Technolust

I want an Iphone. Yes, I'm a baby boomer, and I don't know html, and I can't usually understand the Windows popups on my computer telling me to do something, and only my kids own Ipods. But I want an Iphone. Right now, I carry around an MP3 player so I can listen to books on SuffolkWave. I carry around a PDA so I can keep track of my life which involves way too many appointments. And sometimes, I carry a digital camera, if I remember to stash it in my purse. So now, I have a very heavy purse. And still no access to the internet or my email.

Why an Iphone? It has high quality audio and video, a relatively large screen, a touch screen, a built in camera, access to music, and soon, access to SuffolkWave. And lots of memory. Also, you can interact with it using hand motions. Turn it sideways, and the page goes horizontal. Way cool. And here I am, planning a mobile conference, and all I have is my cell phone that sometimes let me use it to make a phone call. Hmmm. Could someone tell my husband that he could score a lot of points by buying me an Iphone?

Lee Rainie Keynote

Yes, Lee. We know you are charming and smart and love librarians. We appreciate that. Especially the results from the last Pew survey: LIBRARIANS ROCK.

But seriously, this is what fascinated me and leads right into the SCLS Handheld Libraries conference on April 22nd. 78% of Americans have cellphones. CELLPHONES HAVE TURNED AROUND THE INFORMATION DIVIDE. Cellphone owners are using their devices to connect wirelessly to the internet. Email is important to them, and THEY ARE USING THE INTERNET TO STORE INFORMATION using their cellphones.

So how can libraries have a no cell phone policy? People are talking on cell phones, and they are USING THEM TO ACCESS THE INTERNET, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY HAVE NO COMPUTER AT HOME!!!!

If you are not seeing this in your library, it may be due to the prevalence of the image above.

We need to wake up and smell the coffee, which by the way is Starbucks at the conference.

On the Road Again

This blog is officially 5 months old! Samantha and I set it up when we went to the Internet Librarian conference in Montery. Now it's on to the next CIL conference here in Washington, DC. We only got lost once. Thanks a lot Google. We made it with the help of two mobile devices in the car. Neither was a GPS!

There were so-o-o many people gaming tonight! Amazing seeing the variety of games and people. You can't tell a librarian from her appearance. The meekest looking of us sometimes has the biggest singing voice. Rock on!

My plan tomorrow is to begin by attending a session on Library 2.0 going local. Local as in local community information. I love it when I go to a library home page and there is abundant community information there. Sometimes that is the hardest to find. Check out the Darien Public Library's community blog: Darien Community Matters. Great stuff John.

PLA in Minnesota Brrrr

The weather was nice, cool and windy but no need for a parka and I only used the skyway once. Minneapolis is a nice green city with Hybrid buses and fairly accessible public transportation downtown.

Ok, now that I got that over with I wanted to share my favorite program and what I learned.

Really it's what I learned about myself..."Hi my name is Sam and I have Techno lust"... I want an iPhone....but i'll get back to that...

Technozoo was presented by Leonard Souza, President of Acidblue Ltd. The presentation was hands on and we were able to hold some of these new techno thingies in our hands. It was the first time that I had seen a Sony e-Book Reader up close and personal. It's amazing, the page refreshes to the screen and then the reader turns itself off and you stop using the battery power. The screen really looks like a page in a book.

Let me jump to the iPhone quickly because here is where I started foaming at the mouth! lol Apple is working on a deal with Starbucks that will let you order coffee from your iPhone...no waiting on the line...did I say want...no..."I need an iPhone"

Finally the other neat thing is Surface by Microsoft. Surface is an interactive table. Now why would you need an interactive table you ask? Well check out the Surface website. Surface should be introduced in Spring 2008...like now :)

Is your interest peeked? Well join us at System on the 22nd of April for Hand Held Libraries. This program will be highlighting some new handheld technologies and the implications for libraries.

Smithtown Library Bond

The Smithtown Library Bond Passed!
Yea!

3566 to 3184

Will libraries disappear in 2019?

Will libraries disappear in 2019? This question comes from the blog Trends in the Living Network written by Ross Dawson who created the Extinction Timeline which among other things predicts that libraries will become extinct in 2019. On a personal note I wondered when the last time Mr. Dawson worked a public reference desk? I worked one last Saturday and found that far from feeling the "extinction trend" we were extremely busy and not with just helping patrons get on the computers, but with everything from research to locating items in the stacks....but I digress. Mr. Dawson seems to have revisited his Extinction Timeline post a second time because The Slate has a slide show titled, Borrowed Time which asks the question, How do you build a public library in the time of Google? and discusses the Extinction Timeline,

Ross Dawson, a business consultant who tracks different customs, devices, and institutions on what he calls an Extinction Timeline, predicts that libraries will disappear in 2019. He's probably right as far as the function of the library as a civic monument, or as a public repository for books, is concerned. On the other hand, in its mutating role as urban hangout, meeting place, and arbiter of information, the public library seems far from spent. This has less to do with the digital world—or the digital word—than with the age-old need for human contact.

And Mr. Dawson's answer to the above,

Absolutely we are shifting into a world where experiences and physical interactions are becoming more important than ever. For example, shopping in shops will never disappear. We will create new spaces where we can meet and interact. We are yet to see whether the spaces where people spend their time are those based around books and collected information.

I bring this up because I don't think the sky is falling, I think things are just changing as they always have. Public Library Reference services today are not what they were 10 years ago...and were they really the same 10 years ago as the were 20, 30 or even 40years? What do you think?

Free them from their desks and laptops?

Yes!

Yale University Science Libraries have implemented the reference service "Txt a Science Librarian", this is offered in conjunction with their IM, Email and web-form reference service!

Michael Stephens' blog, Tame the Web has a post with Joe Murphy the General Science Librarian & Instruction Coordinator at the Kline Science Library describing how the Library offeres this service (they use iPhones) and,
"As instant message reference freed patrons from having to come to the library, text messaging reference frees them from their desks or laptops"

This service has limited hours and the number to text is not on public pages because Yale is only offering the service to students, faculity and staff.

The Microsoft Subsidiary Tell Me allowes you to text or call in your question and they'll text the answer back to you. Or there is the service Ask Me Now.

*Note SCLS will be holding a program Hand Held Libraries, which will be about mobile technologies like phones and PDAs April 22!