On April 20th, Amazon announced the Kindle Lending Library project, a model for licensing and lending Kindle eBooks to libraries. Amazon will partner with OverDrive for this project and use libraries' existing OverDrive collections. As you can imagine, this sent a wave of excitement through the community. Although some librarians were initially concerned, it appears to be all good news. Both Amazon and OverDrive have published press releases, although OverDrive's contains more details.
On the flip side of things, many of the, as I like to call them, heavies in online libraryland wrote some interesting and insightful posts in reaction to the news. For anyone wishing to investigate this matter further, here are few links to explore. Happy reading!
• Librarian in Black: Questions we should be asking about Kindle Library Lending
• Librarian by Day: Some Questions for OverDrive and Amazon about the Kindle Lending Library
• Pattern Recognition (by Jason Griffey): Kindle Library Lending
• Stephen’s Lighthouse: Amazon to Launch Library Lending for Kindle Books
• Agnostic, Maybe: Houston, We Have a Problem
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Change your words, change your world
The other day, my Auntie Corrie forwarded me a link to a commercial on youtube. It was for a company called Purplefeather and was a very moving representation of how a slight change in wording can drastically change the effect your message has on the world. The video reminded me to think about how libraries portray their messages to patrons. We've talked about this before in our blog, but I think it's worth mentioning again because I think positivity is contagious and if patrons have a good experience at your library, chances are they'll return and probably tell their friends to go too. Wouldn't you love for your library to be the place in your community that everybody loves to go to?
Take this sign, for example:
http://mrschu81.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/post-at-the-kanapaha-botanical-gardens/
I find this a much better and much more humorous reminder to parents than a sign saying "Please don't leave children unattended in he library"
Give it a try, if you haven't already. And if you have, let me know about it! I'd love to hear about how your library has changed your signage and how it's impacted the people who use your library!!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Creating an EReader Lending Policy for your Library
Since the Southern Alberta Library Conference, a number of Chinook Arch’s member libraries have been asking about lending eReaders. I can only assume that this is linked to the presentation given by Sarah Felkar of West Vancouver Memorial Library on eReader Lending. (If you are interested, Sarah’s slides and handout are available on the SALC 2011 website.) While there are many things to consider when lending out eReaders, I would like to talk about creating a library lending policy.
If you are planning on lending out eReaders creating a well-worded, comprehensive policy is a must. From reviewing other policies, your policy should likely include what devices you are lending out, who can check them out, how long the lending period is, how many times they can be renewed, if holds can be placed on them, what the overdue charge is, whether the items contains preloaded titles (very common and highly recommended) and how the eReader should be returned. I have also run across policies that include whether or not patrons can put titles on the eReader from sources other than library’s collection (definitely something to think about) and if borrowers need to sign an acknowledgement agreement of replacement costs.
Here are a few policies that might give you some ideas when crafting your own. I am sure that you can easily find many more, but these should provide a good start:
- Irvin L. Young Memorial Library in Whitewater, Wisconsin
- North Vancouver City Library
- Greater Victoria Public Library (This policy mentions that the eReader lending package includes an instruction’s sheet, quite likely created by the library.)
- Maine State Library (This one includes a sample users agreement and a link to other policies.)
The act of creating a lending policy will help you address any service issues that may crop-up for front-end staff as well. Before and during your policy creation, be sure to discuss and share your ideas with other library staff. They will likely have lots of questions about how the lending and receiving will occur and ideas about what should be included in your policy. It might also be a good idea to create trouble-shooting guides and documentation for staff about how to handle these new materials. Hopefully, by engaging in this process you will get a better sense of how best to provide this new and emerging library service.
If you are planning on lending out eReaders creating a well-worded, comprehensive policy is a must. From reviewing other policies, your policy should likely include what devices you are lending out, who can check them out, how long the lending period is, how many times they can be renewed, if holds can be placed on them, what the overdue charge is, whether the items contains preloaded titles (very common and highly recommended) and how the eReader should be returned. I have also run across policies that include whether or not patrons can put titles on the eReader from sources other than library’s collection (definitely something to think about) and if borrowers need to sign an acknowledgement agreement of replacement costs.
Here are a few policies that might give you some ideas when crafting your own. I am sure that you can easily find many more, but these should provide a good start:
- Irvin L. Young Memorial Library in Whitewater, Wisconsin
- North Vancouver City Library
- Greater Victoria Public Library (This policy mentions that the eReader lending package includes an instruction’s sheet, quite likely created by the library.)
- Maine State Library (This one includes a sample users agreement and a link to other policies.)
The act of creating a lending policy will help you address any service issues that may crop-up for front-end staff as well. Before and during your policy creation, be sure to discuss and share your ideas with other library staff. They will likely have lots of questions about how the lending and receiving will occur and ideas about what should be included in your policy. It might also be a good idea to create trouble-shooting guides and documentation for staff about how to handle these new materials. Hopefully, by engaging in this process you will get a better sense of how best to provide this new and emerging library service.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Gamification in the Library
Wouldn't it be nice to be rewarded for your good behaviour? Well, that's the theory behind "gamification" - the idea that people enjoy playing games because of the positive reinforcement from doing something well.
In Sweden, authorities have been using this theory to encourage people to obey the speed limit. They use photo radar not only to catch speeders but to reward those who drive either at or below the speed limit. Those who follow the rules are entered into a draw to win a portion of the revenue collected from those who speed. By making it into a game, they are encouraging more people to obey the law. Cool idea eh?
Well, librarian Brian Herzog (The Swiss Army Librarian) came up with the idea of using this theory to encourage patrons to bring back their books on time. Rather than focusing on fines for overdue items, patrons are encouraged to practice responsible borrowing by being rewarded for abiding by due dates. The reward can be small, such as being entered into a draw for a gift certificate. Try this out for a week or a month and be creative with the rewards offered. Be like the Swedes, use the theory of gamification to encourage good behaviour.
(Source: The Swiss Army Librarian, http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/03/31/gamify-your-library-fines/, March 31, 2011)
In Sweden, authorities have been using this theory to encourage people to obey the speed limit. They use photo radar not only to catch speeders but to reward those who drive either at or below the speed limit. Those who follow the rules are entered into a draw to win a portion of the revenue collected from those who speed. By making it into a game, they are encouraging more people to obey the law. Cool idea eh?
Well, librarian Brian Herzog (The Swiss Army Librarian) came up with the idea of using this theory to encourage patrons to bring back their books on time. Rather than focusing on fines for overdue items, patrons are encouraged to practice responsible borrowing by being rewarded for abiding by due dates. The reward can be small, such as being entered into a draw for a gift certificate. Try this out for a week or a month and be creative with the rewards offered. Be like the Swedes, use the theory of gamification to encourage good behaviour.
(Source: The Swiss Army Librarian, http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/03/31/gamify-your-library-fines/, March 31, 2011)
Friday, March 25, 2011
EBooks: Back Pocket Information
I have posted quite a bit about eBooks lately, but I seem to keep coming across helpful information. Here are a few gems that I would like to share with you today:
What eReader should I buy?
For those of you who were unable to attend one of the videoconferencing sessions presented by Stephanie Thero of Yellowhead Regional Library System on eReaders, here is a brief overview of this session. Stephanie talked in-depth about the usability features of the Kobo, the Sony Digital eReader, the Pandigital Novel eReader, and the iPad (first generation) and recommended her choice eReader.
She cited the Kobo as the best eReader to promote to patrons and I have to agree. It is light, has a comfortable, quilted back, great battery life (up to 2 weeks), and easy-to-use software that works well with OverDrive. It also uses E-Ink, which means that the screen is not backlit like a computer and is easier to read for long periods of time. As the runner-up, the Sony Digital Reader also uses E-Ink and is supposed to have better battery life in its later editions. Both the iPad and Pandigital have backlit screens, are much heavier, and more complex because they are multi-use tablets. All of these devices are compatible with OverDrive.
If you would like comprehensive reviews of eReaders, check out The EBook Reader website. For general eReader information, The Digital Reader and EBookAnoid are good sources.
What do I do if a patron’s eReader is not compatible with OverDrive?
Last week, I had to tell a patron with a Nextbook1 that they could not borrow eBooks from the library because their device was not compatible with OverDrive. Luckily, a week or so later, I stumbled across an article by Rebecca Vnuk entitled “Free E-Books for Happy Patrons.” I do not know if all these resources work with Kindles (with the exception of Baen Books), but they will likely work with “rarer” eReader devices:
• InkMesh is a search engine that searches more than thirty online sources for free e-books. You can search by titles or author. (http://inkmesh.com)
• Project Gutenberg, the original site for free text online, offers more than 33,000 free books that play nicely with any e-reader platform. You’ll find mostly classics and public domain works here. No registration is required, and the site is easy to use. A nice feature is their “bookshelves”-collections groups by topic (www.gutenberg.org).
• Baen Books, publisher of science fiction and fantasy, offers a number of their titles as free downloads. Established authors such as Eric Flint, Lois McMaster Bujold, Mercedes Lackey, and David Weber can be found here. There are currently 120 titles available, with new titles added every month. You can save e-books to your computer. You can save e-books to your computer or send them directly to a Kindle (www.baen.com/library).
• The Online Books Page from the University of Pennsylvania Libraries offers an index of hundreds of thousands of online book freely readable on the Internet (http://digitial.library.upenn.edu/books).
Vnuk, R. (2011). Free E-Books for Happy Patrons. Public Libraries, 126, 50(1), 48.
What eReader should I buy?
For those of you who were unable to attend one of the videoconferencing sessions presented by Stephanie Thero of Yellowhead Regional Library System on eReaders, here is a brief overview of this session. Stephanie talked in-depth about the usability features of the Kobo, the Sony Digital eReader, the Pandigital Novel eReader, and the iPad (first generation) and recommended her choice eReader.
She cited the Kobo as the best eReader to promote to patrons and I have to agree. It is light, has a comfortable, quilted back, great battery life (up to 2 weeks), and easy-to-use software that works well with OverDrive. It also uses E-Ink, which means that the screen is not backlit like a computer and is easier to read for long periods of time. As the runner-up, the Sony Digital Reader also uses E-Ink and is supposed to have better battery life in its later editions. Both the iPad and Pandigital have backlit screens, are much heavier, and more complex because they are multi-use tablets. All of these devices are compatible with OverDrive.
If you would like comprehensive reviews of eReaders, check out The EBook Reader website. For general eReader information, The Digital Reader and EBookAnoid are good sources.
What do I do if a patron’s eReader is not compatible with OverDrive?
Last week, I had to tell a patron with a Nextbook1 that they could not borrow eBooks from the library because their device was not compatible with OverDrive. Luckily, a week or so later, I stumbled across an article by Rebecca Vnuk entitled “Free E-Books for Happy Patrons.” I do not know if all these resources work with Kindles (with the exception of Baen Books), but they will likely work with “rarer” eReader devices:
• InkMesh is a search engine that searches more than thirty online sources for free e-books. You can search by titles or author. (http://inkmesh.com)
• Project Gutenberg, the original site for free text online, offers more than 33,000 free books that play nicely with any e-reader platform. You’ll find mostly classics and public domain works here. No registration is required, and the site is easy to use. A nice feature is their “bookshelves”-collections groups by topic (www.gutenberg.org).
• Baen Books, publisher of science fiction and fantasy, offers a number of their titles as free downloads. Established authors such as Eric Flint, Lois McMaster Bujold, Mercedes Lackey, and David Weber can be found here. There are currently 120 titles available, with new titles added every month. You can save e-books to your computer. You can save e-books to your computer or send them directly to a Kindle (www.baen.com/library).
• The Online Books Page from the University of Pennsylvania Libraries offers an index of hundreds of thousands of online book freely readable on the Internet (http://digitial.library.upenn.edu/books).
Vnuk, R. (2011). Free E-Books for Happy Patrons. Public Libraries, 126, 50(1), 48.
Monday, March 14, 2011
It's time for some Spring cleaning!
The warmer temperatures outside and the longer days have me thinking about Spring cleaning. Spring is a great time to get rid of the old and make room for the new, so why not use this changing season as an excuse to weed your library collection (as if you need an excuse - doesn't everyone just love weeding!). Weeding may be a chore, but it really is an important part of maintaining your collection.
So, why weed?
1. It makes it easier for patrons to find interesting and relevant materials.
2. It makes collection more visually attractive and inviting to those browsing the collection.
3. It provides a more appealing, up-to-date collection.
4. Patrons trust the library to supply information that is easy to find and up-to-date.
5. It allows the librarian to identify gaps in the collection so she can make new purchases.
6. It creates space on the shelves for new acquisitions.
7. It increases circulation as attention is drawn to materials that patrons may have previously overlooked.
Now that I've convinced you to weed, here's how:
Evaluate:
Continuous
Review
Evaluation and
Weeding
Defining Your Criteria
The following criteria should be considered for each item in your collection. You will probably make decisions based on some combination of these criteria - that is, an item should probably not be discarded based on meeting only one of these criteria
The CREW method uses an acronym, MUSTIE, to indicate when an item should be removed from the collection. MUSTIE stands for:
Misleading and/or factually inaccurate
Ugly (worn out beyond mending or rebinding)
Superseded by a new edition or a better source
Trivial (of no discernable literary or scientific merit)
Irrelevant to the needs and interests of your community
Elsewhere (the material may be easily borrowed from another source).
For more information on the CREW Method, check out this book:
http://chinookarch.bibliocommons.com/item/show/77546040_the_crew_method
Happy Weeding!
(Source: Chinook Arch Regional Library System Weeding Workshop, October 2004)
So, why weed?
1. It makes it easier for patrons to find interesting and relevant materials.
2. It makes collection more visually attractive and inviting to those browsing the collection.
3. It provides a more appealing, up-to-date collection.
4. Patrons trust the library to supply information that is easy to find and up-to-date.
5. It allows the librarian to identify gaps in the collection so she can make new purchases.
6. It creates space on the shelves for new acquisitions.
7. It increases circulation as attention is drawn to materials that patrons may have previously overlooked.
Now that I've convinced you to weed, here's how:
Evaluate:
- Content (is it out of date, inaccurate, inappropriate, trivial)
- Format (fragile, ugly, ripped)
- Use (number of circulations)
Continuous
Review
Evaluation and
Weeding
Defining Your Criteria
The following criteria should be considered for each item in your collection. You will probably make decisions based on some combination of these criteria - that is, an item should probably not be discarded based on meeting only one of these criteria
The CREW method uses an acronym, MUSTIE, to indicate when an item should be removed from the collection. MUSTIE stands for:
Misleading and/or factually inaccurate
Ugly (worn out beyond mending or rebinding)
Superseded by a new edition or a better source
Trivial (of no discernable literary or scientific merit)
Irrelevant to the needs and interests of your community
Elsewhere (the material may be easily borrowed from another source).
For more information on the CREW Method, check out this book:
http://chinookarch.bibliocommons.com/item/show/77546040_the_crew_method
Happy Weeding!
(Source: Chinook Arch Regional Library System Weeding Workshop, October 2004)
Friday, March 4, 2011
Thinking of obtaining an iPad?
With over 15 million units sold in the last year, its safe to say the iPad is not just a flash in the pan. Essentially the tablet from Apple is a bigger version of the iPod. You can listen to music, play games, download apps, browse the internet, read email and read eBooks too. All this is done via wireless connection, or through the 3G network, depending on the model you get. With many other manufacturers coming out with their answer to the iPad, Apple is doing what it can to ensure their product stays relevant.
Earlier this week Apple announced the iPad 2. The size remains the same, but the central processing unit (CPU) is twice as fast, and the graphics capabilites are up to 9x faster as well. The iPad also comes with two cameras, one on the front and one on the back. All this without reducing the screen size, but the device is thinner than it's predecessor. The iPad 2 is available for sale in Canada on March 25.
Only a few days after the iPad 2 was announced, rumors began swirling that the iPad 3 will be available for the Christmas rush. There hasn't been much speculation as to what the iPad 3 will have that the iPad 2 didn't get. It looks like the iPad 2 is just a stop gap measure to ensure it stays relevant while other manufactures come out with their own tablets. So if you must have the latest features and are patient, then maybe wait a few months to find out more of the iPad 3. Otherwise, if you just want something to read your eBooks and browse the internet, then the iPad 2 will likely suffice.
Earlier this week Apple announced the iPad 2. The size remains the same, but the central processing unit (CPU) is twice as fast, and the graphics capabilites are up to 9x faster as well. The iPad also comes with two cameras, one on the front and one on the back. All this without reducing the screen size, but the device is thinner than it's predecessor. The iPad 2 is available for sale in Canada on March 25.
Only a few days after the iPad 2 was announced, rumors began swirling that the iPad 3 will be available for the Christmas rush. There hasn't been much speculation as to what the iPad 3 will have that the iPad 2 didn't get. It looks like the iPad 2 is just a stop gap measure to ensure it stays relevant while other manufactures come out with their own tablets. So if you must have the latest features and are patient, then maybe wait a few months to find out more of the iPad 3. Otherwise, if you just want something to read your eBooks and browse the internet, then the iPad 2 will likely suffice.
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