Are you keeping up with new developments in electronic readers? Every once in a while I check in on what’s happening, hoping to soon be able to afford one of these nifty devices and see how I like reading the electrons. It just seems like the logical next step for the publishing industry: Create an appetite for downloadable books in audio formats; then, offer a comfortable handheld reading platform for people (like myself) who will always prefer the written word. Pubic libraries should be part of the mix, a la Overdrive-type services, when these pieces fall together into place.
The Sony Reader and the iRex Iliad have been non-starters commercially largely because the devices are expensive. They have some physical drawbacks as well, but competition is driving improvements. Amazon’s “Kindle” and Bookeen’s “Cybook” will be vying for consumers’ attention and dollars, supposedly in the near future. New e-ink technology is said to be as easy on the eyes as paper; response time and maneuverability are improving as well. The so-called “second paper revolution” is one of those transformations that is always just around the corner but never seems to materialize. Now, predictions are for generally affordable, satisfying readers to hit mass marketability around 2012.
Read a great article here on the history of e-paper technology, with current status of the industry and forecasts for use of the format.
I don’t often blog twice in one day, but when something comes along this good, it’s worth it.
Seth Godin, author of best-selling marketing books like The Dip, and the most popular marketing blog in the US, has put together 10 principals for making a great web site. Read them. Memorize them. Make your website redesign go more smoothly and be more effective.
Personal favorites:
3. Less. Fewer words, fewer pages, less fine print.
7. Insight is good, clever is bad. Many websites say, “look at me.” Your goal ought to be to say, “here’s what you were looking for.”
I was just reading over a new study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project on how patients with chronic conditions are using the Internet to educate themselves about their health care issues. The results are interesting (and a little scary), and provide some of the best evidence I’ve seen in a while for why librarians are needed to help people sift through all that’s available out there on the Web. Here are a few findings that grabbed me:
- 75% of e-patients with chronic conditions say the information they found in their last search affected a decision about how to treat an illness or condition, compared with 55% of e-patients who report no disability or illness.
- 31% of e-patients with chronic conditions say they felt frustrated by a lack of information or an inability to find what they were looking for online, compared with 20% of e-patients who report no chronic conditions.
- 65% of e-patients with chronic conditions say they check the source and date “only sometimes,” “hardly ever,” or “never.”
Question: How is your library helping health care information seekers?
Check out the rest of the study at http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/EPatients_Chronic_Conditions_2007.pdf
Yesterday, we hosted our first teen services institute, TeenTrax. It was a blast! Patrick Jones, *the* teen services guru in my book, started the day with a great reality check.
What do you call young adults in the library? By their names! It’s all about relationships, and you can’t have a relationship with someone if you don’t know their name.
How true!
Michele Gorman, the truly awesome Teen Services Manager at Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s ImaginOn, gave us some of the basics on doing Reference for teens, and followed up with practical approaches to creating programs that meet the developmental needs of teens. The thing that really blew me away is that she’s had her Teen Advisory Council assist in the hiring of three recent employees. The teens create questions and interview the candidates. That’s what I call radical trust. Best part….the results have been terrific!
Teen services is one of the hot topics right now, but I don’t believe it’s a fad or a ignorable trend. I think it’s a central part of the library landscape for years to come. I admit, I’ve never really had an interest in doing teen services in my relatively brief career, but being around people so passionate, it’s hard not to get catch the fever. I hope TeenTrax helped create the fever in a lot of people yesterday.
