LibraryPlanet.com

Remember all the discussions years ago about Earth’s Largest Library?
bq.What if there was a library which held every book? Not every book on sale, or every important book, or even every book in English, but simply every book–a key part of our planet’s cultural legacy. First, the library must be on the Internet. No physical space could be as big or as universally accessible as a public web site. The site would be like Wikipedia–a public resource that anyone in any country could access and that others could rework into different formats. Second, it must be grandly comprehensive. It would take catalog entries from every library and publisher and random Internet user who is willing to donate them. It would link to places where each book could be bought, borrowed, or downloaded. It would collect reviews and references and discussions and every other piece of data about the book it could get its hands on. But most importantly, such a library must be fully open. Not simply “free to the people,” as the grand banner across the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh proclaims, but a product of the people: letting them create and curate its catalog, contribute to its content, participate in its governance, and have full, free access to its data. In an era where library data and Internet databases are being run by money-seeking companies behind closed doors, it’s more important than ever to be open. So let us do just that: let us build the Open Library. – Open Library This could be something to pay close attention to.

There are those who have some concerns about a new program being offer to libraries by the Orange County Library System.
bq.Why? It’s not because OCLS has launched their own webinar series for staff — OCLS really should indeed do this and share their successes, because they are seriously doing some awesome stuff with e-learning and online training. — but because in the greater spirit of collaboration and sharing among peers they are charging a hefty (at least for most smaller libraries) sum for it. – Helene Blowers Ordinarily, I would agree. But these days, I am having to deal with just the same sort of funding issues that Orange County is experiencing.
bq.Local governments across Central Florida are working to rebalance their books because of property tax cuts. On Tuesday, Orange County leaders will debate potential plans, although they have already said next year there will be no new construction of parks or fire stations. In many counties, including Orange County, some road-paving and road-widening plans would probably be delayed, including plans for commuter rail. – Central Florida News Which, although isn’t mentioned in that article, is carrying over to the Library.
bq.How Will Property Tax Reform Affect Library Service? That’s a good question but impossible to answer since there is no way to predict the outcome of the upcoming special legislative session in June. Like other tax supported services throughout Florida, the Orange County Library System is uncertain whether or how it will be impacted by any changes in the property taxes. The Orange County Library System is primarily funded from property taxes, and 85% of the current year’s budget comes from this source. Further, the Library has limited options to raise significant revenues from other sources. Although the size of the reduction in tax revenues is unknown, we must prepare for a variety of possible scenarios and potential impacts that is very likely to result in a reduced budget for the Library. – Mary Anne Hodel Do I think that it is a good thing for them to charge for this sort of program? No. Do I understand why they are? Yes. If you pay attention to Florida Libraries over the next few years and things don’t change, expect to see a lot more of this sort of thing.

If you’re library is going to be doing something like inventing a new shelving scheme in order to seem, like, really cool, why not do something, likely, really radical and re-engineer your very shelves?
bq.The Gravity Bookshelf is a piece of furniture with a design that you’ll love or hate, but either way you can’t deny its inherent practicality. By bending the plywood shelves so they appear to be coming out of the floor, designer Leo Kempf ensured that any books (or, say, DVDs) that you put on it won’t fall over, with no need for any bookends. Kempf also designed the shelf to be easy to assemble, sliding the plywood shelves into slots on the hardwood main beam. – Peter Pachal I am sure your patrons will be bubbling over with… appreciation.

Is the Dewey Decimal System going the way of the dinosaur?
bq.When the new Gilbert library opens next month, it will be the first public library in the nation whose entire collection will be categorized without the Dewey Decimal Classification System, Maricopa County librarians say. Instead, tens of thousands of books in the Perry Branch library will be shelved by topic, similar to the way bookstores arrange books. The demise of the century-old Dewey Decimal system is overdue, county librarians say: It’s just too confusing for people to hunt down books using those long strings of numbers and letters. Dewey essentially arranges books by topic and assigns call numbers for each book. – Yvonne Wingett Some librarians certainly think so.
bq.Bookstores are far from perfect, but we have to remember that we are dealing with a public that has a certain level of expectations when it comes to dealing with a retail outlet (which is exactly what a public library is, like it or not!). We don’t have to fit each one of those expectations, but if it brings what we have to offer into the user’s comfort zone a little more, then why not? All I see that doing is increasing access and use in the long run. If, for some places like the Gilbert Library, that means letting go of old Dewey, then so be it. – Emily Clasper In my library, we encourage our patrons to use the public access catalog stations in order to locate a particular book. Some people use them easily and other require extra assistance which we are always happy to provide. It comes down to the fact that either the patron or a staff member will locate the work in question. To say that patrons can’t find things because of “long strings” is just silly to me. I would be the last to say that DDC is perfect. But it has worked pretty well for 131 years and survived numerous technological and cultural changes in the process. I certainly don’t feel that I have the ability to invent something better and really question anyone who thinks they can without a great deal of thought and effort. I fully expect it will not be too long before Gilbert announces their experiment has failed miserably and switches back.