Libraryman

My new Chumby just arrived today. It matches my new living room color scheme, but I digress… Oh, I just can’t wait to get home and play with it! It is basically a small wireless open source computer displays widgets, cams, pictures, RSS feeds and also has speakers to play web tunes (even works with another fave of mine, Pandora). I may use the countdown clock, the moon phase clock and of course, this is now my new alarm clock. So long bacteria laden hotel room alarm clocks. Hello bacteria laden Chumby! Ha ha!

The 2008 gadget of the year? Wonder if *you* will be asking for one as a gift at the end of the year? Hmmm…..

Hooray! Libraries, library staff and most importantly, library patrons are accessing content with tools like youtube. And Joost. And others. This is important. And libraries are in that loop. Woo hoo!

But…what about the oceans of content that just isn’t “free” and/or centrally located and is distributed more and more via electronic means? What about the content in the long tail that only for-profits are doing a successful job of distributing (aka selling in most instances). In libraries there is inter-library loan of course. And there is eBay and Amazon and a host of others that have cut into library business to some extent (not necessarily a bad thing at all, right?). But there is Netflix. Netflix (just for fun, why not check that link out and think about it in terms of what libraries do. Some startling concepts may stand out.), just keeps popping up on my radar over and over again. Brightly. Here’s the latest instance:

“US DVD rental firm Netflix is to release a set-top box which will let subscribers download movies and other programmes over the net.”
*link*

So what does this indicate for the future of content access in libraries?

Granted, there have been a small slew of set top boxes designed to specialize in content delivery in the last couple of years. But with Netflix participation, for me at least, the implications for libraries and content delivery futures grow in significance and immediacy. As these services exist now, and as they are shaping up, libraries are cut out of almost all of this business. Influencing or being included in this sort of content delivery model would take significant investment from larger (or combinations of larger) library related business or organizations (including non-profits and even government agencies potentially).

True, “Netflix has spent about $40m on the development of its streaming service during the past year.” and that of course surely does not include licensing and revenue related math for the studios, etc. True also that money talks, eh? Still, given the mission of the library (particularly Public Libraries) it seems worth noting that:
As an industry, within the larger library-centric institutions that could make important impacts:
-We are not researching this kind of content delivery in any truly significant way.
-We are not planning to, in the future, provide specific deliverables based around his kind of content delivery.
-We do not have organized, direct or significant relationships with the companies that own the largest collections of popular content and manage it’s distribution to approach them as a potential distribution channel.
-We do not have the legal and negotiation teams that would be required to get our patrons access to the content controlled by companies mentioned above.

While the above list is a bit intimidating, is it insurmountable? I keep thinking about the last interview I read with Reed Hasting, CEO of Netflix. It concluded with the question “What is the future of Netflix?”. His answer, was “there is a reason we are named Netflix and not DVDflix”. Obviously and wisely they are eyeing content delivery. And so are libraries? Certainly there are hundreds of other companies doing so, many of which have an eye on (inadvertently I’m sure) further reducing our market share and value. This is all fine and well. But it makes one again wonder: are libraries at large doing the work necessary to be positioned in the content delivery market? What about libraries??? Will we care more when our DVD circulation drops? Or when Netflix becomes NetLibrary (serious point and little inside joke there too)? Interestingly, someone once said to me that “the most valuable asset NetLibrary really has is the name NetLibrary”! Wow. In light of what Reed Hastings said in the interview I keep recalling, it gives pause.

Netflix hasn’t changed their name. Yet. But their mission, and the missions of other content delivery centric companies seems clear. And it is threatening to libraries. And I am concerned that this threat is not being surfaced and dealt with sufficiently across our industry. If we were all watching the Netflix business model evolution closely we might talk about (and work on) this more. Perhaps when Netflix changes their name to NetContent or NetAV..or NetLibrary, more aggressive action will be taken in our industry?

I REALLY wonder what you think though.

And now for something completely different! Me being a dork with my new XO laptop. Woo hoo!

*link*

These are the fabled “$100 laptops” we’ve been hearing about for some time now. While they do cost more than $100 (twice that in fact) the concept is no less fascinating. Now, for two weeks only, you can buy one and give one in a sort of “donation bundle”. Not saying to plop down your $$$ here, but at the very least it’s an interesting initiative. Lots of potential for library reach here. At the very least a nifty gadget, right?
One Laptop Per Child: Give One Get One

Ah ha!!
The facebook “story types adjustment “equalizer”” solves a problem and demonstrates that the cluttering problems that many have complained about (with just about every successful social networking tool out there) are actually quite fixable. And fixable in a way that can be intuitive. Wow! Don’t you love big brains in action? This isn’t the ultimate solution to be sure, but it shows that there are rock solid legitimate solutions to this problem that are readily accessible and understandable to general users of social software. This stuff is going to drive how we use the internet for a long, long while, and that is GOOD.

facebook is on top right now for quite a few reasons and this is yet another example of why. Good on ya’ facebook!

*update*
Some wondered if this “equalizer” really worked, so I took a screenshot showing that after it was launched (yesterday or today) my feed was sparse and text. Shortly after I adjust my settings, you can see the more dynamic content returning to my home page (these are the posts towards the top with pictures, etc). Please note the typo that says “storytimes” instead of story types. It was ten years ago that I was a Children’s Librarian, but those days happily never really leave you.

In fairly huge social networking news, if you aren’t using (or at least monitoring the maneuvers of) facebook much lately, you might consider firing up your account again. They have been adding outside app functionality (with a few hickups, natch) in ways I’d hoped might show up on a social library web site first. *grumble* The facebook Developers Platform will help you make your own if you are smarter than me in this regard. I lament that this didn’t show up in Libraryland first, but you know, I also wish I could have written Sgt. Peppers and wishin’ don’t mean I’ve got the chops, brother! Still, it’s made the weekend more interesting watching people/friends/colleagues dive in over the weekend. Superpatron (Edward V.) said it best via twitter when he sent out the message “You got your facebook in my twitter!”. I love you, you glorious geek!

In other, more lighthearted social networking news, Tweet Volume is a tool that tells you how often words are being used on twitter. Hmmm…anybody else see the word occurrence below as telling?

Thanks to thefreerangelibrarian for the Tweet Volume heads up. KGS, you are the bomb.

The Santiago Library System has created a pretty spiffy flier for an upcoming event that I am very honored to be taking part in next month. I’ve had a chance to speak with a couple of the other presenters and I believe they will be quite interesting and certainly worth the time it takes to attend. I already know the audience ’round Santiago LS and MCLS land is pretty amazing, so it should be a great day all around (though I can admit that this is a bit of an intimidating crowd and not scare any potential attendees away, right?). At any rate, the event even includes lunch and a library tour, so how can you go wrong?

If you see me there be sure to say hello. I’ll do the same!

Thanks M!

From a quick email conversation today about conference presentations comes a blog entry about a word that I have been holding close and have also been sharing more and more: Fulfillment. Fulfillment is not a new concept to library folks by any means, but it is different now than before. We are seriously gearing up towards a Libraryland with previously unimaginably rich fulfillment deeply at its core. A new, more dynamic, more rewarding and engaging type of fulfillment. A fulfillment that every brand wishes they could deliver. Except we are poised to actually do it! How? Oh my, that could be a book. Or a job in LibaryLand!

It seems to me this is really the core of what we are all working towards, reading about, talking about, thinking about, blogging about, etc, etc…and it?s become pretty crystal (a fluid crystal of course) in my mind that this is our future. Our challenging, opportunity filled and delivery rich future. Here is what I sent my friend about presentation themes:

“My new key word for presentations is Fulfillment. I love that word. It is the big word for me. Each presentation I give (and many of the casual conversations I have as well… I know, it’s sad;) include me saying: “Libraries do two things: content and community”. Fulfillment is the answer for libraries in relation to the content section of that equation. Community is a whole other happy ball of wax, though fulfillment is certainly a big part of that as well.“

What is Fulfillment? This is part of it.
Gimme, Gimme is also a healthy part of Fulfillment:

This image in this post is just slightly freaky when you read what it includes and how the image came to be posted to the blog tonight. It’s deep, shallow and goes ’round and ’round.
So yesterday I blogged about Pandora and libraries (again, sorry), tonight I was working a bit at home and listening away to my good friend Pandora when a “frame ad” came up around the player. The ad? It was from the folks at Palm, for the Treo. In this series of ads, they mention the different ways you can integrate a Treo into your life. Interestingly, the ad I saw highlighted flickr. So, I whip out my Treo, while listening to Pandora, take a picture of the flickr/Treo/Palm/Pandora screen and upload it to flickr. Then I go into my blog editing software and write this post. Which will now include some code that will make a picture showing you an amazingly deep example of convergence show up for you. Enjoy!