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December 6, 2011 Still Loading | AV Spotlight on Streaming Video Volunteers Help Maintain Stability at Los Angeles Public Library Power to the Patron Q&A: San José PL's Nate Hill on Mobile Tech With WorldShare Platform, OCLC Emphasizes Data Access and Rebrands Web-scale ILS Best Books Blitz, Part 2 Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library Tackling Digitization More Stories: Library as Arts Incubator; Facebook Settles Privacy Complaint with FTC; and others Event Alert Job of the Week
Still Loading | AV Spotlight on Streaming Video By Ben Malczewski The complexity of the video format wars, specifically that of access to streaming, makes one long for the relative simplicity of the transition from printed page to –ebook. The difference being that in the ebook transition content players (ereader, tablet, smartphone, or laptop) are relatively similar but differ in their usability or in what else they offer. Streaming, at its economic center, is based upon perpetual cost—there are recurring subscription fees for the content provider(s) and a subscription for the Internet connection, with the result being it’s not necessarily cheaper than the alternatives. Read More...
	Job of the Week The Larchmont Public Library in Larchmont, NY is looking for a Library Director. Read More...
As Los Angeles Public Library Awaits Measure L Money, Volunteers Help Maintain Stability By Andrew McIntyre Sherrill Van Sickle, an adult librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library's Mid-Valley regional branch, was seated at the library's center kiosk, the words of Groucho Marx emblazoned on a nearby wall: "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." But there was nothing comical about what she had to say. For years, she said, city libraries have been underfunded and understaffed. Fortunately, they have been able to depend on an army of volunteers. "If we didn't have student volunteers, we wouldn't get things back on the shelves," said Van Sickle. Read More...
Power to the Patron Q&A: San José Public Library's Nate Hill on Making Use of Mobile Tech By David Rapp As part of the preparation for the upcoming LJ Virtual Tech Summit on Thursday, December 8, The Digital Shift has been featuring interviews with some of the panelists. Most recently, LJ touched base with Nate Hill, web librarian at San José Public Library, CA, to discuss mobile tech in libraries. LJ: Where do you think QR codes are headed? Hill: If I were to do a QR code project at a library now, I’d be thinking about how I could directly link from the code to an ebook. I think it’d be interesting to make some beautiful, book-sized acrylic or wooden blocks with QR codes on them linking to the text, and I’d interfile those acrylic or wooden blocks on the shelf appropriately with the other books. Read More...
With WorldShare Platform, OCLC Emphasizes Data Access and Rebrands Web-scale ILS By David Rapp OCLC announced on Monday the launch of its WorldShare Platform, a new technical infrastructure to help libraries collaborate in the creation and sharing of new web applications. The platform tightly integrates with the recently launched cloud-based integrated library system (ILS) Web-scale Management Services, now rebranded WorldShare Management Services (WMS), and other services. At the same time, the nonprofit also announced that it will be opening new data centers overseas over the next year. Read More...
Best Books Blitz, Part 2 By LJ Book Review Heather McCormack, Book Review Editor, writes: "Welcome to the second installment in our Best Books of 2011 blitz. On November 15, we presented our Top Ten, runners-up, winners in genre fiction, and librarian-selected bests. Thursday, we unveiled outstanding titles in perennially popular nonfiction subjects, plus poetry, graphic novels, and YA lit for adults. On December 15, you will get the crème de la crème of media, including audiobooks, DVDs, video games, and music. All of these lists—along with BookSmack! content and reviews from our regularly slated magazine issues—will live on our clean new Reviews site." The latest lists: Core Nonfiction Poetry How-To Graphic Novels YA Lit for Adults Read More...
School Library Journal Best Books 2011 By SLJ Staff LJ's sister publication is showing off a few Best Books picks of its own (with special cover art by Maurice Sendak!): "We are pleased to present this year's 65 choices for the Best Books of 2011, chosen from the more than 6000 books reviewed this year. Novels were a standout, particularly those for teens, with themes of leadership, coming-of-age, and facing tough situations presented in powerful narratives with memorable characters. Fantasy and science fiction genres made a strong showing for middle grades and YA, featuring taut page-turners and selections laced with humor." Read More...
Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library Tackling Digitization By David Rapp The nonprofit Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library (KVML), in Indianapolis recently announced that it has received a combined $76,710 via a grant from Ball State University (BSU), Muncie, IN, and partner contributions to tackle five projects for the library. One of them, a digitization project involving Vonnegut manuscripts in Indiana University (IU) Bloomington's Lilly Library and other collections, aims to make rare archival material more accessible to the general public. Read More...
A New Website Promotes Libraries as Incubators of the Arts By Michael Kelley Three library science students in Wisconsin have created a website that hopes to encourage and deepen partnerships between artists and librarians. The Library as Incubator Project was launched in October by Erinn Batykefer, Laura Damon-Moore, and Christina Endres, three graduate students at the UW-Madison School of Library and Information Studies. Read More...
Facebook Settles Privacy Complaint with FTC By Michael Kelley Facebook has agreed to settle the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) eight-count complaint in which the FTC charged that the social networking service, which is widely used by libraries, had deceived consumers by promising to keep their information private and then repeatedly making it public. "Facebook is obligated to keep the promises about privacy that it makes to its hundreds of millions of users," said Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the FTC, in a statement. "Facebook's innovation does not have to come at the expense of consumer privacy. The FTC action will ensure it will not." Read More...
Baker & Taylor Acquires Maker of CollectionHQ By David Rapp Distributor Baker & Taylor announced on Monday that it has acquired Glasgow, Scotland–based company Bridgeall Libraries, the maker of CollectionHQ collection development software-as-a-service for libraries. Terms were not disclosed. Bridgeall's software development, sales, and customer support staff will continue to be based in Glasgow, according to the announcement. Read More...
Kindle Fire’s User Experience Disappoints, Notably with Reading By Kathy Ishizuka Amazon’s Kindle Fire offers "a disappointedly poor user experience," according to usability expert Jakob Nielsen, principal of the Nielsen Norman Group (NNG). In a small study, NNG found that even experienced touchscreen users’ navigation on the seven-inch tablet resulted in "fat-finger" errors. The interactive elements on full websites, it seems, are simply too small for the smaller screen. Read More...
Library Journal Events Our first virtual technology summit is this week! Join us Thursday, December 8 for Power to the Patron, a full day of presentations and panel discussions on the latest technologies to simplify your users' experience, all without leaving your desk! We've extended our early bird discounts for the remainder of registration—sign up today for as low as $14.95 and discover the cutting-edge technologies that will help your library respond to the needs of users, now and into the future.
EBSCO Unveils Android App By David Rapp EBSCO released a free Android version of its EBSCOhost app last week, following on its iPhone/iPad app, which was released in March. The app lets users access EBSCOhost content on both Android phones and tablets. As with the iPhone app, the new app's authentication process is simplified compared with EBSCOhost Mobile website application. After the patron visits a library's EBSCOhost page to receive an authentication key, the app's authentication is valid for nine months. The app also allows users to save articles, including full-text PDFs, for offline viewing. Read More...
On the LJ Blogs Learning What Can’t Be Taught | Annoyed Librarian App Collection Development | Tennant: Digital Libraries A Season of Bests | Prepub Alert From Goucher College, Workshop 2 in Participatory Design | E-Views
Xpress Reviews: First Look at New Books New e-original romances from Julie Rowe, Candis Terry, Erin Nicholas, and others; actress Piper Laurie’s memoir, a history of The Today Show, a Christmas reference book, and more in nonfiction; and Charles Todd’s historical mystery series, a debut Western, plus new thrillers from Stephen Hunter, Val McDermid, and Ian Rankin, all in fiction. Read More...
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