February 7th Readings

RFID in Libraries-Deborah Caldwell-Stone

The author briefly discusses the use of RFID technology in libraries.

This article surprised me. While I had only heard of RFID technology in passing from a fellow coworker a year or two back, I was not aware of the controversy until I read this article. It almost seems in the realms of sci-fi; people gathering your information via scanner. As the article pointed out, it seems like so much more work than it could ever be worth! It was informative though, I understand a bit more what is happening when I check out at MCPL now especially with the distance the scanners work at. However, speaking of MCPL, the article mentioned that supposedly RFID is supposed to save time and money by allowing patrons to check out all their books at once. If this is the case, then why does MCPL force you to place one book at a time on the scanner? I could wand the barcodes of the same stack of books in at least half the time.

The Next Generation Library Catalog:A Comparative Study of the OPACS of Koha, Evergreen, and Voyager-Shaon Yang & Melissa Hofmann

This article is the results of the authors’ study of next generation OPACS and whether open source or proprietary ILS are better over the other.

Perhaps it is because I am taking a class on library systems this semester, but integrated library systems have been on my mind the last few weeks. This article brought to mind some of the reoccurring questions I have, including: what kind of ILS will my future workplace have? If it’s a really bad one, will they have the money to purchase something better? What about upkeep? Open source systems seem great, but what are the chances a small public library is going to have either the funds or the skills for it to be properly managed?

This article not only compares three such library systems, Koha, Evergreen and Voyager, but it takes a look at them in the context a next generation tools. For as long as next generation tools have been around it is surprising how few libraries have taken advantage of them within their OPACs. While that is partly the fault of vendors for not keeping their developments up to date with what libraries want, those with open source systems are running out of excuses since this article goes to show that Koha and Evergreen definitely have at least some of the next generation tools available for their users.

Also, for those that are more interested in integrated library systems I suggest you take a look at this website: http://www.librarytechnology.org/perceptions2010.pl   It is the results from an annual survey sent out to all sorts of libraries in regards to their ILS. I think the survey goes back to 2007 and all of the years are recorded online. 2011’s should be out in the next couple months if I remember correctly.

The Koha Saga: A gift that keeps giving-Glyn Moody

A short history of Koha; from humble beginnings to current trademark battle.

I feel there were some good and bad parts to this reading. It was nice to understand a little more about how Koha come to be. Open source systems is a new interest of mine and as such I am still learning how they came to be and how the fit in the library world. The hard part of this reading is that there is some lawyer-speak in regards to trademark legalities and ownership. The more classes I take the more I come to understand that I must learn the basics of law. As a hopeful future library director I am going to be responsible for a business in essence, a business with very little money, so avoiding potential legal battles of all sorts would be a wise move and the best way to do that is to know and understand how the laws affect libraries.

Examining the Role of Libraries in an E-book World-Molly Joss

This article examines the place e-books have in libraries and how publishers should be supporting public libraries instead of making it more difficult and more expensive.

I think this article has some very good points to be made about e-books being treated as regular books and not disappearing after a certain number of checkouts. I did not realize that it was only HarperCollins books that did that. Is this still the case nearly a year later? I looked at the Ban HarperCollins website and it says the ban is still in effect. I wonder how much support it still has. I had not heard of it until today.

EDIT: Here is a link to the article I briefly mentioned in class that talks about an author actually encouraging digital piracy of his books: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/01/paulo-coelho-readers-pirate-books    It is interesting to see a viewpoint you wouldn't expect, especially since this is how he makes a living.

Across the Digital Divide-Seanan McGuire

Seanan discusses the digital divide and how e-books are not accessible to all

Finally someone who sees past the flashy-ness of e-books and the reality that print is not dead, nor is it dying! This article may have just made my day. I agree whole heartedly with what was said. E-books are great for those that like them and can afford them. However, for the rest of us, we get to continue to fully interact with our reading materials. We get to buy tattered and well-loved books at discount prices and get to yell at people who have marked in a library book (even though they will never hear us.) Print books aren’t going anywhere, just like libraries aren’t going anywhere. There is still a need for both and there will be a long time from now.