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Where New Tech Should Libraries Try Next?
99bottles asks: "I work for a good sized Public Library. The management folks want to have a sit down to discuss what our next tech. undertakings should be. We already offer free wireless, use Voice-over-IP, have self-checkout machines, have dropped Microsoft Office for OpenOffice.org, and are slowly but surely getting Linux to the desktop. It's not like we need to catch up, this is geared toward being unique and at the forefront. One manager believes that a video reference service would be popular, I've tried to convince him that video-phones have been around for decades and no one really wants them. So, I ask you, what would Slashdot readers want to see at the local library?"
A grammar checker?
A fine is a tax you pay for doing wrong and a tax is a fine you pay for doing all right.
Hi,
:-) Print on demand of Project Gutenberg.
softcopies of your books, would take some organising
Community bookshare sort of like netflix/netbooks but controlled from the library. People give you there lists and you use the library as the exchange point.
BOOKS! I'm doing my best not to call you names right now, just so you know. Spending all this money on computers and multimedia stuff is great, but it's always at the expense of having actual BOOKS. I went to the opening of the fancy new Seattle public library, where they spent I don't even _wanna_ know how much money on a really spectacular bit of architecture (modern crap, really, but it impresses the locals), a whole bunch of technology, and when I start perusing the book stacks, well, there's not as much there as one could hope for, by a LOT. Lots of really outdated stuff, major gaps in important works by major authors, not much new stuff (and only 1 or 2 copies of new and in-demand stuff). The Simpsons episode where they go to the library only to find out they've gotten rid of all the books, and are now "multimedia" libary is, of course, a parody, but unfortunately, hits a little too close to home.
So you've got so much fancy technology now that you don't know what to do next? Take that as a sign.
More books. C'mon, it's not _that_ hard to figure out, is it?
Clean out the obsolete computer technology books in your library, while you're at it - they're just taking up room, and they're not of use to people looking for something on the latest technology. Is there really a need for a 1960's book on Fortran?
Damn, I'm all worked up now - I need some chocolate.
OH, another thing - spend money on comfy seating. The new Seattle library is ridiculous about that.
Would have a server that mirrored popular open source distros plus stuffs like CPAN.
I really hate that my library is spending money on computers, wireless, network access... How about spending the money on books, magazine subscriptions, and other things that a library needs to have.
And frankly - if you still have money left over, why not give it back to your taxpayers instead of finding random ways of spending it
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
Hush!
English books in libraries so Slashdot editors know the difference between:
- Its, it's
- Their, They are, There
- Where, What
Perhaps using What instead of Where on a post about technology in Libraries would be a good start.
anything that is legally free for the copying. once it has been downloaded on demand by a patron,(or a librarian after first checking license, etc) then the library caches it, so it can pull from the local repository instead of the net. OS disks, other softwares, music,e-books, vids, podcasts, whatever. The deal is, unlike a normal lending library, the patron pays a nominal media dupe fee and gets to KEEP the media.
Best feature I ever saw in a library was a "new book room". It had some of the latest stuff, like what you find at Barnes and Noble. It was the only time I ever managed to find up to date computer books as well. Most libraries I know the IT oriented computer books are so old that they are useless.
;p
They also had a room set aside where you could eat while you read/work, which would often fill up with groups of people working on things even when the rest of the library is empty.
As for more technology, I agree with the other posts that say stop wasting money.
Add RFID tags to all the books, and a reciver every 5-10 feet or along the bookshelfs. Add compatibility to the lookup system, to tell users where the book REALLY is, and not where it was last filed. Doubles as a security system.
Wonder what the public key field is for?
Rock Concerts!
-Colin
The most recent book in my local library about Linux is from 2000; the one before that is the red hat manual from 1996. New books are a GOOD thing
Show this to your friends and family that don't know what a real hacker is
Along with some electronic(portable) dictionaries for the various languages. It's becoming more and more important for Americans to learn a 2nd(or 3rd!) language, and one of the more interesting ways to learn a language is to take an original(and hopefully interesting) text, and an accurately translated text, and use that translation as a guide.
Monstar L
Is there really a need for a 1960's book on Fortran?
Since differential equation solvers from that era, written in Fortran, are still in use, yeah, I think it would be great if I could use the interlibrary loan to borrow a Fortran text if I ever have to understand the guts of those routines. So I hope some library somewhere is preserving these.
Besides, where but in Fortran can one experience working with trinary logic conditionals? I still remember those three-tailed decision diamonds.
How grammar is should be improved? Hard reading question that is to be wrong words. Books in libary need so learn grammar better.
I read Slashdot for the headlines, because the headlines, unlike the articles, are usually original and never duplicated
Are you sure your boss is meaning video phones when he says video reference???
One thing that could be cool in regards to video reference would be actual video footage that can be used for other stuff, for example if one is making a video production and wants to include footage of the shuttle landing, or various riots or other footage, it would be nice go to the library, find all the video footage you want, burn it to DvD and then go home and use it. I guess it would be more of a stock footage reference.
Just a thought.
I read Slashdot for the headlines, because the headlines, unlike the articles, are usually original and never duplicated
Simple desktop additions:
* Wikipedia link.
* Suggestion box email link.
* Google Print link (Great full text book search).
Other stuff:
* Open source CD's (Linux, BSD, TheOpenCD, etc.) available for checkout, or even ISO's available for burning.
* CDR's, jumpdrives, minor network equipment, and other information media and technology for sale. Nothing expensive though, unless you have good security. The bookstore at my local university carries all this stuff.
I grew up ... not poor, but without enough money to buy books nearly as fast as I could read them. I'm where I am today because of a library full of books and it kills me to walk into my local library today and see barely a quarter of what I had as a kid.
I blame the professionalization of libraries. Just keeping lots of books on the shelves (and helping kids find what they need) was good enough for the elderly female volunteers of the past, but beneath the dignity of a librarian with an MS in Library Science. So the library becomes a cross between an Internet cafe and a homeless shelter.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Spending a local library's budget on books? What an odd concept.
My local library has (I kid you not) a big screen TV and several game consoles. *sigh*.
Advice for libraries:
-- Stay open until midnight on friday and saturday night.
-- Let me borrow the book as long as I want. Like netflix. Or 1 year.
-- Have a 24 hours pickup/dropoff walk-up counter: I go online, I ask for a book by ISBN, the interlibrary exchange does its thing, and the book is delivered at the location in 24 hours (not 4 weeks), then I get an email: your book is ready. Give me 36 hours to drive by over there and pick it up, on my way home from work, at 9:45 PM, on Tuesday.
-- Have more books. I don't care if you have to rent one million square feet of warehouse space on the poor side of town, I want you to stock at least one copy of every single book currently in print in the western world, and have out-of-print books going back 50 years.
-- Stock comics, magazines, newspapers, car manuals, foreign titles, foreign comics.
-- Stock more than one copy of the latest New York bestsellers top ten list.
-- Have lots and lots of chairs and small tables. Hundreds of them.
-- Drop the computers. Who cares. You see computers at Borders?
-- Stay open until midnight on friday and saturday night. Are you getting it?
-- Copy machines at cost (no more than $0.02 per page) But you shouldn't have to, since the people can just take the books home.
-- Some people have mentioned printing on demand. You wouldn't have to offer that service if you had the book in stock to begin with. Have more books.
-- Forget cds and dvds. Books. But if you got to have DVDs, let people keep them a week or more.
-- Last but not least, allow people to talk to each other. It's not a morgue. I't not a study hall, nor a hospital. People like to go where it's lively.
I have a card (Los Angeles Public Library), but I don't go because, and yes, I'm talking to you my dear tax-consuming librarians: you're closed when I want to go there, you don't have the books I want to read, and I often take more than 3 weeks to read a book, especially if I'm trying to grok an O'Reilly title like "Programming Python".
I buy about 30 books a year (1 every 2 weeks approx.) and about one third are fiction, the others technical, so it's not like I don't like to read.
I hope you guys get it. The post office is open until 5 PM on Saturdays. They're adapting. You adapt too, or we'll use the tax money elsewhere.
"Piter, too, is dead."
Electronic ink makes e-books not suck. They are high-contrast screens which can be read under bright daylight and use a minimum amount of power (many only use power when "turning pages" (refreshing the display). Read more about the LOC's use of E-ink.
It is very much in the early adopter stage. It is hard for a regular US consumer to get a device. I think I might have my SO pick me up a used Sony Librie when she's in Japan. Very cool stuff.
I work in a university library, the largest in my state, and by far the most important technology we've provided (beyond internet accessibility and an online catalog system) has been in the handicap accessibility areas.
-Get at least one video magnification machine. I think they're called "MERLIN" or something similar. You hold a book under the machine's camera and an enlarged image of the text appears on the monitor for seeing-impaired patrons. Failing that, have a well-maintained collection of magnifying glasses.
-Get some good, rugged headphones and equip all the computers with some good text-to-speech software. This is also good if your library has a literacy program so your non-reading patrons can actually use the internet.
-On the non-technical side of things: Use automatic doors, elevators and low shelving, or at least have the librarians offer a free paging service for handicapped patrons. A good collection of braile books is a good idea too.
The other very useful tech for libraries is a good up-to-date station for printing services. Copiers of all shapes and sizes, a fax machine, networked printers, scanners, memory-card readers and above all people with the know-how to maintain them (they'll break more than anything else). Also a typewriter would be a good purchase if you don't already have one available for public use.
If there's ever the technology to remotely shut down other people's cell phones- get that too.
Amen. I tried for three months to check out Calculus Made Easy. In the entire library system (22 libraries, which includes the University of Wisconsin) there wasn't an available copy of a book that is over a century old and still in print for $30.
Libraries are more than just storage sites (i.e. not blockbuster et al.) for rentable items. They also serve as sanctuaries against the hustle and bustle of everyday life--they are places where you can read the newspaper or catch up on the latest philosophy journals (for instance). However, all too often the hustle and bustle invades the local library destroying the tranquility. For this reason, I would like to see libraries install white noise machines and better soundproofing.
"I'm a philosophy major. That means I can think deep thoughts about being unemployed." -- Bruce Lee
Libraries are notoriously easy to steal from, and popular (and expensive) technical manuals are among the most commonly stolen, and the most quickly obsolete.
Many libraries can't or don't want to bother with the costs associated with these kinds of materials, so they either don't carry them, have them scanned for online e-book checkout, or have them only on a limited access basis.
Public libraries in particular are usually founded with a mandate to promote community literacy and are less likely to carry highly technical specialized materials. They tend to focus their collections on best-sellers (which is also commonly stolen) and recreational reading programs, not only to keep illiteracy rates low but also to make sure that their services are used enough to justify their existence.
If you want to see more technical books at your public library, and you have the means to do so, I highly recommend offering a donation of up-to-date books (or just cold hard cash). Don't give them the outdated stuff, they're more likely to toss it than actually get it processed and shelved. Better yet, convince a publisher like O'Reilly to make the donation.
Also, don't bother with request forms or suggestion boxes- speak to a real live librarian and make your case known.
Personally, I think funds should be spent on longer hours for libraries, before getting the latest computer toys.
In San Jose, California, we have a new downtown library that's hooked up like you wouldn't believe. It's not open enough hours for the public to truly use it well, though. Fortunately, the library is jointly owned by the nearby college, and the college funds additional hours during the school year. Extended hours at the library are quite convenient because most downtown parking in San Jose becomes free after 6pm!
Unfortunately with government projects it's often easier to get money for new construction/projects instead of maintenance. New toys are sexy, and sexiness gets votes.
If the funding for your library is with strings attached, and those strings have to be spent on new computer technology, I suggest these:
* Free Wi-Fi everywhere in the library and as far into the surrounding areas as your access points can reach, if you don't already have this.
* CD-burning kiosks that burn CD's full of public domain books, from the Gutenberg Project and other sources.
* Similarly, DVD-burning kiosks that burn DVD's full of public domain videos/movies, from the Prelinger Archives and other sources.
* Book-on-demand printing presses for public domain books, something like this!
Good luck with your funding!
Dr. Demento On The 'Net!
Instead of positioning a dozen computers somewhere at random, allow for people to take a tablet pc at the begin of the library with a modernized version of the library program, connected to a wireless network. Include RFID tags with most books and allow the tablet pc to indicate where to move to find the actual book. Allow the tablet pc to offer you "Find similar books..." for the book you're holding etc.
:)
Oh, and make sure you have enough tablet pc's
I know it's slightly off topic, perhaps you should first be addressing the core purpose of a public library, then you have a goal. Now, what technology will help the library institution and the public achive those goals.
-- www.globaltics.net
Political discussion for a new world
i think the silence is wonderful. there is so much noise everywhere else, why shouldn't the library be quiet? if you want a noisy place to read, go ANYEWHERE ELSE ON THE FREAKIN' PLANET. if you want a quiet place to read, study, or browse, well then go to the library. plus, many libraries have separate sections for group work, snack vending, audiovisual, or something else where the noise restrictions are less stringent. i really like the quiet of the library (almost as much as i like the books).