PVLD Director's Blog

Clearing the Decks for 2008

We are open until 1PM today, but things are very quiet in the administration area so it was a good opportunity to deal with the stacks of paper that have been threatening to topple off of my desk. It is amazing how much material comes my way in good old-fashioned hard copy. Combine that with the fact that, as much as I try to behave like a digital native, there are many things that I still prefer to do with paper including writing preliminary drafts of anything complex and reading anything more than a few pages long and the result is heaps of paper that seem to breed in the night. My housekeeping efforts resulted in two recycling bins full of discards, and the addition of more 3-ring binders (my preferred filing system) to my office shelves. If I am any example the age of print on paper is far from over!

I am taking a few days of vacation between Christmas and New Years Day – a much needed break from all of the holiday season bustle, a chance to deal with some projects at home (like dealing with the mushrooming stacks of paper there!), and a time to rest up for the challenges ahead in 2008 (shrinking revenues, rising costs for some of our most used online services, a major fundraising campaign, negotiations for a new union contract for PVLD employee, implementation of our new Integrated Library System…should be an interesting year!)

One thing I probably won't be doing over the next week is blogging!

I hope everyone has a peaceful and safe Christmas season and a wonderful New Year!

From Web 2.0 to Web 3.0

I thought these two YouTube videos from some of the big names in the Web 2.0 world were interesting.

Here's Tim O'Reilly, who is widely credited with coining the term Web 2.0, giving his definition -

And now Eric Schmidt of Google with his take about Web 3.0

I found it interesting that the fundamental attribute of Web 2.0 as described by Tim O'Reilly is that users add value to the data.  You can see this in a lot of what we are trying to achieve with the social catalog - user reviews, shared lists, etc.

What Eric Schmidt describes as Web 3.0 is users adding value to the process by developing micro-applications and by being the vehicle for viral transmission of both data and applications.  The fairly recent but explosive growth of the "widget" seems to be a good example.

I'll need to do some thinking about what this means for libraries.  Some quick thoughts include opportunities to make the tools for micro-application development available through the library website, opportunities to develop our own micro-applications and widgets that can then be virally transmitted....any one else have ideas?

Minority Rules?

We are in the process of implementing a new Integrated Library System – the software that supports all of our core library processes from the purchase of books and other library materials to cataloging and inventory control, to issuing library cards and checking books out and in, to the online catalog that our customers use. This has proven to be a wonderful opportunity to review policies and practices so that we not only align them with the capabilities of the new software, but also improve internal efficiency and (more importantly) improve our customers' experience of the library. We've been looking at everything from what identification is required to obtain a library card to our somewhat baroque fine and fee structure to our internal purchasing policies and procedures.

Throughout this process it has become obvious that in many cases we have implemented policies and practices because of the minority of people who do the wrong thing, and in the process make things more difficult for the majority who do the right thing. PVLD's Manager of Digital Library Services, David Campbell, has been vigilant about asking the question "Are we doing this for the 5% or the 95%?" and as a result we are changing things in ways that might create a very small amount of risk for PVLD, but offer significantly more convenience for our customers.

When I came across this post on The Tyranny of One by Ben McConnell of The Church of the Customer (a great non-library blog about customer service) I had to chuckle. Obviously libraries aren't the only ones whose response to the "tyranny of one" is to create a rule that punishes everyone else (and is usually implemented after the horse has already bolted so to speak), although if PVLD's policy manual is any example we seem to have elevated it to a fine art.

At least we are recognizing the problem and trying to address it…now we just have to realize that our other favorite response to an issue, putting up a sign, isn't any better!

Web 2.0, the Presidential Campaign, and Loss of Control

I've posted quite a bit about Web 2.0 and how it is shifts control away from "experts" (like librarians), so I found this article from the December 9^th New York Times Magazine about the impact of the Internet on the presidential campaign very interesting. I thought this description of the uncontrollability of the social web particularly apt –

"In the new and evolving online world, the greatest momentum goes not to the candidate with the most detailed plan for conquering the Web but to the candidate who surrenders his own image to the clicking masses, the same way a rock guitarist might fall backward off the stage into the hands of an adoring crowd." [emphasis mine].

The article goes on to talk about how smart businesses long ago realized that "since they can no longer expect to unilaterally define the market the way they once did, they may as well let the market have some control over designing and branding the product" and contrasts this approach with that of the political establishment in Washington where "…for decades, presidential campaigns have been the exclusive province of a small bevy of ad makers and strategists who profited from the illusion that they, and only they, could foresee the electorate's every reaction to everything. The results of that period are now in: a marked decline in voter participation, an uptake in cynicism toward public service, and a heap of critical policy challenges that have gone unaddressed."

I read the article while I was travelling home from a meeting with Beth Jefferson of Bibliocommons and representatives of several northern California libraries who, like PVLD, are contemplating becoming early adopters of the Bibliocommons online catalog platform. Two of the hallmarks of the Bibliocommons product are the extent to which its design is grounded in extensive research into how civilians (as opposed to librarians) use the library catalog, and the way that it allows users to become recognized as trusted sources of advice with librarians in effect becoming just some voices among many. In short, it transfers control from the expert librarian to the user, and forces librarians to earn their credibility by the quality of their input, not just by virtue of their qualifications or position.

That's why I thought the last lines of the NY Times article was as true for libraries and librarians as it is for politicians –

"Neither party's candidate [KG –substitute "librarian"] will escape the impulses, best or worst, of a newly empowered citizenry. The best they can do is to fall backward, and hope to be carried aloft."

What a great image!

Celebrating Art CORRECTED

Saturday we celebrated the unveiling of our new public sculpture "Balancing Knowldege" donated by local philanthropists Marilyn and John Long and the Long Family Foundation. The sculpture is by Brad Howe, an internationally recognized artist who did a fabulous job of creating a piece that embodies our goal of "connecting people information and ideas" and also is a wonderful complement to our existing artwork and our Peninsula Center Library. The name was submitted by local teen Grace Kim and selected from over 200 entries in our naming contest.

I love this photo of the sculptor and the Longs - it exemplifies the excitement and joy of the occasion.

Thank you Marilyn and John for supporting our efforts to make PVLD libraries vital, vibrant, and exciting centers of community life...and for recoginizing the important role art can play in this effort.

Stop by the Peninsula Center Library and take a look!

Unsung Heroes

Things have been absolutely crazy around here with holiday programs and events, Board meetings, fundraising, etc. Several years ago we set a goal of increasing the amount of programming we do for the community. Those who read my blog post BUSY! a couple of weeks ago got a feel for how the staff of PVLD has taken that goal to heart.

What may not be obvious is the impact this has on our hardworking maintenance employees. This small team of 5 full time and 1 part time employees not only keeps our library facilities clean and in great shape (they do all of the janitorial work), does daily book deliveries between the libraries, helps collect book donations for the Friends of the Library, and carries out many improvement projects – they also do all of the set up and tear down for every event and activity at any of our libraries.  And they provide coverage 7 days/week for 10-12 hours a day, which means that most of the time there are only one or two of them on duty.

That's why I am in awe of what they accomplish.  Just to give an example of one 24 hour period –

Starting this afternoon the guys had to –

• Set up tables and chairs for the Origami Club at Malaga Cove Library
• Move the piano and set up 80 chairs in the foyer at Peninsula Center for a holiday music concert
• While the concert was underway begin setting up tables and chairs in the community room for tomorrow's American Girls tea (we've had 180 RSVP's!)
• As soon as the concert was over move the piano and all of the chairs back into the community room
• Set up tables and chairs in the foyer for the overflow from the American Girls tea

Tomorrow they will –

• Finish setting up for the American Girls tea
• As soon as the tea is over at 11:30 begin setting up for 75 people from the High Growth Stock group who have rented the community room beginning at 1PM, including setting up audiovisual equipment
• As soon as they've set up the community room, beginning setting up for the reception for the unveiling of our new public sculpture in the foyer at Peninsula Center at 2PM. This involves moving tables into the foyer and setting up 55 chairs outside near the sculpture
• Once the High Growth Stock group and sculpture unveiling are over, put away all the tables and chairs and help with clean up

In between they will clean all of the libraries so they are ready to open at 10AM tomorrow, and they've been working on installation of our new video information display at Peninsula Center which involves dry-walling, painting, and running new power and data cables.

They come into work at 5AM and leave long after the libraries close, and they do all of this without much complaining, and mostly out of the public eye…that's why I call them the unsung heroes.

James, Larry, Jose L, Jose P, Lorenzo, and Tommy – THANK YOU!

Open vs. Closed Systems

Those of you who read my blog closely may have noticed that I have edited yesterday's post on Bibliocommons.  I wrote that post at the San Francisco Airport at 6AM, and when I went back and read it after a good night's sleep I did not feel comfortable with my comments about the relationship between Bibliocommons and Innovative Interfaces, particularly since PVLD has not yet formalized a relationship with Bibliocommons and has not had any direct discussions with Innovative about our potential use of Bibliocommons...although I'm hopeful that both of these activities are not too far off!

I also realized that what really has been bugging me is not whether two particular pieces of software will work together, but what I see as a growing gap between an old business model and a new one.  The old one was the model of proprietary and closed systems.  In my personal experience it was best exemplified by my very first major software implementation project - the implementation of the SAP integrated business system into an aluminum smelting business in Australia back in the late 80s and early 90s.  The SAP system had its roots in what used to be called "mainframe computing" and was intended to provide an integrated automated solution for all of a corporation’s business processes from manufacturing and inventory control to accounting to human resources....

The idea was that you would purchase this monolithic software from the vendor, and if it didn't quite meet your needs in a particular business area you would either modfiy the software yourself (which had both short and long-term cost and maintenance implications) or work with the vendor and other users of the software to have modfications included into a later release of the software (which could take a long time).  Where customers demanded new functionality the vendor would develop and sell additional modules. The software resided on computers owned by the customer.  Proprietary software code and standards made it difficult if not impossible to purchase a different product for a particular business need and integrate it into the overall system architecture, and the sizeable investment in the software and implementation made changing to a different product very costly.

The advantages to this model include the tight integration of data and work flows across and between business processes, the ease of maintenance afforded by dealing with a single product from a single vendor, and the control afforded by having the software and data residing on your computers.

The disadvantages include lack of flexibility to meet specific, unique, or changing business needs, relatively slow development timetables, and the sizable investment of time and money required to implement such a system (including the need to invest in the hardware infrastructure).

This model worked pretty well in the 20^th century, but the world has changed.  Some of the things that are becoming “standard” include – hosted software where the software resides on servers owned by the software/service provider and is made available via the web; “open source” software that is typically free and for which applications and new functionality are developed by and shared within the user community (PVLD is using open source software for our staff Intranet and new website; and “open application interfaces” which allow anyone to create new applications to add on to existing services (an example is all of the little add-ons for Facebook).  In this environment organizations pick and choose the “best of breed” applications that best meet their business needs, and expect that those applications will work together…and they expect to be able to get these at a reasonable cost, or even for free!  

The worry that has been at the back of my mind for some time is that major Integrated Library Systems were developed under the old model.  While there are some moves towards developing new open source ILS solutions, and while some vendors have been more willing than others to enable their core products to work with other 3^rd party solutions, the most common ILS products are built on the old, monolithic model…and the Innovative Interfaces business model seems to be more wedded to this old model than many others. Where changing expectations have led to demands for new functionality - like "federated search" or a more "social" catalog" - the response has been to develop these products in-house, and make it difficult for customers to integrate products from other vendors with the core ILS offerings.  These ILS vendor-developed offerings are often expensive, and not often the best or most innovative solutions available.

This is going to be a challenge for PVLD as we strive to get better and faster at modifying our service offerings to meet changing customer applications.  We want to be able to quickly and easily implement new service models like those offered by Bibliocommons, Aquabrowser, LibraryThing and others…and to easily integrate these with our ILS and each other.  I hope Innovative understands this need and will work with us.  If not, I fear for their long-term future…..

Bibliocommons - more on the social catalog

Last Friday David Campbell and Erik Adams and I had the opportunity to actually see what the folks at Bibliocommons are up to. We were blown away! In essence Bibliocommons has developed a replacement for the online library catalog that allows users to make meaning out of the catalog for themselves – for example by "tagging" catalog records using terms that are more meaningful to them than Library of Congress subject headings, or by writing reviews and synopses, or by creating lists that group books in a way that is meaningful to that individual reader – and then sharing what they have created in a way that allows others to make their own meaning. This interview with Beth Jefferson of Bibliocommons give some indication of how smart these folks are, and how much they really "get" what David Weinberger and others have been writing about – that the power of the Internet is not in the individual bits of information that it contains, but in the ability to create links and connections between the bits of information in a way that creates meaning. I love the idea that the role of the library is not "expert navigator" of information resources but as facilitator of community in a way that helps people make their own meaning from information. I also love the idea that the library can play a role in encouraging and supporting the large majority of people who do not currently participate in the so-called social to do so.

What an exciting time to run a library!

Rockin’ Readers

Here's something light for a Friday afternoon after a long week! Thanks Michael over at The Travelin' Librarian for sharing this on his blog!

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Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmetic

A month or so ago I went to a presentation on the economic outlook for our region, and was horrified to learn that over 90% of incoming freshmen at local community colleges need remedial classes in math.

Today John Bogert, a columnist in our local paper (The Daily Breeze), spoke at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast. He teaches a freshman writing class at El Camino College and told us that the vast majority of his students never read a newspaper (and may never have read one in their lives), and rarely if ever read books. Their writing skills are atrocious, and many think it is acceptable to write their papers in "text-ese" using symbols like @ and :)

As John said, these are not dumb kids. They are sharp, funny, and have made it through high school. They are also barely literate. Or, as he pointed out, maybe the English language itself is evolving (devolving?) at a very rapid pace and we will soon all think "Meet me @ the library." is an acceptable sentence. After all, @the library has been adopted as a slogan by no less a body than the American Library Association….

So what does it all mean for libraries?