I just saw this photo and I love this idea!
Think about it. Troll garage sales and used book stores for cheap comics. Throw them in a box and give them away for free. Take it to the next level by encouraging kids to donate their old comics for others to read.
Hey Lincoln City Libraries, how about trying this out. I think you could convince me to contribute to the start-up collection.
Over on Gigaom there’s a great post titled “Using Starbucks As Your Office? Here Are Some Tips”. As someone who’s done a great deal of writing at a Starbucks or two, I could relate to most of the suggestions. Some of the better suggestions are:
So, this got me wondering, oh libraries in libraries where the public actually hang out, what advice would you give these sorts of patrons? Obviously tipping is out. I’ll assume that not taking up too much space would be a good one. But how about making you “involved in the venture”? What else would you add to this list?
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In anticipation of a future post I’ll be writing I’d be interested in my reader’s responses to a question based on the following two scenarios:
We can assume that scenario #1 is perfectly legal and that scenario #2 is not. (Feel free to debate whether #2 should be legal or not but that isn’t my question.)
The question is, if the library has reason to suspect that situation #2 has occurred, should they do anything about it?
Last week I listened to an episode of The Diane Rhem Show titled “The Changing Role of Public Libraries” which featured Sari Feldman, executive director, Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Public Library; president, Public Library Association, John Hill, president of the D.C. Public Libraries Board of Trustees; CEO of the Federal City Council and Camila Alire, president, American Library Association.
While the show was well done, and informative, by the end I kept thinking that there was something missing. The panelists talked about “branches” closing, and budgets being cut, and their library’s unionized workforce, I kept thinking that almost none of that applied to the vast majority of libraries here in Nebraska.
In Nebraska (and also in Iowa and maybe in other states) almost all public libraries are local institutions in single buildings without any branches at all. Forget unions, in many cases the library is lucky if the librarian has an MLS. There are annual book budgets out there that can be measured in the hundreds of dollars.
I’m all for national exposure of the problem, but how about some representation from the little libraries that have been struggling all along next time?
CC licensed. Feel free to re-post anywhere.
This is it folks. It’s all over. Let’s pack it in and call it a day. I now have proof, proof I say! That use of libraries causes online book piracy!
Take a look at exhibit A:
This is a partial screenshot from an online index of downloadable ebooks. So as to not encourage such blatant illegality I’ll not provide a link. However, take a look at the cover of the book. What is that I see, but a library accession label. Unfortunately it’s too small to make out exactly which library is the source of this illicit material.
Yes folks, people are checking out copied of library books, scanning them, and posting them online! It’s not enough that they just read the content themselves, but they’re sharing that content with others in complete violation of the author’s rights. Next thing you know we’ll be supplying the technology to do this within the library walls.
Oh, wait… Nevermind.
For this assignment I watched Jeff Dawson’s and Michael Porter’s Library Images: Engage, Inspire and Tell your Story presentation. I can’t say that it wasn’t interesting but I easily got distracted during Michael’s portion of the presentation. The why is unique to me. Full disclosure: I’ve been Michael’s co-presenter for that exact presentation twice, at the 2009 Computers in Libraries and Internet Librarian conferences. In other words, most of this presentation was nothing new for me.
However, that shouldn’t be interpreted as disagreeing with anything either of them had said. In fact, I agree with every word they both said so much, I’ve shared the stage. So, rather than comment directly on what they said, I’d like to take a moment to add a few comments.
I speak on the benefits of social networks to libraries constantly and have been doing so for years now. During almost every social networking presentation I get a question something like this: “Ok, you’ve convinced me/us. But I’ve got only so much time. What is the one thing I should do for my library out of all the options?”
I tell them to grab a camera, start taking photos, and post them to flickr. Even if they don’t take the few extra moments to post those photos on their Web site (which they should) posting those photos to flickr provides several benefits: they visually tell the library’s story, they allow others to comment on the events taking place in the photos, and they contribute to the larger collective story of libraries (though contributing the photo to something like the Libraries and Librarians group.)
Seriously, there can be nothing easier than taking a few photos at an event you’re already at and posting them to flickr. You don’t have to be a “photographer” do to this. Get the library a $50 digital camera or two and snap away. It’s not like you’ve got to get the film developed any more.
So, to repeat myself, if you do just one social thing online for your library, give flickr a try. It’s the most bang for your buck.
Just a reminder – Nebraska Library Snapshot Week starts today! Please help us show how valuable Nebraska libraries are by contributing photographs and statistics.
Here’s my first contribution:
Bookmarks