I’ve been meaning to post a link to this incredible post by the Librarian in Black. I’ll be using it in my classes from now on as a perfect overview of what’s happening with downloadable music in libraries. If you haven’t read it, be sure to do so and don’t miss the comments. For [...]]]> http://librarianinblack.net/librarianinblack/2010/09/music-in-libraries-were-doing-it-wrong.html

I’ve been meaning to post a link to this incredible post by the Librarian in Black. I’ll be using it in my classes from now on as a perfect overview of what’s happening with downloadable music in libraries. If you haven’t read it, be sure to do so and don’t miss the comments. For example:

Overdrive & Alexander Street Music are very similar.  Overdrive users download a music file in a DRM-protected format that will self-encrypt and be unreadable after the designated circulation period (e.g. 3 weeks). Update: Alexander Street Music offers -streaming- access to classical, jazz, and folk. And sadly, the selection is not what most of our users want.  Most people aren’t looking for classical and folk music.  Libraries with these services get very poor use of them (according to my anecdotal discussions with other eResources managers), and frankly, I personally don’t think they’re worth the money we pay for them.  Check your usage stats and do a cost per use calculation.  You’re likely to find you might be paying $5/song.  Ri-freaking-diculous.

Freegal is very different.  The songs are popular ones with a lot of well-known artists in different genres like rock, R&B, and country.  And in a lovely change of pace, the songs are provided as DRM-free MP3s!  But — and I stress the but — the library can only offer these in a very limited fashion because of cost.  The library pays for the number of downloads per year they want to fund.  Then divide that by 52, and there’s your weekly cap.  If you hit the cap, then no users can download anything else for the rest of the week.  As a result, Freegal suggests that you limit the number of songs any one user can download in one week.  For our library in San Jose, that number is 3.  Yep, you get only 3 songs per week, and that’s if you’re lucky enough to log on before we hit our weekly cap. Update/Clarification: SJPL no longer has a weekly cap. So if you want to download an actual album, you have to calendar yourself to come back for at least 4 weeks to get one single album.  How many users are going to do that?  For us to pay for enough songs for our users to access a full album per week, we’d need to spend approximately $500,000 per year.  And that’s not happening, nor should it in my opinion.  That’s a ridiculous proposition for a collection budget.  Is this token offering of popular online music to our users enough to interest them and an attempt at a successful model, or does it merely show that libraries are clueless once again about what our users really want with digital formats?  Again, please check out the cost per use of the service and I can just about guarantee you it’s costing you more to offer songs via Freegal to your users than it would to simply buy them the songs they want directly from iTunes, Amazon, or whatever other service they use. But what other choices do we have?  To do nothing. And that stinks too.

I have never had much interest or faith in what the library vendors are trying to sell libraries to compete with iTunes, Amazon or the like. Most of the time, I consider my music/content consumption as if I were  a consumer, not a librarian. I want things to work and work well. Yes, I admit to my Apple fanboy status but it works for me.  I’ve been well-served by my iTunes and Amazon account for many years. These days Hulu+, Netflix streaming and my satellite dish are serving my consumption needs nicely as I mend my fractured bones.  I’m so happy SJCPL went the iPod route a few years ago. I also tried to use  an iPhone app for downloadable content and never had success accessing the collections at my library. If it’s hard to use, limited in weird ways or doesn’t have “interesting to me” content, I’m gone. iTunes and Amazon fit the bill very nicely – as do the actual physical CDs I purchase from a very small number of artists.

Because I’m no longer working in libraries everyday, I’m glad folks like Sarah are actively sharing their insights with our community. It benefits me as an educator and it will surely benefit librarians who may be considering one of the services or options out there. I hope we can continue thinking, talking and sharing about this issue.

This group explored the New Digital Divide.

Their project blog: http://classes.tametheweb.com/newdigitaldivide/

Hyperlocal Libraries

http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dcg5kv2v_11cq59zkcw

Mobile Librarianship

Presentation at Google

Handout

Video:

I had several surprises:

So many college students I’ve met — even at some of the nation’s top universities — are there because they have an aptitude for memorization. Many straight-A high school students have few interests, little curiosity and zero inclination toward intellectual discovery. Our system rewards the memorizers and punishes the creative thinkers.

An iPod, [...]]]> http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9018594

So many college students I’ve met — even at some of the nation’s top universities — are there because they have an aptitude for memorization. Many straight-A high school students have few interests, little curiosity and zero inclination toward intellectual discovery. Our system rewards the memorizers and punishes the creative thinkers.

An iPod, when used during tests, is nothing more than a machine that stores and spits out data. By banning iPods and other gadgets, we’re teaching kids to actually become iPods — to become machines that store and spit out data. Instead, we should be teaching them to use iPods — to use that data and to be human beings who can think — and leave data storage to the machines.

By banning iPods, we’re preparing our kids for a world without the Internet, a world without iPods, a world without electronic gadgets that can store information. But is that the world they’re going to live in?

Let me pull out a bit of the above for emphasis:

Many straight-A high school students have few interests, little curiosity and zero inclination toward intellectual discovery. Our system rewards the memorizers and punishes the creative thinkers.

That nearly knocked me off my chair. Who do we want eventually running our libraries? Rote memorizers or creative thinkers. To me, the answer is obvious and as I prepare for my third year of full time teaching, I see where the emphasis should be.

NCSU Learning Commons Originally uploaded by mstephens7

There’s just so much good here! Take a look at North Carolina State’s Learning Commons Web presence:

http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/learningcommons/

I’m incorporating this and [...]]]>

NCSU Learning Commons Originally uploaded by mstephens7

There’s just so much good here! Take a look at North Carolina State’s Learning Commons Web presence:

http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/learningcommons/

• Live computer availability
• Web cam of “The Brickyard”
• Flickr photos
• “We want your Ideas” for eboards
• Commenting form
• Borrow laptops, cameras, iPods, GPS units, etc

I’m incorporating this and the Loyola Information Commons into my new talks. 

100 Million iPods Sold

Originally uploaded by mstephens7. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/04/09ipod.html

http://playlistmag.com/news/2007/04/09/ipodanalysis/index.php

http://playlistmag.com/news/2007/04/09/ipodanalysis/index.php

http://www.robcoers.nl/weblog-artikelen/bibliotheek-spijkenisse-en-ipod-nano.html

He translated the post as well:

In september 2007 the Spijkenisse Public Library in The Netherlands won the 4th IFLA International Marketing Award with their campaign “We miss you”. Library director Huub Leenen awarded his [...]]]> Rob Coers, my Dutch partner for presentations at Internet Librarian International, just posted about iPod training he recently completed:

http://www.robcoers.nl/weblog-artikelen/bibliotheek-spijkenisse-en-ipod-nano.html

He translated the post as well:

In september 2007 the Spijkenisse Public Library in The Netherlands won the 4th IFLA International Marketing Award with their campaign “We miss you”. Library director Huub Leenen awarded his staff (21 people) with a iPod Nano. I had the honour to do a hands on training to help the staff on the way.

What a fantastic way to make your staff familiar with current technology and motivate them in their job!

Ohhh…sweet technolust…

Driving back to Illinois this week I caught up on my Mac podcasts, including one of my favorites Mac Break Weekly. The podcast included loads of news about Apple’s new product the iPhone, and I realized that my personal technolust will surely get the better of me. I want this phone!

That [...]]]>

Ohhh…sweet technolust…

Driving back to Illinois this week I caught up on my Mac podcasts, including one of my favorites Mac Break Weekly. The podcast included loads of news about Apple’s new product the iPhone, and I realized that my personal technolust will surely get the better of me. I want this phone!

That said, I wonder how many geeked out folks will doing just what I did:

T-Mobile Rep: “T-Mobile Customer Support, how can I help you?”

Me: “Yes please, when does my contract expire with T-Mobile?”

T-Mobile Rep: “August 2008.”

Me: (Ouch) “And how much is the fee to break contract?”

T-Mobile Rep: “$200.”

Me: (Ouch) “Good to know…”

T-Mobile Rep: “May I ask why you are asking about the contract?”

Me: “I want an iPhone!”

T-Mobile Rep: “Well, T-Mobile has a wide selection of phones that will play music…”

Me: “..But those phones aren’t the iPhone…thanks for your time!”

T-Mobile Rep: “Have a good day.”

I will, especially when cradling the sleek lines and smooth surface…. sigh..

Anyway, Aaron discusses how libraries will have another menace to stop at the front door (humor, folks) and I wonder if library technology departments or emerging tech groups might want to get in line for one, to understand what it means for service, access and the possible impact on the way the world communicates. Seems most logical to me — and fun!

Finally, David Pogues gives us some FAQs:http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/the-ultimate-iphone-frequently-asked-questions/

The Ubiquitous Librarian ponders using iTunes in academic libraries in some pretty darn cool ways:

How can libraries use this? Let’s put information literacy to the side for a minute, because sure, you could host tutorials and content about the library (itunes plays videos) but let’s think bigger. Last week we had Maya [...]]]> http://theubiquitouslibrarian.typepad.com/the_ubiquitous_librarian/2006/11/sharing_via_itu.html

The Ubiquitous Librarian ponders using iTunes in academic libraries in some pretty darn cool ways:

How can libraries use this? Let’s put information literacy to the side for a minute, because sure, you could host tutorials and content about the library (itunes plays videos) but let’s think bigger. Last week we had Maya Angelou give a talk on campus, why not dump that video or podcast into an iTunes library—as well as other speakers and events? How about a weekly student interview series or alumni talks? How about sporting event replays or the coach’s talk show? How about short commercials highlighting different clubs, organizations, or services on campus?

And my favorite bit, TUL ties it to the bigger picture:

This hits two of my big themes: target the niche and immerse the library within the community.