Category: Web 2.0

Yesterday, I read an article in Salon about the value of libraries in today’s Internet world. The article says that libraries collect more than digitizable books and magazine articles and goes on to show the treasures of the NYPL (including a lock of hair from Mary Shelley). The part of the article I wanted to point out, though was this:

Today, those oak tables have power outlets and more than half the patrons are tapping on laptops. Yes, they have laptops and yet they’ve come to the library. Librarians (who are of course the most invaluable feature of any library) tend to bristle at the stereotype of their profession as a glorified shush patrol, and typically respond by pointing out the many, many community services libraries provide, from storytelling for children to multimedia resource centers for job seekers to gathering places for seniors. But let’s not totally discount the shushing, because a good library can also give its patrons something that’s getting harder and harder to find: quiet.

The fact that people with technology and with the money to purchase and use that technology still choose to come to the library. At my library, we don’t have a grand main reading room with oak tables and brass lamps, but we do have a wonderfully comfortable periodicals room that combines tables and comfy chairs for just about any work style. It’s a room in which we do use the librarian’s shush (most of the library is not shushable – it’s alive and people are talking and doing activities that don’t lend themselves to keeping quiet) and so it is perfect for people to settle down and work. At any given time in this room, there are people using their laptops in the individual laptop tables (conveniently located near power outlets) as well as people browsing the magazines that the library offers.
We have laptop space on the main floor too – also near power outlets – but that room is louder and more active – people are getting help from our Reference librarians and checking out books and running into friends in the middle of the room – it’s just a louder environment. For people who can work with distraction and activity, it’s fine – for the rest, our quiet reading room is ideal.
The Salon article points out a number of reasons why keeping the library as an actual physical place is advised – even for those who can afford the technology, finding a quiet place to work can be priceless.

When I started looking for a new phone, my son was quite clear – I didn’t need a fancy new (read, expensive) phone because I had an iPad. He’s concerned that if I spend all my money on me, I won’t have any left over for him. That’s a valid concern, but that’s a whole other post.
This post is all about my compromise phone. I really wanted the HTC EVO – all those fancy features and all that cool Android powered goodness appealed to me. The price tag didn’t. Even after my substantial phone upgrade discount, it’s not a cheap phone. Fortunately, a smaller, slightly less fancy (but with a real keyboard) model came out to save the day. The EVO Shift was a bit cheaper and it had a real, slide-out keyboard. I’m not a fan of software keyboards on tiny screens, so this was a big selling point.
I’ve had the phone now for almost a week and I have to say I LOVE it. I’m in the process of searching for my next car and having Evernote (snap a pic, enter the details of a potential new Robin-mobile, save to the cloud – priceless!), the Kelly Blue Book application (check the suggested retail price and reviews of any car I look at while standing on the lot – priceless!) and a beautifully designed connection to all my Google-y information (contacts and such, especially, for saving the numbers of all those car salesmen) is priceless.
I’m still in the process of learning the phone – my Dad called me the other day and I promptly hung up on him because it was the first call I’d gotten and I automatically swiped up to answer it. That was the action needed on my Pre. That, however, dismisses the call on my EVO. Oops! Other than the small learning curve ahead of me as I shift (pun completely intended) from my Pre to my EVO, I forsee no problems with this phone. It feels well made, its battery lasts longer than 5 hours at a time and it is FAST compared to my Pre. I’m definitely in like…

The book on Library Mashups, to which I contributed a chapter on the LibraryThing API, is available on the Kindle – for .26 cents less than the paperback. If those .26 cents have been holding you back from picking up a copy of this book (or if you are like me and a couple of my co-workers and have grown to prefer books in electronic formats), head over to Amazon and get yourself a nice clean e-edition!