Klaatu Barada Bookto

A robotics laboratory in Spain is reportedly working on a robotic librarian.

It is to come with a speech-recognition and seeing capacity that should allow it to make out the name of a book when spoken to it and to identify the title on the shelves. When it becomes mobile, it will deliver the book to the eager reader.

via LISNews.com

Will the robot deliver Asimov's "I, Robot" (or the Will Smith DVD), or will patrons be subject to cyber-censorship?

While the concept of Marian "The Cyborg" Librarian seems ridiculous on its face, other businesses have used service kiosks to great success. A recent Fast Company article looked at the successes of a company called Kinetics, Inc. in placing self-service kiosks in airports (for self-check-in) and in McDonalds. The McDonalds franchisee who installed the kiosks reports higher than expected usage (45-50% of customers use them), higher average sales per transaction, and the need to hire additional employees (both to help customers use the kiosk, and to cook the additional food that customers are ordering).

Libraries should take note of this "if you build it, they will come" phenomenon; new, attractive services will bring in patrons, who will need other services. The Message: innovate, and hire!

The Toll of a New Machine, by Charles Fishman, Fast Company, Issue 82, May 2004, p. 91.

So Many Books...

The publication of the NEA's Reading at Risk study, and my impending birthday, got me thinking about just how little time there is left to read all those books.  The analyst in me devised a metric:  the Book-Life Number.  Your Book-Life Number is your remaining life expectancy in years times the number of books you expect to read per year.  The categories used in Reading at Risk are as follows:  Light Readers read 1-5 books per year; Average Readers read 6 books per year (a book every other month); Moderate Readers read 6-11 books per year; Frequent Readers read 12-49 books per year (at least a book a month); and Avid Readers read 50 or more books per year (about a book a week).  For purposes of the calculation, I've used 3, 6, 8, 30 and 50 books per year respectively.  Here's the table:

Book Life Number

Age	Light	Average	Moderate	Frequent	Avid
15	180	360	480	1800	3000
25	153	306	408	1530	2550
35	126	252	336	1260	2100
45	96	192	256	960	1600
55	72	144	192	720	1200
65	51	102	136	510	850
75	30	60	80	300	500

So what's the point?  "So many books, so little time."  Your Book Life Number has several different interpretations:

1. At any age and reading level, there are woefully few books to read in your future.  (My Book Life Number of 960 looks incredibly puny.)  Therefore, choose wisely and read well. 
2. If possible, accelerate your reading pace.  If I could move from being a Frequent Reader (which I am now) to an Avid Reader (which I once was), I'd be able to read another 600+ books in my life.  What a positive impact they could have!
3. Weeding is your friend.  If your personal collection (reference books aside) is much larger than your Book Life Number, it's time for some weeding.  Again, choose wisely.  At my age, my future reading could be held on five 6-foot bookcases.  I own many more books than that.  I believe this is termed "bibliomania."  I must remember, and so should you, that the local library has far more books than you could read, or own, so take advantage of it.
4. The average American reads 6 books per year.  The median age of Americans is 35 and rising.  Therefore, America's "average" Book Life Number is 252, and shrinking.  What impact will this have on future libraries:  their acquisitions, their collection mix, their marketing?
5. A 15 year old Avid Reader has about 3000 books ahead of him/her.  How should we advise this person to maximize the fulfillment they achieve through a life of reading?  And what is to be done for young readers who are "less than avid?"
6. As another birthday looms, I "lose" another 30 books from my Book Life Number.  Did I read 30 books last year?  Were they worth it?  Now that the pool has shrunk, what will I choose next?  What will be the last book read? (It seems that there's a book to be written about this topic:  Last Books of Famous People.)

Additional Source:  National Vital Statistics Report, National Center For Health Statistics

We are not alone: Additional support for and insight into Reading at Risk

An OECD study from 2000 amplifies and extends the findings of "Reading at Risk." The study was conducted with 15 year olds in the 30 member countries of the OECD by its Programme for International Student Assessment. The study's overall conclusion vis-a-vis reading is that avid readers perform better. ("Practice makes perfect.") After you've read the entirety of Reading at Risk, check this out.

PISA - Home Reading activities and engagement in reading

The High Price of Delivery

In a funny, and sobering, Flash movie, the ACLU envisions the database of your future:  personal information at the fingertips of any "headset jockey" you come in contact with.  Note the reference to library records midway through.  Will requests for extra mushrooms alert the DEA?
 
ACLU Summer Surveillance Campaign
 
via The Importance of...

IA Hall of Fame: Richard Saul Wurman

Richard Saul Wurman is an information architect, visionary and inspiration to those who try to make information more accessible.  The first time I was knowingly  exposed to his genius was in his book, Information Anxiety.  After reading just a few pages, I realized that Wurman was truly on to something.  I also found out that he was the progenitor of the ACCESS Guides, which I had already become enamored of, but had not taken notice of  their founding father.  Through many more Guides, Follow the Yellow Brick Road, Information Anxiety 2, Information Architects, Understanding USA, and 1000, I enjoyed his unique take on the world and let him be my guide through it. 
 
Wurman further contributed to the stocks and flows of the world's knowledge by creating and chairing the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conferences, which brought together many of our greatest achievers and intellectuals to share and explore their fields.
 
Sadly, many of my favorite Wurman books are no longer in print.  But I hear he's now working in the complex field of human health information.  For that I am grateful, and expectant.
 
I hereby nominate Richard Saul Wurman into the Information Architecture Hall of Fame.

Wi Fi? Why Not?

Wayne State's libraries are adding wi-fi this summer.  Some campus libraries are already on line.  In anticipation of the arrival at Purdy/Kresge, I was curious what other hotspots were in Southeast Michigan.  I looked at several directories of hotspots (none of which was comprehensive) and came to the following preliminary conclusions.

• There is a crying need for a more searchable, comprehensive list of hotspots.
• Commercial hotspots far outnumber non-commercial ones.  Whole chains of commercial establishments (e.g., Starbucks, Panera, Borders, Kinko's and lots of hotel chains) routinely include hotspots, usually for a fee.
• Most commercial hotspots cost money to access.  Panera (free) may be the exception for now; it currently costs $2.99 to access T-mobile in Starbucks for 1 hour, $9.99 for a day, or $29.99 for a month (that's a lot of lattes).
• Very few listed hotspots are in libraries.  One wi-fi directory, JiWire, lists 15, 342 hotspots in the United States, of which 256 are in Michigan.  Of these, only 466 of the U.S. entries were libraries, 9 in Michigan (none were listed for Wayne State).  Two possible interpretations of these library statistics:  1) libraries that have hotspots aren't getting the word out to wi-fi directories (e.g., Wayne State?); 2) not many libraries offer wi-fi.  While publicizing/advertising is something libraries generally don't like to do (or are not good at), people looking for a hotspot are not going to automatically sniff out the library's connection (or appreciate its purist intentions).
• Most libraries that were listed offered free access (no surprise there).  Wi-Fi-Freespot specializes in listing free hotspots, of all kinds.

Given the consumer economics of the wi-fi-hotspot, it appears libraries may be missing an opportunity to reach a vital segment of the populace, at least vital to the economic health of libraries.  The logic goes something like this:

• Wi-fi hotspots are accessed by people with portable, wi-fi enabled devices.
• Wi-fi devices are relatively expensive (i.e., not everyone can afford them yet).
• Wi-fi commercial access is expensive to the consumer.
• Wi-fi library access is (usually) free to the consumer.
• Consumers prefer to pay less.
• Hence, consumers with wireless devices would prefer free access, like that offered in libraries.

Hang on, here's the kicker...

• Offering wi-fi access would attract users of wi-fi devices. (If you build it, they will come).
• These users presumably are more well-off than the average patron (by virtue of owning relatively expensive devices).
• Therefore, libraries would attract more well-off patrons, while still providing services to the rest of the patron base.  These new patrons may be important constituencies for future millage increases, fund raising and political support.  And just like the commercial enterprises offering wi-fi, libraries may reasonably hope to "sell" these new patrons other services, once they're (literally) in the building.
• CONCLUSION:  Wi-fi is good for libraries and patrons.

I don't have hard evidence for all these points, but I don't think the argument is at all far-fetched.  Creating an information environment that is valued by all segments of the community can only serve to strengthen the library's standing in its community.  And hopefully help fill its purse.

How long can I check this kid out for?

Children in Osaka, Japan will now receive the same protection as the books in our higher-tech libraries.  Children will be fitted with RFID chips to enable tracking them in the event of an abduction.  This sounds like a noble and vital policy, but the future implications for criminal or governmental perversion of the intent of the policy are frightening.

Japan: Schoolkids to be tagged with RFID chips, by Jo Best, Special to CNETAsia, Monday, July 12 2004

Why Information Literacy instruction may not be taking hold

Dr. Richard Restak, in his book The New Brain: How the Modern Age Is Rewiring Your Mind, puts forth the argument that the brain works best when processing tasks serially, not by switching between tasks ("multitasking"). Multitasking reduces accuracy and efficiency, according to Restak. Restak's point of view is supported by research at the University of Michigan and Carnegie-Mellon. The Michigan study concluded that tasks performed simultaneously took 50% longer than if they had been performed sequentially.

So the next time you see people working on the computer while "cranking tunes," you may rightly wonder whether that well-crafted diatribe you issued on the intricacies of searching subscription databases really sunk in.

Driving? Maybe You Shouldn't Be Reading This, by Robin Marantz Henig, The New York Times, July 13, 2004

More evidence for NEA Study

This gem appeared in an article about Jeopardy whiz Ken Jennings:

Even more-old-fashioned games like "Family Feud" expect little more of contestants than that they match the lowest common denominator. When a young man on a recent episode of "Feud" was asked to name something that women love to do and men hate, he replied, "Read." He was deemed correct: at least three people in the audience survey gave the same answer.

Survey says: ARGGGH!
O.K., Alex, Smart Nerds for $1 Million, by Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times, July 13, 2004

Cool CATS

lib-web-cats is a directory of library Web pages, online catalogs and profiles for libraries worldwide. Maintained by Marshall Breeding of Vanderbilt University, the database is an invaluable tool, especially when researching library automation systems. One use is to identify libraries who have migrated from your old vendor to your new one. Checking with people at these institutions could save you a lot of migration heartache.

"Send Over the Hi-Lo, Fred! We've got more thesauri for the warehouse!"

Taxonomy Warehouse - A Comprehensive Web-Directory of Taxonomies is a database of thesauri, ontologies, classification schemes, authority files and taxonomies. The database classifies the taxonomies by subject (a taxonomy of taxonomies?) and lists basic information about them. Some taxonomies can be purchased through Taxonomy Warehouse; links are also provided directly to the publisher's web site.

3 Sites to Tickle the Inner Librarian

On the lighter side, you may want to explore one of these three sites when there's a lull at the desk:

The Onion. Hilarious takes on the topics of the day. Clever enough to make you wonder if the entries just might be true. Example: "D.C. Site of First Homeless Depot." Political, but non-partisan. Besides, it started in Madison, Wisconsin, as many wacky things do. (Go Badgers!)

Mental Floss. Not a humor publication per se, but if you don't find humor in its articles, layout or general attitude, your bun is wound just a little too tightly. More a print publication than a website, MF still has some interesting electronic content (Fact of the Day, Quiz of the Day). In the Current Issue: "6 Tricky Song Lyrics You'll Never Get Wrong Again" and "Essential Physics for Parties."

Cartoon Bank. For a more genteel chuckle, this site offers a wealth of classic New Yorker cartoons and covers. Content is searchable by topic or artist, but browsing is every bit as fun. You can even order framed reprints of your favorites, like Peter Steiner's "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." Hours of enjoyment.

I'm Sorry Orrin, We Can't Allow You to Jeopardize the Mission

It's not quite HAL, but the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004, a music copyright-related bill sponsored by Senator Orrin Hatch, might have you singing "Daisy." The Act would allow punishment of aiders and abetters of copyright infringement (including libraries with computers?). The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has drafted a mock complaint based on the bill that should make you laugh, weep, or at least sit up and take notice.

Copyright infringement is serious. Copyright legislation that cuts with a chainsaw where a scalpel should be used is not.

This editorial lays out the absurdist particulars:

Allow Me to Induce Myself, by Eliot Van Buskirk, CNET Reviews, July 7, 2004.

The 'Rithmetic of Reading. And Writing.

The National Endowment of the Arts, based on a Census Department study, has issued a sobering report, Reading at Risk, which notes that reading is declining, in every geographic region, within all age and ethnic groups and at all educational strata. The report states that only 56.6 percent of those surveyed had read any book during the previous twelve months. Reading of literature (novels, short stories, plays, and poems) has declined even more dramatically.

While Internet usage presumably involves some reading, reading terse, factual information does not replace reading literature, because the material does not have the same personal and cultural resonance. The reader's dilemma is comparable to choosing a television commercial over an epic film, or listening to a jingle as opposed to a symphony. With the easier, more pervasive choice, long-term satisfaction is lost.

And what does this phenomenon imply for the future of the written word? Are the people who do not read the same people who do not write (or write well)? Has our collective depth of thought about important things (philosophy, art, science, politics) reached that of the proverbial mud puddle? Is it any wonder that people come to the library for the free computers, and nothing more? This is spiritually exhausting. I must read now.

Fewer Noses Stuck in Books in America, Survey Finds, by Bruce Weber, The New York Times, July 8, 2004, p. B1.

Report to the Librarian General, soldier!

A new GAO report revealed that the Department of Defense requested $19 billion to operate its 2,274 business system databases. The databases, which are used for inventory and procurement, grew up in separate departments and had their own appropriations for development and maintenance. As such, they don't interrelate and are seen as less than perfect guardians of the public purse. It sounds like they need some librarians to integrate this information, or at least search it effectively.

DOD Business Systems Modernization: Billions Continue to Be Invested with Inadequate Management Oversight and Accountability, GAO Report: GAO-04-615.

Software Take and Take

The Business Software Alliance reports that of the $80 billion of software installed on computers in 2003, only $51 billion was obtained legally. The BSA estimates that a 10% reduction in software piracy across Europe would result in 250,000 new jobs and $23 billion in additional tax revenue by 2006.

Industry survey finds 36 percent of software sold in the world last year was pirated, by Paul Geitner, AP Business Writer, from the Detroit News, July 8, 2004.

Global Software Piracy Study

Worldcat Turbo

In a new pilot program, Yahoo and Google both have the capability to search OCLC's WorldCat for books in libraries. In a limited test of 2 million titles (those held by more than 100 libraries), users can use the search engine to search for information. The search engine returns an entry "Find in a Library:" with the title of a book. Clicking on the link brings up WorldCat's list of libraries holding the item (you supply the geography you're interested in). If you click on the "i" button, you'll get library hours/basic information; if you click on the library name, you'll be taken to the item listing or the library catalog.

To search for these items, enter "worldcat" and then the title or keyword of the sought item. Results don't always come to the top, and some items aren't yet offered, but these are minor complaints.

The power and convenience of this technology is breathtaking. I can't wait for the entire 54 million record collection to be included.

Pilot Brochure | Pilot Quick Facts | Pilot Frequently Asked Questions

Muse-brary? Lib-seum? Holy Mass Media, Batman!

The Museum of Television and Radio is a treasure trove of bleary-eyed viewing pleasure for the boob-tube addicted. While termed a "museum," MTR could just as rightfully be called a library. And as a library, it faces some of the same challenges as its more traditional, paper-based brethren:

• Collections are incomplete. Some of the true gems of television history were never saved.
  
• Computer systems are inadequate. Users report the systems at MTR are slow and finicky, particularly when show titles are involved.
  
• Access to outside resources is problematic. Patrons of MTR don't have access to the Internet, so tools like IMDB are not available to researchers. And the MTR site itself does not offer its catalog online.
  
• Access is restricted by time and resources. Inquiries for information are only fielded between 4:00 p.m. and 5:45 p.m.
  
• Copyright is a big issue. The museum has many items in its collection that are no longer shown on television because of the high cost of music royalties.
  
• People need people. When research gets hairy, museum curators, not-so-distant cousins of librarians, are frequently called on to intervene, oftentimes with great success.
  

The Museum of Television and Radio is located at 25 West 52nd Street in New York, New York and 465 North Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills, California.

Where Old Television Goes to Its Final Reward, by Alessandra Stanley. The New York Times, July 2, 2004 (may require free registration).

Safe Harbour

In my previous life as a consultant, I regularly came across the Harbour Report, the Gutenberg Bible of automotive manufacturing statistics. Fast Company recently featured the Harbour Report and its impact on the automotive world.

I was struck by the reasons, implicit and explicit to the article, that the Harbour Report achieved its preeminence.

(1) The Report is written by someone who has lived and understands the subject matter. Jim Harbour was Chrysler's director of corporate manufacturing engineering. He's since retired from the consulting company he founded, Harbour Inc., but his tradition is carried on through his family.

(2) The Report's credibility is at least partially attributable to its longevity. The Report was first produced in 1981 and has been produced in its current form since 1993.

(3) The Report gets much of its information directly from its subjects. Manufacturers contribute information because they see the value in it for themselves.

(4) The Report presents objective facts. Users value the information because the Harbours don't have a hidden agenda. They seek to provide a true picture of automotive manufacturing. The Harbours don't even own stock in auto makers or parts manufacturers, so that their objectivity is beyond reproach.

(5) The Report provides value. It provides information about things manufacturers care about, such as "hits per labor hour." While somewhat pricey at $495 per copy, everybody who's anybody in the automotive industry wants their copy.

The characteristics that make the Harbour Report successful are also valuable to librarians as they evaluate other sources of information for credibility and value.

The Truth Shall Set You Free, by Chuck Salter. Fast Company, Issue 82, May 2004, p. 78.