The Word Heard: "Nonfiction at PLA"

As a devoted reader of nonfiction, this is what I noticed at PLA last week.

1) Author and bookstore owner Ann Patchett gave equal attention to fiction and nonfiction in her Ann Patchett Book Hour. Her postcard identified 5 of each to recommend to us.

2) There were very few nonfiction advance reading copies offered to librarians at the publisher exhibits. What does this mean? Could it be that they are confident in nonfiction sales and do not feel the need to promote? This is unlikely. I suspect that they believe most librarians are fiction readers and less interested in nonfiction. They may also be promoting new fiction authors, for most of the ARCs seemed to be by authors unfamiliar to me.

I declined to pick up a copy of American Spring: Lexington, Concord, and the Road to Revolution by Walter R. Borneman because I am sure I will read a library copy, but I did bring home these titles:

Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space by Lynn Sherr
Things a Little Bird Told Me: Confessions of the Creative Mind by Biz Stone
Denali's Howl: The Deadliest Climbing Disaster on America's Wildest Peak by Andy Hall
The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons by Sam Kean

I passed up a few other nonfiction titles, but I would estimate 90 percent of the offerings were fiction.

3) Steve Potash of Overdrive in talking about the library ebook market said specifically that the past two years have been good for "the adult readers of fiction." He did not say good for "adult readers" which would include nonfiction. It would be interesting to know what percentages of library ebook collections and ebook checkouts are fiction and nonfiction.

4) The joyous program Top 5 of the Nonfiction 5 showed that there are many reading choices in numerous nonfiction genres, but all the other readers' advisory programs that I noticed were only fiction.

Big Idea with Amy Cuddy at PLA

How body language influences our thinking and belief in our abilities is a concern of Amy Cuddy, who is a social scientist and professor at Harvard Business School. And like nearly everyone who spoke at the Public Library Association, she has a TED talk. Except for a few updated photos, the TED talk is her PLA presentation expanded. The TED talk is more effective, for she added the story of her efforts to recover from a terrible accident during her college years.

Cuddy requested that we power pose for two minutes before enter stressful situations. Standing straight and in an open position (she showed Wonder Woman and Superman) has been shown to raise levels of testosterone and make people feel more empowered. Power posing can also be done in a chair or even in bed. It is a stretch and straightening, becoming open. Should you wake up feeling crummy, a two minute power pose in bed before rising can improve your hormonal levels and lead to a better day.

Cuddy included many humorous and instructive photos and showed a funny film showing abuses of power posing that was recently sent to her. Cuddy cautioned that power posing is good before you engage people. It is not for interactions.

I was amused how many people in the audience shifted as soon as she started talking about postures. I know I sat up straighter. I think I thought about it all day.

Does This Display Make Me Look Fat? The Truth about Merchandising

"Merchandising" is such a funny looking word. It has the word "hand" in the middle and "sing" at the end. "Reach" and "search" can be formed with its letters. If only it had a "t" I could also rearrange the letters to form "retch." I am rather tired of hearing about marketing and merchandising. I just want to select and promote books, which is really merchandising and marketing, of course, but I am so tired of talking about it. So you would not think I would attend Does This Display Make Me Look Fat? The Truth About Merchandising. But I did and it was really good. I got several useful ideas.

Kathy Dempsey whose website is Libraries Are Essential and wrote the book The Accidental Library Marketer is a cheerful and understanding guide to the world of library promotion. And I liked how she started her tour of the library outside the building. Her point is that the outside suggests what's inside. The outside needs to be esthetically pleasing and also carry specific messages. Having attractive signs that post often changing messages can lure some curious nonusers inside to at least see what the library is about.

The entry way should be clear of clutter which might discourage the reluctant to continue. Most people pass through the entry way quickly. It is a better spot for branding than for the posting of content.

Once inside the building, people look for clear paths to departments and services. Space arrangement is more important than signs - though signs are also important.

Wherever bulletin boards are (hopefully not in the entryway), they should be orderly and well-tended.

Dempsey showed examples of many displays on tables and on wall shelving through libraries. She encouraged the use of cloths and rugs on tables, as well as well chosen props on any display. She also liked having books face out on end caps and library walls. For ideas she recommended looking at Trading Spaces: Reinventing the Library Environment on the South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative website.

Dempsey also addressed a question our library has where to get royalty free images for our publications, website, and social media. On the Resources page of her website is a lengthy section about stock photos.

Here are some assorted tips:

• Laminating signs makes them harder to read for anyone with vision problems.
• Place signs near display books letting people know that they may be taken.
• Bundles of children's books on related topics are popular with time-stressed parents.
• Cardboard cutouts of library staff heads are a nice touch on staff recommends shelves.

The last idea that I really liked was turning ugly pillars into attractive branding. My library has two pillars screaming for a make-over in our community meeting room.

Despite my reluctance, I spent an hour well.

Top 5 of the Nonfiction 5 at the Public Library Association Conference

At every conference I try to attend at least one program focused on readers' advisory. My second in Indianapolis (having also attended the Ann Patchett Book Hour) was Top 5 of the Nonfiction 5. The idea was that five librarians would present five lists for five nonfiction genres. Three of the lists (Must Know  ____, New ____, and Personal Favorite ____) would have five titles each. Classic ___ Authors would have five authors. Trends in ___ would have five trends, which could have any number of titles. If it had been 5 x 5 x 5, it would have 125 book titles (if you ignore any overlap), but it was more complicated than that. It would take too long to count how many titles the five book savvy librarians identified. Since there was no way to describe all in one hour, Rebecca Vnuk from Booklist posted all the lists and slides at Shelf Renewal.

That also means there was much too much for me to mention here, so I'll just note some books I really want to read, which will suggest to you the great variety offered. You should visit Shelf Renewal and print the lists for collection development, frontline readers' advisory, and developing your own reading lists.

Rebecca began with Memoirs. From the trend We Put the FUN in Dysfunctional, I'd like to read Disaster Preparedness by Heather Havrilesky, and from the Rebecca's Personal Favorites, Late Bloomers' Revolution by Amy Cohen.

Barry Trott from the Williamsburg Regional Library followed with Science and Nature. This is a genre that I really enjoy, and there were too many titles for even a year of my reading. On Paper: The Everything of Its Two-Thousand-Year History by Nicholas Basbanes from the Microhistories trend and The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert from the Last Things trend are my top picks to add to my wish list.

Third was Kaite Mediatore Stover from Kansas City Public Library with Pop Culture. From her lists of books, some with dazzling covers, I want to read Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and World War II by Mark Harris from the Back-Story trend and Watching the English by Kate Fox from Kaite's Personal Favorites.

David Wright of Seattle Public Library drew the Self Help assignment. While I like David and enjoy his humor, I have never enjoyed reading self help books, but it is good to know about them since we buy them and get them into the hands of willing readers. I might try When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It! by Yogi Berra from David's Personal Favorites.

Finally, Jessica Moyer of the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin presented lists for the Food and Home genre. I was glad to see she included Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting by Michael Perry, one of my favorite authors, in Must Know books. I have long intended to read Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky in her Classic Food and Home.

This just scratches the surface. I'll repeat, go to Shelf Renewal and see the slides and lists.

Public Library in the Marketplace: The Business of Digital Content

The afternoon session Public Library in the Marketplace: The Business of Digital Content came at the time I needed a nap, but there was a tension in the room that kept me awake. Librarians still have issues with ebook publishers and the vendors that provide their ebooks. So the Q and A between librarian Vailey Oehlke of Multnomah County Library and the duo of Skip Dye from Penguin Random House and Steve Potash of Overdrive was of great concern. Everyone on the platform was well behaved, if not in agreement.

Everyone seemed to agree that the library ebook situation is better than two years ago. Dye posed that all of the major publishers are now selling to libraries, but Oehlke reminded us that a couple of these publishers were doing so in a very limited way and only selling to a few select "test" libraries. Dye did agree with librarians that some of the pricing was too high. He and Potash both suggested that market factors would eventually bring prices down.

Potash said that the past two years have been great for adult readers of fiction ebooks. He added that the next two years will focus on increasing the availability of children's ebooks. Books for youth have lagged as few schools have adopted ebooks for instruction, but he and Dye both think that is about to change as publishers work out models for leasing many copies of curriculum titles for simultaneous use.

Dye praised the Library Reads monthly booklists campaign, saying that it is a loud voice that publishers hear and appreciate. He thinks it will bring publishers closer to librarians, making the point that libraries make or break new authors. It is easier to discover a new author at the library than online.

Dye also thinks that Lonely Planet's model of providing ebooks to libraries through Overdrive has been noticed by other travel book publishers who are now contemplating lower prices and better terms to libraries. He thinks this is a sign of the future, but warns that there will still be numerous pricing models tried before the market settles.

Potash believes that Overdrive will be helping libraries load local and self-published works onto their ebook platforms in the near future. His statement, however, was not a 100 percent promise. Potash also said that he believes that Amazon will in the near future make all of its publishing available to Overdrive. He pointed to Scholastic's new contract with Overdrive for low cost metered access as a sign that more publishers will be cooperative.

The room became a little tenser when Potash spoke about portability of titles when libraries leave the Overdrive service. He said that Overdrive will gladly transfer the titles if publishers let the company do so. But he also pointed to its contracts to protect publisher's content, saying the publishers have to be satisfied that whatever platforms libraries provide meet their copyright protection concerns.

Throw Out the Map: Sustainable Thinking for the Future of Libraries

On Friday morning at the Public Library Association conference in Indianapolis, author and speaker David McRainy said that our memories can not be trusted. On Friday afternoon I attended Throw Out the Map: Sustainable Thinking for the Future of Libraries, a program presented by Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, a consultant for the Mid-Hudson Library System. Now, on Sunday evening back in Illinois, I wondered why the program was in the Administration tract instead of Marketing tract. When I looked at the conference guide, I saw how wrong I was. The program was labelled Leadership. McRainy was right.

On further thought, I think Leadership is a good classification for Aldrich's program, though it had elements of administration and marketing as well. The key word in the program title is "Thinking." Aldrich was most concerned with our thinking. We have to think positively in order to survive and thrive. We have to believe we have a strong future to lead the way.

The speaker admitted that the past five years of funding cuts and increased demands have been tough on libraries. Some nonusers of libraries, having read government cutback stories, even think that we have disappeared. (Or was this said at a different program, my memory is suspect.) She says we need to shout out what we do more. Let the public at large know that we are doing well. (I know she said that for its in my notes.) A call for joyful noise was a part of her program.

Aldrich pointed to signs of our continued success:

• There are more library card holders than Netflix subscribers. 
• Many new owners of tablets and ereaders thought of going to the library for help without being told to do so. 
• Libraries are on the frontline of the do-it-yourself movement. 

I liked that Aldrich displayed a bit of revolutionary spirit. She suggested that we learn from political movements that have taken to the streets. Stating that we can not remain as we are, she quoted Seth Godin, "Revolutions destroy the perfect and then they enable to impossible." She also liked the proclamation from one group that reads "The Corrupt Fear Us, the Honest Support Us, the Heroic Join Us." She thought this would be a great library rallying cry.

Aldrich likes the new things that some libraries or librarians are doing, such as marketing their help to technology setups and providing reference service at festivals, such as South by Southwest. This is thinking big even we do something small. We build community through our aid to individuals.

At the beginning of the program, the audience responded weakly when the speaker wanted to hear us reply to her questions. By the end, we were as loud as the air horn in the program next door.

Big Ideas with Megan McArdle, David McRaney, and Clive Thompson at the PLA Conference

When I saw that today's events at the Public Library Association conference started with three author in a one hour time slot, I wondered how it would work. Were they going to be on a panel? Luckily for us, the answer was no. They each got about 15 minutes to speak. It occurs to me now that their concise presentations were like TED Talks.

Megan McArdle, author of The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well is the Key to Success, started by saying that when she was a child, she asked her parents if she could move to the library (without them implied). They won't let her. It was just the first of many things in her life that did not work out as she planned. With humor, she said that an investment professional friend always wanted to know where she worked so he could avoid investing in that doomed company. While not liking her failures, she now sees how each was a lesson and a step toward success. She recounted historical failures that led to important developments and wondered how our companies, governments, and society will ever see such developments again now that failure is ostracized. Nothing risked, nothing gained.

David McRaney, author of You Are Not So Smart and You Are Now Less Dumb and other books, gave us a number sequencing test. He started by giving us 2, 4, 6 and then 10, 12, 14. When we knew the rule we could lower our hands. We almost all lowered right away. and we were all wrong. He then talked about how we often tend to accept logical fallacies if they prove what we want to be right. Our memories are bad, our perceptions are flawed, and we really can not improve much. For this reason, we should ask questions,check facts, and get help. We need others. (At least, that is what I perceived as his message. I could be wrong.)

Clive Thompson, author of Smarter Than You Think, showed us a series of photos of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Actually, it was the same photo except another member of Stalin's cabinet disappeared in each subsequent image. Stalin was alone in the final image. This was done by expert photo developers before Photoshop. Now almost anyone can do this with cheap or free software. With other low cost technology, we can publish our own ebooks, make our own video games, do our own science research, study word frequencies in classical literature, fact check our leaders, and start revolutions. The trend in technology is to inform and empower us.

There was not time to say how this all applied to libraries, but we can work it out.

Technology's Future at Public Libraries: Staying Relevant in the Digital Age: a PLA Program

Most of the news is good when it comes to technology and libraries, according to the latest report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Contrary to the idea that new technology would displace libraries, Lee Rainie of the Pew Charitable Trust reports that Americans are still in love with their libraries. What's even more remarkable is that people who have taken to new devices like libraries more than people who have not. Most of the tech savvy have not abandoned libraries. Instead, they keep libraries as one of their channels of content.

Rainie was the first presenter at Technology's Future at Public Libraries: Staying Relevant in the Digital Age, a program at the Public Library Association conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. He presented findings from the report From Distant Admirers to Library Lovers, which was released Thursday morning. He showed a pie chart of various categories of users and nonusers of public libraries. 91 percent at some level still support and want public libraries. Some of these people report that they do not actually use libraries, but they want them to be available for others and for the betterment of their communities.

More about the results can be found in these articles:

Turns out most engaged library users are also biggest tech users from the PBS News Hour

Love libraries? Then you’re probably ahead of the technological curve. from the Washington Post

Are Library Users Happier People? from Time

Jackie Nytes, Chief Executive Officer of the Indianapolis Public Library, reports that increased door count in her city's libraries goes along with the growth of use of digital library content. Growth in Facebook and Twitter following has accompanied increased library traffic. And for the first time in 2013, the virtual branch of the library had more checkouts than any of the physical library branches.Bricks and mortar go along with digital services in her city.

A representative from the mayor's office reported that the city sees support of the library as a good investment in making the city attractive to families with children. The city already is seeing growth in the migration of young singles into the city and hopes to keep these people as they marry and mature.

This is all news to like.

Filtering Out Internet Censorship: Advocacy, Professional Ethics, and the Law

In light of a couple situations in libraries in the Chicago region in the past year, I decided it was a good time to refresh my knowledge of issues surrounding Internet filtering and censorship. The Public Library Association had a program just for this purpose, Filtering Out Internet Censorship: Advocacy, Professional Ethics, and the Law. The speakers were two librarians who are experts on the subject,  Deborah Caldwell-Stone from the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom and Sarah Houghton, director of the San Rafael Public Library in California, also known for her blog Librarian in Black.

I left the program reassured with the knowledge that no public library has been forced by a court of law to start filtering its Internet content. According to Caldwell-Stone, since the passage of the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA) in 2000, the most significant case has been Kathleen R. v. the City of Livermore, which ruled that the library was a portal for content and had no legal obligation to filter. The library had a clear policy stating that parents were responsible for monitoring what their children saw, and the mother who sued the library had signed a form acknowledging this policy.

The libraries that have run into legal problems were those who filtered beyond the dictates of CIPA, which only requires that libraries that accept federal funds for providing Internet filter their Internet content. In these case, over-filtering may have been the libraries' choice of policies or it may have been the result of the workings of the filtering companies that they hired.

The other strong message of this program is that Internet filters still do not actually work, even in 2014, a couple of decades after they were introduced. CIPA requires that the libraries that filter do so to block obscene images and child pornography. Tests have repeated shown that the pixel identification processes used by Internet filters have about a 40 percent success rate in blocking these images. They also sometimes block images that are not obscene.

Houghton told how Internet filtering is actually censorship. None of the companies that sell filters will explain how they work, claiming that their methods are trade secrets. In her previous position as head of digital services at the San Jose Public Library, she tested filters and saw that most block text, which is not called for in CIPA. Furthermore, they often block constitutionally protected subjects, including sex education, gay rights, transgender issues, and abortion. A library that buys filtering has surrendered some of its ability to provide information to silent companies. Sadly, this situation most affects the poor, people most in need of a public source for Internet service, as their libraries are the ones most in need of federal funds.

Better Websites Make Happier People: Web Management Essentials Beyond Visual Design

With the trend toward responsive web design, which is the making of websites that automatically adjust themselves to fit desktops, laptops, tablets, or smartphones, there is a new emphasis on text on websites. Fewer graphics are being used and a bit more text may be needed. But the text itself must be visually pleasing, friendly, and concise. This was one of the key points of the program Better Websites Make Happier People: Web Management Essentials Beyond Visual Design.

Richard Kong of the Skokie Public Library (formerly of Arlington Heights Public Library) began the session by discussing the importance and methods of user testing. He urged libraries to avoid massive redesigns if possible, making incremental tested changes, always being in a state of subtle reconstruction. For testing, he recommended watching members of the library public try to accomplish assigned tasks, such as find the hours or send a message to library staff. The test conductor should, of course, emphasize that the website, not the volunteer, is being tested.

Anne Slaughter from RAILS (formerly of Oak Park Public Library) talked about having a content strategy from the beginning of a website design. Too many sites work on the look and the structure first, with the result that content is then wedged in. The overall consideration should be that the website is a platform for providing information and services. Only pages that serve the goals enumerated in the content strategy should be created.

Brodie Austin of Skokie Public Library (formerly of Des Plaines Public Library) made the observation with which I started this report. He said that websites heavy with images load slowly on mobile devices and tablets, so reducing the number of them serves everyone well. Cleaner design aids with simple, effective text is the new goal. To help web writers, there are new simple word processors, such as Draft and Prose.

In the questions period, Kong described an exercise that he had website stakeholders do to identify the reduced number of items to get space on a library's main webpage. It involved giving each person ten post-its, each marked 10 cents. Once all the proposed main webpage items are posted on a board, each person sticks her post-its on their preferred items. The items with the most post-its make the cut.

Austin agreed that many library website users are seeking links to other services, such as library catalogs, ebook platforms, and other online resources. More than most other websites, a good library website with have a high bounce rate.

Simon Sinek's Big Idea on the Leadership

Simon Sinek, author of Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action and Leaders Eat Last, launched the Public Library Association's lecture series called Big Ideas with a lively talk that focused on how ours bodies work to create natural circles of safety in which we can survive and thrive. In doing so, he told us why our bodies produce endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and cortisol, the dangers of an imbalance of these chemicals, and how good leaders take advantage of our biochemical tendencies to develop safe working and living environments for their communities.

Being an incredibly down-to-earth speaker, Sinek made this complex-sounding topic understandable and relevant to all of us. He did this by starting with a story about a pilot fighting in the war in Afghanistan in 2002, the point of which was that the pilot took great risks with his life because he belonged to a community that inspired such dedication. He compared this willingness to sacrifice with the lack of brotherly concern within some corporations and then asked whether the difference was good people and bad people. His answer was "no." What mattered was the quality of environments, which is to some degree created by their leaders.

The gist is that leaders need to create environments where community members feel safe enough to themselves be creative. They must know their leaders will fight for them and protect them even at sacrificial cost to themselves. Then employees will work faithfully and beyond call for their leaders.

Sinek emphasized that rank is not the same as leadership. Leaders may emerge at any level in a community. In times when charity is needed, leaders give more than money. They give non-replaceable commodities, such as time and effort. This is why they are admired.

Sinek also posed that diversity in a community is important for more than just equality for diverse types of people; having people of diverse experience (which will come from people of diverse ethnicity) will provide a community with valuable diverse thoughts.

Quotes worth remembering: "Leadership is a choice that comes with a cost" and "Everyone of us has the ability to be the leader we wish we had."

Bryan Stevenson of Equal Justice Initiative at PLA

Public Library Association conference planners planned for inspiration for today's opening session by booking Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit organization working for reform of courts and prisons. They hoped for some of the magic of his famous TED talk. He was nearly as good, telling some of the same stories and addressing some of the same issues today.

Like many previous conference speakers, Stevenson began by thanking librarians for their role in his education, crediting their advocacy of service for people of all races for helping him in his career and with his mission. He also praised us for fostering and conserving viewpoints that differ from our dominate culture. The library may be the only place to find some out-of-the-mainstream ideas.

He asked four things of librarians. His illustrating stories featured criminal justice issues, but librarians will know issues of their own.

Maintain our proximity. By being local we know and can help our communities. Too much of what is decided in our nation comes from far away and often makes no sense. Sentencing laws in particular are remote from the situations to which they are applied.

Change the narrative. Too often the status quo is maintained. Things have to be the way they are because they are the way they are. We operate from fear instead of creativity. We need to imagine new ways and outcomes. Here he talked about the injustice of charging children as adults and about terrorism against blacks being a long-running American tradition, not just an aspect of life after 9/11.

Commit to being hopeful even when situations are most hopeless. Here he told a story about a bigot with an incredible change of heart.

Commit to doing the uncomfortable intentionally. Nothing will change unless risks are taken, such as those taken by civil rights workers in the 1950s and 1960s.

He told the same Rosa Parks story that you can hear on the TED talk. He also said that he discovered that he works with broken people because he is broken, too. Aren't we all.

Ann Patchett Book Hour at the Public Library Association Conference

The snow storm in Indianapolis has not materialized. Starting around 9:15 a.m., I saw flurries out my window, and snow was still swirling at 12:15 p.m., but there has been no accumulation. Still, the wind and weather upset air traffic, and Ann Patchett arrived about 50 minutes late from Nashville for her Ann Patchett Book Hour program. PLA staff provided an entertaining impromptu quiz show to fill the gap, but some people bailed before the bookstore owner/author arrived. Remarkably, many stayed and enjoyed hearing Patchett push books that she did not write.

I saw Patchett do this type of program last summer the ALA conference in Chicago. She had a different list of books then and prefaced with different personal stories. She was again entertaining, and I came away wanting to read titles that I had not considered. I will go to hear her a third time if the opportunity arises.

Like in Chicago, Patchett passed out a postcard identifying her Nashville bookstore Parnassus Books and ten books that she wanted to promote. The titles are as follows:

Nonfiction 
When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron
Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton
The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Men We Reap by Jesmyn West
Act One by Moss Hart

Fiction
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
Dirty Love by Andre Dubus
Fools of Fortune by William Trevor
Thunderstruck by Elizabeth McCracken
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

After printing the cards, Patchett decided that she also wanted to tell us about two books by Joan Wickersham, Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order (nonfiction) and News from Spain: Seven Variations of a Love Story (fiction).

My favorite part of the program was the latter part when Patchett fielded questions from the audience. She told about researching State of Wonder in the rainforest, enjoying her mother's books, and picking out their dog Sparky, who is on the postcard.

Patchett also spoke about the importance of the right book that a person will appreciate at the time you offer it. It was a program worth the wait.

Collection Development & Community Expectations: Managing Collections and Balancing Resources in an Era of Budgetary Restraints

On the opening day of the American Library Association
in Chicago, a panel of librarians from public and academic libraries discussed measures they have taken to stay within their budgets for acquiring library materials. Rick Anderson of the University of Utah began by suggesting it helps to understand the internal and external forces constraining collection building, including funds, staff time, library space, library policies, and community expectations. The last is hardest to gauge. Should libraries chose to purchase everything that members in their communities desire or should they try to get only materials that will be popular with a predetermined minimum number of library members? What holds enough value (hard to measure) to justify cost (easier to measure)?

Stephanie Chase of the Seattle Public Library continued, telling about how libraries manage in periods of short budgets. To make up for not having as many new titles as readers would like, she emphasized marketing the available collection, especially titles that were little-read when new. Having strong, effective readers’ advisory service can connect members with these less recent books and relieve pressure for new titles. In lean times, she also suggested limiting the number of holds members can make, which makes them make choices similar to those the library has to make and shortens reserve lists that trigger purchasing of additional copies. She thought it a mistake to buy bestsellers disproportionately in lean times.

Chase also thought weeding must continue in lean times. Shelves in popular reading collections need to look fresh to attract readers; removing worn, battered volumes is especially helpful. At her libraries, circulation statistics have shown borrowing up in weeded areas even without significant new purchasing.

Michael Santangelo of the Brooklyn Public Library compared managing an electronic material collection in lean times to reality TV. If a database does not get the votes (visits or document downloads), it is this week’s cut. And there is always someone sad at the passing of a databases out of the collection. How to count the votes is the challenge, as every vendor reports different measures. The librarian’s task is to determine which databases have really provided the most service (not visits or searches) and which combinations of databases cover topics essential to members’ needs.

Santangelo issued several warnings. 1) Consortium purchases save money but they also introduce instability into the collection as groups may change vendors every year looking for better deals. 2) Ebook subscription plans may highlight highly popular materials but they also drag along materials of little interest. Study costs carefully before taking a package deal. 3) Having multiple platforms to provide ebooks from various vendors confuses readers and librarians. 4) Loyalty to vendors can stabilize an online collection and sometimes win discounts but do not go so far as to sign onto new databases just because a favored vendor recommends them.

Busy Day at PLA

Hi, everyone. I have just finished another full day at PLA. I'll write up some reports later, but here are links to two of my reports from yesterday.

For The Reader's Advisor Online, I wrote about Authors and Books: The Top 5 of Another 5. I have a lot  of titles to add to my to-read list after attending this program.

For PLABlog, I wrote about A Librarian's Field Guide to Near Field Communications. I had never heard of NFC tags before coming to Philadelphia, but I now know what you can do with an NFC tag and an enable smartphone.

I skipped lunch and went to another art museum. More about that later.

iPads in the Library: From Tech Programming to Staff Productivity

Joel Nichols, soon to be the driver of the new Tech Mobile at the Free Library of Philadelphia, has been using iPads in his children's story time presentations. He believes there are numerous other applications that may also be made throughout his library, which he described in his well-attended PLA presentation "iPads in the Library: From Tech Programming to Staff Productivity."

To start, he briefly identified the differences between current smartphones, e-readers, and tablet computers, pointing out that tablets have the greatest potential for library use. Then he limited his discussion to iPads and iTouchs with which he has experience. He began with use in children's programming. His first point was, of course, that librarians may read from iPads to children, but he cautioned us about this application. An oversized print book is easier to share with a group of more than two or three listeners, but the iPad is still a good device for Kamishibai stories told with pictures that a presenter has assembled using PowerPoint or the Slide Shark ap. With a supply of iPads, all the kids could create their own picture-based stories and then share them.

iPads may better serve in secondary roles in programs. Should the librarian or other presenter need music or sound effects, they can quickly be stored, cued, and played from an iPad or iTouch. A tablet could also be used as a digital display for photos, animations, or web pages that could be passed around to attendees during presentations. iPads could provide reference help during cooking lessons or craft programs, used by presenters or participants. Last, but not least, programs could be recorded easily using a tablet's camera and microphone and then quickly loaded to YouTube.

According to Nichols, there are over half a million aps for iPhone and iPad, which may be purchased through the iTunes store. These might provide content or be productivity aps. He showed stills from his work with Puppet Pals. He recommended checking user ratings at the iTunes store as well as checking Flipboard, a magazine for educators using aps. If libraries have complicated procedures to make credit card purchases, he recommend using iTunes gift cards. Most aps cost under $5.

Beyond programming, reference librarians may use iPads to access the library catalog, web pages, and online databases while roving the library. He recommended strapping an iPad to the hand to become an object of curiosity. He has found librarians in a public setting reluctant to carry iPads that they might drop or lose. A strap might help with the carrying. School librarians might carry iPads instead of laptops when going to help in classrooms.

A librarian at the program reported that the District of Columbia Library has developed an ap to assist weeding collections.

Because they display photos so nicely, Nichols said mounted iPads would be good in public displays. iTouchs with cameras may be used to read QR codes posted around the library for patron self-guided tours.

He said that their use instead of laptops in projected programs has been problematic so far because special connectors have to be used and some equipment seems incompatible. It might be better in some situations to use Apple TV for presentations. Some members of the audience reported having no problems connecting an iPad to a projector.

Finally, he said with an ap to record handwriting, the iPad is a great devise on which to take notes during conference programs. Nichols has put the slides to his presentation on the web at tiny.cc/nicholsPLA.

CIL2007: Computers in Libraries

The bloggers at Computers in Libraries 2007 are busy, so you do not have to be there to learn from the presentations. Here are a few items so far:

Web 2.0 and What It Means to Libraries - The Shifted Librarian seems to transcribe almost every word of presentations.

Information Design for the New Web - Ellyssa Kroski's pre-presentation blog and comments by Nicole Engard.

Weblog Zonder Haast - Follow the conference in Dutch.

Alternative and Customized Search Engines - Mary Ellen Bates lists engines to try, as reported by Caroline (last name unknown).

Computers in Libraries cartoons - Flickr set by Madinkbeard.

You can find more reports by searching for "CIL2007" at Technorati.

Jane Goodall at the Inside the Mind of Chimpanzee Conference

On Sunday Bonnie and I heard Jane Goodall speak at the final event of Inside the Mind of Chimpanzees, a conference sponsored by Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. The presentation was open to the public and held in Navy Pier's Grand Ballroom. 1700 people attended, most as in awe as I was. I do not remember ever seeing anyone as eminent as Jane Goodall.

Before Goodall took the stage, we heard Richard Wrangham, the author of Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence. He spoke about latest research into chimpanzee intelligence and showed a series of videos of chimps solving problems. I wish there were copies on YouTube so I could link to them. They showed chimps going far beyond making simple tools to fish for termites.

Goodall received a standing ovation for just appearing on the stage. She appeared to speak without notes and kept the audience enthralled with her stories and observations. She told of her early career and the life changing events that led her to pursue environmentalism. Her report on her recent activities updated her book Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey. I think she said that Roots and Shoots, her program to educate youth to care for the earth, now has groups in over 90 countries.

Goodall said that she travels about 300 days a year to give presentations worldwide, so you may have a chance to see her where ever you are. Do so if you can. If you hear she is coming to your area, put up a book display. She has written many books, including a series for children. Her latest book, Harvest for Hope: A Guide for Mindful Eating, calls for people to change eating and shopping habits to influence the food industry.

Leftovers from Internet Librarian 2006

I have not reported on every program at Internet Librarian, which is at this point so two-weeks-ago, but there are a few good points to add.

1493 librarians, speakers, and exhibitors gathered in Monterey, California for the 10^th annual Internet Librarian Conference. Sponsored by Information Today, Inc., the conference focused on “using, developing, and embracing Net- and Web-based strategies” in librarians. Librarians from public, academic, special, and government libraries attended.

Best of Resource Shelf

Gary Price of Resource Shelf and Ask.com highlighted lots of new websites for information professionals and the general public. His list with links is on the web at www.tinyurl.com/yhwoyl. Missing from the list is FlightAware which lets searchers see exactly where commercial airplanes are in real time.

Mashup Applications

At a conference like the LITA Forum or Internet Librarian, I sometimes go to a presentation about which I know very very little. At Internet Librarian 2006 I attended Mashup Applications with John Blyberg of Ann Arbor District Library and Chris Deweese of the Lewis and Clark library System in Illinois.

Blyberg said that a mashup is an Internet software application created by bringing together two pieces of otherwise unrelated software. He said the term comes from the music industry where older recordings are mixed to create new recordings.

He had four points to make:

• Mashups do not require code writing. The code already exits.
• Results are instantaneous. The user creates his or her Internet tools.
• Results can be striking.
• Mashups are central to the evolving web.

In demonstrating his points, the speaker completely lost me. You may not need to write code, but you need to read it and know what bits to take, how to combine it, and where to put it. He moved a little too fast for me in this presentation. I need to start again with this topic.

Chris Deweese showed an application of Google Maps.

What I Gained from Attending Internet Libraian 2006

I learned more about how wikis work. I would like to use one in the library to keep track of ready reference information. A wiki could also serve well as a staff Intranet because it would be easy for everyone to contribute and edit. Policies, procedures, and forms could be managed efficiently for the department.

I heard several discussions about effective web page design, which is relevant to our current web site project.

I collected ideas for increasing the use of our online databases. Web linking and directed marketing were included.

I was given new ideas on marketing library across the Internet. The library can reach more clients through social software applications.

I learned about dozens of useful websites.

I met some of the librarians who write the blogs that I read. I enjoyed this benefit of the conference very much.

I met with Aaron Schmidt several times to discuss the website and other technology at our library. We dined well.

I was exposed to new ideas about the future of libraries and librarianship.

MySpace and FaceBook at Internet Librarian 2006

Aaron Schmidt of the Thomas Ford Memorial Library talked about the incredible popularity of MySpace, which is really a blog. Despite its awkward design and its bugginess, it has created a sense of community that has drawn in teens and adults. In music, writing, art, and other fields, having a MySpace account is necessary for doing business. There was an article about the social software in the U.S. News & World Report’s September 10, 2006 issue.

He said that libraries need to have a MySpace presence to reach the teen community. To be responsible to the community, he recommended 1) developing a tips and tricks for safe use guidelines to be distributed to teens and 2) having a MySpace class for parents.

Cliff Landis of Valdosta State University Library spoke about FaceBook, which he uses to market library services.

Landis said FaceBook is strong on social networking, and many people join without ever really producing content. They need the membership to read others’ pages. He also pointed out that for some teens and twenty-somethings FaceBook messaging has replaced email.

The speaker would recommend using a library FaceBook account to direct people into the official library website, but the company has been disconnecting institutional services. The company says that FaceBook is for individuals and not companies or organizations. There is much inconsistency in applying these rules. In any case, he maintains a personal FaceBook account presenting himself to the students at his university as the reference librarian. He does show on his site photos of his hobby (some sort of playing with fire) to grab attention.