2011 - 07:24
url: 

http://www.boingboing.net/2011/02/25/harpercollins-to-lib.html?utm_sourc...

HarperCollins stirred up a hornet's nest yesterday with a crazy DRM scheme that would allow a e-book to be lent 26 times, but no more.

Librarians, needless to say, have been less than pleased by this idea, and there has been a flood of blog posts decrying it over the past couple of days. Here's a sampling:

BoingBoing

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Adding even more restrictions on library ebook 'lending'

Submitted by richardcadler on Fri, 02/25/2011 - 23:11
url: 

http://atzberger.blogspot.com/2011/02/new-overdrive-drm-terms-this-messa...

Ebook lending is dubious enough as a technical concept and working model, but it's only going to become even less feasible as publishers and companies like OverDrive keep adding restrictions:

"The previous model already forced libraries to pretend a digital "copy" was a single physical thing. Only one library's user can have it "checked out" at a time. And only on one device...."

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