Audio/Video 2005: Digital Dawn

Talk at professional meetings was once about how audiovisual media might merge with computer technology. Now picture and sound seem to be having their way with computers and the Internet. Multimedia information has become almost native to computers, collapsing the market for analog formats and creating a digital media world. The new definition of a "projector" is a computer projector, not a slide, filmstrip, overhead, or 16mm film projector. A CD player is no longer versatile unless it plays MP3 files burned on CD with a computer. Perfect-quality audio can now be recorded and fed into a public address system using a device about the size of a deck of cards. The digital age is here, with no turning back.

Computers are only part of the digital upheaval. Now that they can connect to a great communications pipeline, things in that pipeline have become more useful, and items that have to be converted from analog to digital before they can travel through are less convenient. Audiovisuals, computers, the Internet, telephones, and wireless communication have conglomerated, spawning such artifacts as the "color phone," a telephone with a color TV screen, computer memory, a computer processor, and data storage.

Small public libraries are experienced marketing organizations because they thrive when they have an excellent rapport with the communities they serve. They have often been adventuresome in adopting new media by considering what could be more attractive than an exciting new technology. Roddenbery Memorial Library (RML), where I work, is a rural, south Georgia library serving 23,000. At RML, a thorough turn-of-the-century housecleaning uncovered old transparency makers, sound filmstrip projectors, "Caramate" portable slide viewers, super-8 projectors, and an ingenious microfilm projector, all icons of past information technology initiatives.

Our trailblazing former directors were not afraid to go where the proliferation of audiovisual media might take the library to provide attractive, useful services. Yet, the marketplace was not always kind and predictable in keeping the flow of AV programs coming. Equipment was not always dependable (okay, equipment was hardly ever dependable). Today, those librarians who finally stuffed such equipment into a closet and rarely looked in are finding that they are totally in step with the times. Chances are that they will need the closet space before they need that equipment again. Digitization has killed those formats.

Over the last ten years our library has eliminated filmstrips, slide sets, 16mm films, all 8mm and super-8 films, all types of phonograph records, and all audiocassettes except audiobooks from the collection. That leaves only audiobooks on cassette and CD, sound recordings on CD, multimedia resources on CD-ROM, and films on VHS and DVD.

Fans of digital media—and digital libraries—are watching their predictions come true. By divesting themselves of old AV formats, some libraries are streamlining their services and moving toward all-digital media services. Even VHS video seems nearly dead in the water, with libraries placing a moratorium on purchasing in that format while weeding those tapes more and more heavily. In a recent poll of the 58 Georgia public library systems, 16 directors reported that they no longer purchase VHS tapes.

One respondent added that his staff anticipates a future dip in demand for VHS, at which point they will do away with VHS and collect only DVD. Some libraries are still adding VHS tapes but not purchasing them—VHS donations are frequent, and libraries in most locations still have a decent turnover in tapes.

With the DVD explosion, some libraries are competing with video rental stores. Tampa libraries are attracting patrons with the latest Hollywood flicks and a generous limit of ten DVDs per person. According to the Tampa Tribune, that has caused stacks of DVDs to fly off the shelves along with smaller yet steady quantities of books. It has also led to pressure on the library from the Hillsborough County commissioners to cut back on entertainment DVDs [see News, p. 19].

Several Georgia library directors have put a close watch on the demand for audiobooks on cassette, with an eye toward getting rid of all cassettes. Car audio systems no longer automatically come with cassette capability, and libraries have been promoting books on CD for some time. As cars are traded, cassette demand is beginning to drop. A future dilemma will be whether to collect any tangible audiobook format or whether downloading digital audiobooks can be the sole answer for car, portable, and home use.

At RML, criteria are fairly simple for offering any format. We look for a regular flow of good material in that format. We consider the affordability, simplicity, and reliability of any equipment that might be required. Also, we want people in the community to seek information in that format. In the smallest of libraries, equipment is not always required. After we disposed of a multidisc CD player, RML offered music CDs for several years without having a player in the building. Now we play them on computers—of course.

Small libraries are rethinking their nonprint services in response to two aggressive marketing efforts. The first involves a now familiar offshoot of print media in a new wrapper. Ebooks have gone from mega-specter to perceived flash in the pan and now back to a viable alternative. Why? Because the environment that required proprietary devices to read them is evaporating. OCLC's recently purchased netLibrary division has been asking libraries to subscribe to a device-independent ebook service at huge discounts from previous prices. Meanwhile the Google Print Library Project is working with major libraries to digitize rapidly a large body of literature for future online access by anyone with a browser and Internet access.

Small libraries might still not want to risk paying blanket subscription prices, but on-demand access, similar to per-search vs. flat-fee service, could offer a good option. I have not seen an ebook subscription service yet that I would want for our library, regardless of the selection or convenience, because I cannot yet see the demand in our community. Small libraries envision light use of ebooks in the immediate future, at best, and a substantial fee for access is a huge stumbling block, even if access is unlimited.

If digitization projects like the Google effort attract users, there could be a significant, adverse effect on the value of ebook subscription services. An ideal situation for small libraries would be to have access to a large and growing body of free ebooks, with others available at a per-use charge rather than a large blanket access fee.

When audiobooks began appearing digitized on CD, it was only a matter of time before someone uttered the word "download." Downloading or streaming on the Internet augments the utility and cost-effectiveness of digital items. Again OCLC is in the marketing chain, offering an expanding collection of downloadable audiobooks in the popular MP3 (i.e., Windows Media) format from Recorded Books at a subscription price based on total library circulation. Annual subscriptions allow a large number of downloads before any surcharges are incurred. These MP3 books can be copied to more than one portable MP3 player simultaneously, but they cannot be put on CDs or iPods.

OverDrive offers a downloadable audiobook service from a good variety of publishers, using software called the OverDrive Media Console to manage files. Books can be downloaded from any location once a user ID is established. Libraries offering OverDrive audiobooks must purchase expensive Digital Library Reserve system software that makes the cost very high in the first year for libraries like ours. The OverDrive software investment begins to pay off in later years, as the cost moves directly to per-use charges.

With these services patrons are responsible for providing the devices that play downloaded books, and libraries would have it no other way. OCLC conducted some demonstration sessions in Georgia, and a few libraries readily subscribed, while most others hesitated. My small-town response was to ask whether OCLC would consider a much lower-priced version, whether on trial, or better yet, as an ongoing lower tier. We suggested something substantially below $1000 per year, so that libraries serving small or rural populations can discover whether there will be sufficient demand to warrant a larger subscription later.

The device-independent services seem destined to work well among populations where there is a significant overlap of people with MP3 players—whether handheld, car audio, PDA, or highly capable cell phone—and people who want to read or listen to books. Travelers and commuters from the audiobook crowd are among such users. With the MP3 portable device trend in progress, the group will certainly expand nationwide.

Even when the device is still proprietary, new downloading services are catching on. Apple's iTunes Music Store has audiobooks to download. In an effort to harness the simplicity of that arrangement, libraries such as the South Huntington Public Library on Long Island, NY, purchase and check out iPod "shuffle" digital players, with one audiobook of choice downloaded to each device upon checkout.

Proliferation of services has given way to streamlining, so where is the progression headed? Perhaps libraries have reached a plateau where wisdom of the past can point the way to innovative digital AV services for the future. Resource sharing through interlibrary loan and the fascinating arena of document delivery has made the most cost-effective use of print resources, because owning an item is not required to get it and use it. "Libraries without walls" are already essential to information services.

Consortia have thrived on this philosophy, and today in Georgia the PINES integrated library system allows 44 regional library systems with 251 individual facilities to act as one library, constantly moving materials about in response to direct, patron-placed holds. Having an item is no longer the hallmark of readily available library service. Stretching dollars for materials now involves knowing how best to provide something to a patron on demand, no matter where it originates. In this paradigm, the transaction is more important than the local collection.

In a digital environment, the physical storage location of an item is almost irrelevant to the user transaction and in many cases may not be known. The new downloading services are showing librarians that what they actually own is not likely to be as important as what they can get on demand. In one sense digital media are here to stay, but in another sense they are being removed from our physical grasp and placed in digital repositories from which libraries draw their services.

Librarians willing to redefine their roles accordingly will show the rest of us the future. Others, especially in small libraries, might not want to be on the bleeding edge and might be waiting for a service that is a sure thing and a deal they can afford. Meanwhile, they can still ride the wave of circulation that remains among fading formats, as long as it lasts.

Ann Kim is Special Projects Coordinator, LJ