3M Cloud eBook System

General

Website for the 3M Cloud – Desktop apps, instructions, etc.

http://ebook.3m.com/library/patrons/

Can check out 10 books at a time.

All books are EPUB.  In talks with Amazon to include Kindle.

The readers are not renewable, not holdable, and not floating. Can only check out one at a time.  Should be returned where checked out. 

Books are checked out only when they’re downloaded.  Until then they’re only reserved – patron has the exclusive right to download them, but if a title doesn’t get downloaded within a certain time period (which can be set by SPPL), it goes back into the library and someone else can reserve it.

The 3M Cloud Library communicates with patrons through Messages to the patron’s account.  When patrons log in at the Discovery Station or an app, they get a notification that there’s a message waiting. Messages might include hold notices or something library-generated. Currently there’s no email option – the only patron data 3M stores is what is needed to query the patron database successfully; they don’t want to store anything else.  3M’s long-term plan is to come up with a system where they’d work with the library’s ILS and have the ILS contact patrons through standard library channels. A short-term fix might be to let patrons opt in for emails from 3M and provide an email address.

This is a beta, meaning 3M are looking for feedback so they can tweak and improve the system.  Please be generous with your constructive opinions. Send feedback to SPPLWeb@ci.stpaul.mn.us

SPPL’s Digital Library

The store has Channels, Lists, Categories, Search, and My Books.

• My Books shows what you have on your digital bookshelf – what you have reserved and what you have checked out.
• Channels are library-determined – newly added, popular, etc.  Some are automatically populated from our stats, some can be filled manually. 
• Lists show the channels in vertical list format as opposed to the horizontal ribbons of Channels. 
• Categories organize our books by subject. 
• Search … lets you search.  There is an option to only search for items that are available.

SPPL has the option of having the titles shown to include the entire 3M Cloud Library inventory or just what we own.  The entire inventory option gives patrons the Add to Wish List option that’s basically a request for purchase.  We can view the stats and use that data for purchasing decisions.  SPPL has chosen to show the complete inventory.  So patrons will see titles that SPPL does not own and are not available for check out. They will be clearly marked.

Click on the cover of a book to access its record.  If the green Check-Out bar is there, you can check out the title by clicking on the bar.  If it says Add to Queue, you can place a hold on it.  SPPL will set a length of time for items to be held for a patron.

The collection currently has a 90% overlap with Overdrive.  The other 10% are small publishers and 3M is working on adding them to their library.  3M is almost finished with the contract process with a large publisher Overdrive does not have access to, and that only beta users (that’s us) will have access to.  They’re also in talks with Penguin.

Apps

There are apps for Android and Apple smart devices available now through the respective official app stores.  There will be computer apps – for PC soon – they’re working out bugs - and Mac eventually, available through the 3M Library website.

The apps ask for your state, your library, and whatever basic info 3M needs to verify with the patron database – name and library card #.   You only have to provide this information once, after that it’s part of the app’s settings and is automatically applied on checkout.  These settings stay the same until deliberately changed.

You can have 5 devices per ID, and one ID at a time per app. 

You can return books early through My Books. Go to My Books in list view and you can choose from Continue Reading or Check In. My books is also where you select a book to read.

The apps will sync with the cloud and retain bookmarks, notes, and your place in a book.  If there’s no internet connectivity, there’s no syncing.  Notes and bookmarks stay in your account after you return the title.

The computer apps allow you to transfer a book to a reader via USB.  The other apps won’t. 

You can download 3M titles to any EPUB reader using the computer apps.  The software used in the library only allows downloads to the 3M readers.

You do need the Sony Library software on your computer to download books to a Sony reader.  3M is working on bypassing that.

The 3M apps only manage 3M books, not other EPUBs.

Discovery Station and Download Station

The 3M station has a scanner where patron can scan their barcode.

There’s a consistent interface between the Discovery Station and apps – they look and work the same.  The difference is that the Discovery Station only goes to the check-out/ reserve phase.  Patrons then go to the desk to download.  You can find a book, check it out, and download it through the apps.

The other half of the Discovery Station is the Download Station, software which is only on staff computers (one per library), and only usable with 3M eReaders, for now at least.

Log in with staff Cloud ID. Distinct possibility that each branch will have an ID based on the branch email.

There are two tabs – Load and Reset.

Load is for loading books onto the reader.  It asks for the patron information, and then accesses the patron’s virtual bookshelf to see what they have reserved.  Plug the reader into the computer.  Click the Transfer Books button. It doesn’t matter what order you perform these steps in. The station goes to the cloud, gets the books, wraps them in DRM, and downloads them. 

You have to transfer all the books on the virtual bookshelf – you can’t select some titles.  The patron can remove books from their bookshelf on the Discovery Station.

Reset is for when the readers are returned.  It erases all the books and returns any for which the due date has not passed.   If you forget to reset a reader, don’t worry.  Load automatically checks that it’s been done. 

Readers

There are 2 different readers – white w/keyboard and black w/out keyboard, and they have different cables. They are 2 competing designs that the beta test is being used to decide between.  After the beta test 3M will make a decision and go forward with only one.  3M wants input on the different designs, as well as on general patron usage issues with the system.

The readers are really locked down – all the features not integral to reading are unavailable – no wifi, no sound, etc. That means no syncing.  No messages – patrons have to access those on the Discovery Station.

We really want to stress to patrons that the 3M readers should only be used with the 3M system – i.e. the librarian-mediated system at the library. Books can be downloaded from another computer, but then the DRM dictates that all previously downloaded 3M books become unreadable. 

3M has no plans to market the readers separately from the Cloud system.

There will be a how-to manual for each manual both loaded on the readers and available separately.

Distribution of readers:

Central – 40 of style 1

Sun Ray – 30 of style 2

Arlington – 30 of style 2

Books can be found in the Digital Editions folder – on any device.

You can return books early on the apps, but not the reader due to lack of wifi. 

The readers will be most likely be checked out at the Mississippi desk at Central.

They can be charged by USB.

 This article can also be found in the Intranet at http://intranet.sppl.org/SPPLPortal/public-services/reference-information-services/information-services-council/ebooks-overdrive .

Melissa @ Central         

THE ALL-NEW PROQUEST

The Proquest database contains more than 1190 newspaper titles such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Over 1100 are full-text.

Four titles are of local interest:

• Star Tribune (1867-1922, 1986 - current)
• St. Paul Pioneer Press (2010 - current)
• St. Cloud Times (2002 - current)
• Sioux Falls Argus-Leader (2002 - current)

The historical New York Times from 1851 - 2007 is also included.

Proquest has a new, simple, “Google-style” interface. After a search is done, a plethora of limiters are available on the right-hand side. These include date, publication title, language, location, named person or company, document type (news, commentary, review), and source type (newspapers, wire feeds, journal). The default sort is relevance, but it can be changed to date. I especially like the bar graph showing dates, so you can see at a glance which date has the most results and limit to that time period.

There are also new options for sharing and managing results just above the results and on the right. With “My Research”, the patron can create a user name and password to save results in the cloud. They can email, print, create citations (APA, Chicago, MLA, Turabian, etc), and save to a flash drive (results can be saved as .pdf, .rtf or html).

Just below the search box on the right, there are options to save a search to “My Research”, get new results for a search by email, or create an RSS feed. You can also use “My Research” to save a public list. This could be useful if you have several documents you want to send to a patron, or for students working on a group project.

Within an individual article, the patron has the additional options of tagging it and sharing it to social networks. “See similar documents” gives you more options if one result of your search was much better than the others. For historical newspapers, there is also a “Page View” option that lets you see the article in context and click on other articles on that page.

The advanced search gives you two options: a guided search or a command line box where you type in your own Boolean terms. The “look up” options to the right of the “search option” boxes are helpful to make sure that your spelling of a person, place or company matches that of the database. There are many more document type options than the basic search: recipe, memoir, review (no longer broken down into book, movie, or play as in the old interface), speech, stock quote, obituary, etc.  

Obituary search is a new option on the upper left. The presenter mentioned that "remembering" is a good keyword to search for obituaries in the Star Tribune.
Proquest is a good source for international points of view, with publications such as The Guardian, Jerusalem Post, South China Morning Post, and El Norte. Some articles are in other languages, but clicking on “translate” provides a machine translation on most articles.



--Andrea @Central

BOOKS THAT MAKE GREAT GIFTS

I took the Nancy Pearl Gift Books webinar on Wednesday 12/07 and was delighted to hear about several books that I had not yet had the pleasure of reading. For those of you who have heard Nancy Pearl speak, I really don't need to elaborate. For those who have not had that pleasure (and there must be a few people who haven't yet heard her) she is an indefatigable and passionate Reader's Advisory advocate and omnivorous reader. Her recommendations are always thoughtful, covering a multitude of reading styles and genres, and even occasionally dip into children's material. Here is her list of suggestions:

http://tinyurl.com/6ofwqre

--Doris @Central

Shutdowns, Legacies, and Parks: Newly Acquired MN State Government Reports, Dec 2011

A sampling from the list of newly acquired MN state government reports, Dec 2011. 

State Government Shutdown Executive Summary
from Minnesota Management and Budget
     The causes, procedures, and results.

Driver Hand-Held Cellular Phone Use in Minnesota, June and August, 2011

David W. Eby, PhD, Jonathon M. Vivoda, MPH
     "The purpose of the present study was to continue tracking the statewide hand-held cellular phone use rate of drivers in Minnesota in order to better understand the exposure to this distracting activity."

DWI Repeat Offender Fund Expenditure Report, Federal Fiscal Year 2010

from MN Depts. of Public Safety and Transportation
     How much federal money is MN spending on repeat offender DWI reduction, and where does it go?

The Legacy Amendment: Evaluation Report
from the MN Office of the Legislative Auditor, Program Evaluation Division
     "In this early, general assessment of how the Legacy Amendment has been implemented, we identified the following four “ongoing concerns” facing the Legislature and the state agencies that administer the Legacy funds: (1) complying with the constitutional requirement that Legacy money be used to supplement, and not substitute for, “traditional” sources of funding; (2) finding a workable approach to limiting the use of Legacy money for administrative costs; (3) ensuring that conflict of interest concerns are adequately addressed; and (4) ensuring that the use of Legacy money will achieve the outcomes intended by the Legacy Amendment. We make various recommendations to help address these concerns."

Health Care Facility and Provider Database 
from the MN Dept. of Health
      "This database offers addresses, phone numbers, administrator names and state registration or licensure status for Minnesota health care providers. Federal certification classifications are also included. Provider types in the directory are boarding care homes, home health agencies, home care providers, hospices, hospitals, housing with services, nursing homes and supervised living facilities and other non-long term care providers. Providers can be selected by type, county, city or name."

MinnesotaCare:  An Overview
MinnesotaCare
both from the Research Dept., MN House of Representatives
     Brief and in-depth reports on MinnesotaCare.

Survey of State Estate, Inheritance, and Gift Taxes
from the Research Dept., MN House of Representatives
     "This information brief provides basic background information on the details of
state estate, inheritance, and gift taxes. The District of Columbia and 22 states,
including Minnesota, impose these taxes. Of these, 14 states, including
Minnesota, and D.C. impose estate taxes, six states impose inheritance taxes, and
two states impose both estate and inheritance taxes. Two states (one with an
estate tax and one with an inheritance tax) also impose gift taxes."

Minnesota State Parks and Trails: Directions for the Future:  Connecting People to Minnesota’s Great Outdoors
from Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Trails
     "The Legacy Amendment mandate presents an opportunity to develop the division’s direction over the next ten years, establishing priorities and broader strategies to protect and manage the resource base, develop and maintain recreational facilities, and better serve existing customers and reach out to new ones." 

MN Zoo:  2011 Report to the Community
from the MN Zoo

Enjoy!
Melissa@Central.

REMOVING LIBRARY BOOKS FROM THE KINDLE

If patrons are having trouble removing expired library book files from the Kindle or wish to return items early, please share this step-by-step tutorial:

http://www.tildee.com/YK6gNe



--Andrea @Central

HOW TO DOWNLOAD LIBRARY BOOKS TO A KINDLE

If patrons are having trouble downloading library books to a Kindle, please share this step-by step tutorial:

http://www.tildee.com/KBrYse


 --Andrea @Central

Which is better--the Nook, the Kindle or the iPad?

 Photo by Libraryman 

If patrons ask "Which is better--the Nook, the Kindle or the iPad?" A few opinions to offer...

A comparison chart: http://paidcontent.org/table/comparing-e-readers-and-tablets-november-2011

and brief reviews about the Kindle Fire: http://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=1604#m14081

--Karen H @Rice Street

Libraries' Mobile Future - Tech Breakfast

Libraries’ Mobile Future

Cody Hanson

U of MN Libraries, web development & user services

Mobile technology poses more challenges than opportunities to public libraries. He didn’t pose solutions during this presentation, because he thought it was important to discuss the challenges.

The Shift to Mobile

We’re at the beginning of a huge shift, also one of the quickest and one of the most important. Libraries ignore it at their peril.

The largest PC manufacturer in the world is Hewlett Packard (HP).

In August, 2011 HP announced they were getting out of the PC game.  It was changing too fast and was too competitive given the mobile revolution.  They were also spinning off their tablet business, when they arguably had the 2^nd most popular tablet, after the iPad. 

Leo Apotheker is not the CEO anymore.  However, the current CEO, Meg Whitman (former CEO of eBay) also says the market is really uncertain. 

If there’s any part of your business that relies on computing looking the same in 5 years as it does today, you need to rethink it.

Computers and internet access are wildly popular in public libraries.  However, that won’t continue to be true in the long run.

Everyday 100,000 are getting their 1^st smart phone.

Twitter, 6 May, asymco (Horace Dediu)  Asymco.com: Curated Market Intelligence 

ComScore survey says 587,000 Americans per week are switching to smart phones from non-smart phones. 

Twitter, 30 Aug, Horace Dediu

It took more than 20 yrs to grow the worldwide base of PC users to 600 million, smart phones got there in 8. 

Twitter, 7/12/11, Horace Dediu

As of 4th qtr 2010, smart phones outshipped PCs. 

The mobile revolution is not only faster than the PC revolution, but different.

Forrester Research reports that over 60% of corporate IT supports consumer technology - personal hardware owned by employees - partially because consumer tech may very well be more powerful than anything the corporation can afford to provide.  Also, many people prefer to use their personal device and connect to the corporate network instead of also carrying a corporation-issued device.

Mobile operating system (OS) development is now pushing PC OS development. Examples are Windows 8 and Mac Lion.

Mobile computing is having an incredibly profound and disruptive effect on PC computing.

Digital Divide:

There’s a different divide in mobile vs. PC.  

With PCs, the divider is race and income. The mobile digital divider is age.  Although 55+ is the fastest growing market for smart phones, so that may change.

According to the Pew Internet & American Life project April 26 - May 22, 2011 Black and Hispanic Americans are more likely to own a cell phone and use it to access internet than White Americans.

Many folks who primarily use mobile devices in their online life have internet PCs at home.

The upshot is that more and more people have access to internet.  The number of people we are serving with this service are an increasingly shrinking portion of the population as a whole.

Information Services:

Factors people balance when fulfilling an information need:

Availability

Authority

Expense

Libraries were well positioned to provide information services because we fulfill these criteria.  This was when we lived in a world of “scarce information and abundant attention,” according to LorcanDempsey. 

Now that we live in an environment of abundant information and scarce attention, high transaction costs equals low/no availability - Lorcan Dempsey.  People aren’t willing to pay a price (money, time or convenience) for information if they don’t need/want it badly enough.

Mobile computing fulfills those 3 factors. The possible problem is only getting access to good-enough sources, instead of the best, and most of the time it’s not worth searching out the best source.

Stat from Google: during evening hours, search volume from smart devices now exceeds that from PCs.  #thinkhealth

Twitter, Timoreilly

Circulation

Mobile devices are Trojan horse for eReaders.  You can have a large number of eReader apps loaded on a mobile device.

An Economist story from 9/10/11 says Ikea redesigned Billy Bookcase to be better showcase for tchochkes, ornaments - anything that is except books that are actually read. 

The Economist article also reported that in the first five months of 2011, sales of ebooks overtook sales of hardcover books. 

There’s a very limited license for ebooks – they are not bought and sold; they are leased.  Therefore, the first sale doctrine - once you buy something you have the right to sell it again- no longer applies. 

There’s currently only one vendor for popular reading ebooks – Overdrive.  Their catalog only contains three of the Kindle bestsellers, and less than ½ of the NYT bestsellers.

Clarifying terms – you can put an Overdrive book on Kindle, but you can’t borrow a Kindle book from the library.  They’re two different things, and even doing the former advertises for Amazon.  A sweet deal for them.

AMZN making sure Kindle owners are disappointed in their libraries.

Twitter, 9/21/11, ulotrichous (Eli Neiburger from Ann Arbor PL) 

Only most motivated users will use ebooks from libraries because, when compared to buying ebooks, borrowing them is fiddly and difficult.

Amazon (easy, with cost) competing with piracy (free, with hassle) - so the ease competes with low, low (no) price.  EBooks will make libraries = free, with hassle.

Eli Neiburger at the LJ/SLJ eBook Summit:  Libraries are screwed. YouTube, 9/29/10

Cloud services are more viable with the shift to mobile than they used to be.

Mobile tech is rapidly and extremely disrupting all content models.  Libraries are in the content business. 

There’s no motivation for econtent providers to partner with libraries.  When the price comes down far enough that people are willing to pay without thinking about it, we’re screwed. 

Publishers would rather sell than lease. 

Publishers don’t want to see their content devalued by giving it away for cheap or free.  Agency pricing was a result of this perception.  They want people to know a book is worth such a value.

Amazon pays publishers for a sale every time they lend a book through their new lending program.  Publishers are still setting up to sue Amazon for devaluing their product.

Who do you think might be the next target?

Advocacy

Libraries can play a role in advocating and educating on privacy and internet safety.  We should at least be thinking about the technologies we use and how they affect our patrons and the kind of example we’re setting.

More people are accessing internet with mobile but it’s currently lousy and expensive.  However, FCC’s net neutrality rule doesn’t apply to mobile.  

WhatismyIP.com - shows you your IP address, which travels with you and shows your location.  ELM uses it to locate you so you can access when you’re in Minnesota without using your library card.

QR codes are live - every time you read one you go through the service that encoded it.  So the service can track the use of QR codes.  This is a privacy issue.

Melissa @ Central

Science Fiction & eBooks Presentations @ MLA2011

At MLA 2011 I participated in 2 presentations, one on Science Fiction Readers Advisory, and one on eBooks. 

“To Boldly Go:  Fantastical Journeys through Science Fiction Readers’ Advisory” was my solo science fiction readers’ advisory presentation.  I started out by making the point that SF is literature, and, in many ways, SF RA is the same as any other sort of RA. Then I talked about how it’s different, and went through various science fiction tropes and subgenres.  In lieu of handouts, I created a blog, a Delicious account (mirrored on Diigo, due to Delicious’ recent upgrade), and a GoogleDocs page, all of which are linked here.  About 30 people attended, which is pretty good for 8:00 am, and the audience was enthusiastic and asked questions.

“E-books:  What’s All the EXCITEMENT About?” was the eBooks panel I participated in and moderated. We kept the discussion philosophical, and some of the topics discussed were what the panelists’ libraries are doing with eBooks, the future of print and eBooks, the library’s role in the future of eBooks, meeting patrons’ expectations, the library’s role in matters of patron privacy in the digital age, the availability of eBooks for lending and what are publishers thinking, anyway. The discussion was wide-ranging and enthusiastic, with lots of audience participation, and it was standing-room only.  We created a wiki including statistics, free eBook sources, and a bibliography of eBook resources. .

I also attended some interesting panels, including “The History of Copyright in 45 Minutes,” “RDA:  DOA or A-OK?  A Town Hall Debate” (on Resource Description and Access – the new cataloging system being discussed), "Things in a Flash:  The Latest Web 2.0 Tools," and the “50 in 60 Book Blast,” which covered Nordic thrillers, teen, contemporary women's fiction, fantasy and science fiction, and paranormal fiction and featured our own Barb Pierce and Jennifer Larson.  You might want to check out the MLA 2011 presentation materials. There was also fairly active tweeting and photo taking; check out the Twitter hash tag #mnlib11 and the Flickr photostream. 

Melissa @ Central.

(A version of this article also appeared in the November issue of Communique.)

RDA: DOA or AOK?

RDA:  DOA or AOK?

MLA2011
Town meeting. 

RDA = Resource Description and Access.  Proposed successor to AACR2. 

This panel was a town meeting of catalogers discussing the still-controversial RDA, and whether it would be implemented wholesale or abandoned.  As this took the form of a debate, the opinions of the presenters was divided, but they did poll the audience and said they’d let us know the results. I haven’t heard yet.  

First, what’s RDA?

Here’s a really good article from Reference and User Services Quarterly (RUSQ) that gives the basics of RDA and some of the implications for reference. ”Resource Description and Access (RDA):An Introduction for Reference Librarians” by Diane Zabel, Editor & Liz Miller, Guest Columnist.

 

The changes mainly have to do with the data model.  AACR2 is based on:

• Limited resources determining the method of providing access - catalog cards only provide description and carefully delineated access points. Space and access points were limited resources in the world of the card catalog and early computing, but are not any more. 
• Linear searching. In a card catalog, there’s a limit to the number of ways you can access an item – author, title, subject.  That’s not true in the current digital world.
• A lot of the semantic weight of a catalog card is in one place – the chunk of text that makes up the description.  Computers have a really hard time interpreting that because it’s not divided up into discrete data points.  Designed for humans, not computers.  

A few things RDA does differently:

• Designed with the user, not limited resources, in mind – richer searching, no abbreviations, all the creators listed, etc.
• Designed for use with the semantic web – data is divided into very small pieces and consists of data points and the relationships between them.  A name, and that name’s relationship to the item being cataloged, for instance. The point of the semantic web is that with the discrete data points and the relationships, the computer can understand the data better and create meaningful data blocks without specific instructions.  The semantic web is not here yet, but it’s coming.
• It’s a lot more flexible than AACR2.  AACR2 is still based on catalog cards, RDA is not.  RDA is based on a digital environment.

RDA has been a long time in development. The original meeting of what became the Joint Steering Committee for the Development of RDA  where RDA was proposed was in 1997, and we’re at a conditional endpoint.  We’re just coming off of an extensive testing program, where a number of libraries all over the country (including MNHS) tried RDA on a limited corpus of documents in real-life conditions. The final decision is that RDA will be implemented by the three national libraries – LC, National Agricultural Library, and the National Library of Medicine - not before Jan 2013, as long as certain conditions are met. Each library will need to decide whether to implement it or not. 

Most of the members of the MLA panel liked RDA, at least in theory.  They agreed that AACR2 has seen its day, and we can’t keep going on as we have been. The main issues the panelists had with RDA had to do with cost. Whether they were AOK or RDA was determined by if they thought the pros outweighed the cons.  Here are some of the points they made, pro and con.

• Pro: RDA is designed to work with AACR2, and theoretically, everything won’t have to be recataloged. 
• Pro: There is a team working on revising MARC.  Con: MARC is a legacy system, as far as the non-library world is concerned, and therefore a huge stumbling block. One of the panelists expressed grave doubt that RDA would work in any meaningful way with MARC.  MARC is a flat, rigid system designed to work with the computer technology of the late 60’s.  RDA does things the designers of MARC might have dreamed of. The panelist didn’t think MARC in any form would be sufficient – the basic construct is inadequate.  We need a whole new supporting software structure, and that means that not only would a new system have to be designed and implemented, but all records would have to be recoded, largely by hand.  MARC still has a lot of data in unwieldy chunks – physical description is all in one field, for instance – height, pagination, illustration, etc, and a computer would have great difficulty in picking it apart with any accuracy. 
• Pro: RDA is based on XML, and is designed for interoperability and data sharing outside the library world. Under AACR2 and MARC, libraries have all this great data that no one else can import in any usable fashion, and vice versa. A specific example given was that libraries might be able to import data directly from publishers so as to cut down drastically on cataloging time. 
• Con:  Current ILS systems wouldn’t be able to implement RDA to anything close to its full potential.  While RDA’s interoperability would mean ILSs would be far less specialized and difficult to build, the initial changeover would be expensive.
• Con: The expense of training
• Con: The extra expense of the RDA Toolkit, which libraries would need in addition many of the cataloging services they use now.

Melissa @ Central.

iPad Features

USING ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES ON THE iPad (or iPhone or iTouch for that matter)

I attended the class “What is an iPad?" at the Vision Loss Resource Center in Minneapolis (there is an office in St. Paul too).  I learned some very helpful information about accessibility features for those that have low vision and I’d like to share them with you.  This helpful information is taken from the teacher’s handout. 

1. The user guide for the iPad can be found in the bookmarks of the Safari web browser.  There is an entire section on how to use the accessibility options.

2. There are four accessibility features on the iPad (and other Apple mobile devices such as the iPhone and iTouch).
• VoiceOver that converts text to speech
• Zoom which enlarges everything on the screen
• White on Black which changes the screen from color to white on black (this is an easier way for some low vision people to read). 
• Large text which can increase the text size up to 56 point font but only in the mail and notes apps.

3. The accessibility features are turned on by going to the icon for “settings” on the desktop, selecting “general” and then “accessibility.”

4. VoiceOver cannot be used when Zoom is on and vice versa.  However, White on Black can be used with both VoiceOver and Zoom.

5. If you are a low vision user and want to toggle between VoiceOver and Zoom, it is recommended that you enable the feature “Triple-click Home” which can be turned on in the accessibility area of “settings.”  If you quickly triple click the home button, a dialogue box will pop up allowing you to choose either Zoom, VoiceOver or White on Black. 

6. VoiceOver has specific gestures associated with it.  These are different from what a sighted user would use.  These are described in the user manual but here are the basics:
• When you put your finger on the screen, VoiceOver will tell you what you are touching.  For example, if you touch the icon for the Safari web browser, it will say “safari.”  If you want to open the app, double click with one finger.
• VoiceOver usually reads text in chunks and puts a black rectangle around what it is being read.  If you want to scroll up or down a page, use a light three finger flick.  VoiceOver will tell you what page it is on.
• If you want to pause VoiceOver as it is reading, tap the screen once with two fingers.  Do the same again to resume reading from the point at which you stopped.  This gesture is extremely handy when you have headphones on and someone begins talking to you!
• To turn VoiceOver off, use a three finger double tap.  It will say “speech off.”  Use another double three finger tap to turn the speech back on.
• To have VoiceOver read an entire document, do a two finger flick upward near the top of the first page.  It will begin reading and not stop until it reaches the end.

7. Here’s the downside of VoiceOver – it works with all the apps that come pre-installed on the iPad, for example, the Safari web browser, iBooks, iCalendar, and notepad.  But it often does not work with third party apps that you buy from the app store, and you often have no way of knowing this until you have bought the app (fortunately many are free or only a few dollars).  Apple encourages its app developers to make them compatible with VoiceOver but many do not.

8. Here are some apps the teacher likes and that work with VoiceOver:
• iBooks – if you can buy it from the iBook store, VoiceOver will read it.
• NPR or National Public Radio app.
• Audible app – gives you access to a store that sells audiobooks.  You can buy them and immediately download them to your iPad.
• Dragon dictation – allows you to dictate e-mails and send them. 
• Read-to-go – this app links you to the Bookshare website and allows you to download any of its content:  books, magazines, newspapers.
• Bamboo paper – if you buy a special pen, you can take notes in your own handwriting on the iPad.  VoiceOver will not read them but with Zoom or simply large handwriting, the notes are easy to see for someone with low vision.

So now, go ahead and practice.  It takes a bit of getting used to but is quite fun to try. 

                                                                                                            - Deb Kerkvliet

Newly Acquired Minnesota State Government Reports Oct 2011

Hello!

The Legislative Reference Library has put out their monthly list of Newly Acquired Minnesota State Government Reports.

Here are some of special interest:

Shepard, Mark. Short Subjects: State Elected Officials' Compensation (Updated). Publication Date: October 2011.  From House Research.

Dyson, Deborah A. Classification of Cities (Revised). Publication Date: September 2011. From House Research

Chun, Randall and Danyell Punelli. Eligibility of Noncitizens for Health Care and Cash Assistance Programs (Revised). Publication Date: September 2011.  From House Research.

Stadium Proposal Risk Analysis. Publication Date: 2011. From Metropolitan Council; Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission.

Financing Education in Minnesota. Publication Date: September 2011.  From the MN House of Representative’s Fiscal Analysis Dept.

Department of Human Rights Case Management Summary Report. Publication Date: October 10, 2011.  Mandated by: 1997 Minn. Laws Chap. 239 Art. 1 Sec. 15 Subd. 1

Enjoy!

Melissa@Central

Government Documents Coordinator

EBOOKS: THE NEW NORMAL

The opening keynote of the web conference, Ebooks: The New Normal, gave us a view of the current state of the ever-shifting field of ebooks in libraries. Ian Singer, Library Journal's Vice-President, summarized their recent ebook survey:

• Public libraries have increased their library offerings 185% from 2010 to 2011. That is in spite of three major publishers, McMillan, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster, not offering ebooks to libraries yet.
• 26% of public libraries are considering circulating pre-loaded ereaders or other devices that can be used for ebooks.
• There has been 66% increase in requests for public libraries that don't have ebooks to carry them.
• 48% of public libraries not offering ebooks say they will within two years.
• General adult fiction, general non-fiction and bestsellers are the top 3 categories for public library ebooks, but children's fiction is increasing.
• 75% of public libraries say new users have been brought to libraries by ebooks.
• The top three barriers to patrons' library ebook use are: 1) They are not available for their device (may be changing, now that library books are available for Kindle); 2) Downloading is too hard; and 3) Waiting lists are too long.

The keynote panel then identified some of the main issues libraries have around ebooks:

• We may go for the cheap fix without thinking first.
• Libraries sometimes have restrictive purchasing policies-- purchase orders may not be an option with ebooks.
• The stakes are high-- libraries don't want to pay a lot of money if something will be obsolete in a year.
• There is no digital rights management standard for ebooks, which leads to access frustrations.
• Patron & library concerns are different -- they may be more concerned with easy access than privacy.
• Libraries increasingly license rather than buy.
• We need to design virtual spaces as well as physical spaces--Ebooks don't always come with catalogs that are great for searching and discovery.

John Palfrey, Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School, talked about his work on the Digital Public Library of America. The DPLA is a work in progress. They are trying to create a national digital library that would preserve our cultural heritage without being controlled by a for-profit entity such as Google. Other countries are ahead of us in this kind of project. DPLA is trying to create a Wikipedia-like community and encourage collaboration. They envision going across the country to digitize libraries' unique local collections in an RV called a "Scannabego". Computer software companies like Apple and Microsoft are already on board, but DPLA is trying to get more publishers involved, so they can create the right balance between access and copyright.  This article describes some of the issues around the DPLA.

In the program Ebooks: Strategy (not) Required, public librarians discussed their system's ebook strategies.

The King County Library uses browsing lists such as New York Times Bestsellers List and NPR reading lists as ebook discovery tools. They are committed to a 3:1 hold ratio. King County subscribes to Baker & Taylor's Axis 360. They like it because it is device-neutral, has audio and video, is good for picture-intensive titles like picture books and e-books, and they find the Blio software easier to use than Adobe Digital Editions. The main drawback is that it currently works on tablets, computers, and smartphones only, not on ereaders. They are working on having ePub files for ereaders soon--no word on the Kindle format, however.




The Richland County Public Library is very big on training and outreach, as they feel the greatest barrier to ebooks is patron ignorance of availability. They go out to businesses such as restaurants with a mobile lab containing a Nook, iPad, Kindle, mobile Internet hotspot, and laptop and do ebook training. Richland County uses volunteers for some of the training and partners with nearby libraries. They also have "gadget galleries" with coffee and treats, where patrons can try out devices. This training has increased their circulation of ebooks. Richland County is also interested in the 3M Cloud Library because it provides ereaders to check out as well as ebooks.

The Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library is taking a look where their circulation is falling and buying ebooks instead. We have always had to replace old formats with new--compact discs replaced LP's, DVD's replaced videocassettes, the Internet replaced the need for international newspapers and some types of reference books. They have found that patrons read different types of books on e-readers--they may be embarrassed to be seen with a lurid romance cover, but there are no covers on Kindles. Indianapolis-Marion County has not seen a decrease in the hold list for print books, just a total rise in circulation as ebooks are added.

 


I will leave you with some quotes from the conference's chat and Twitter to think about:

"Only 9% of ebook audience think about going to the library. How are we going to make ourselves relevant for digital content?”

"Crazy that publishers don't even know that librarians are doing the best market research - Readers' Advisory research.”

" We are dealing with a patron population that may be more tech savvy than our staff."







A recording of this conference will be available on the Intranet until January 12, 2012.

--Andrea @ Central

The Consumer Protection Financial Bureau

Hello!

The Consumer Protection Financial Bureau (CPFB), mandated by The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, has officially opened. If patrons come in with financial questions - student loans & debt, mortgage issues, or simply want help with financial planning and challenges, this is a good place to go for information.

Also, we have a local connection; Skip Humphrey is the head of the Office of Older Americans for the CPFB. There's also an Office of Servicemembers.

Enjoy!

Melissa@Central.

History of Copyright - MLA2011 Presentation

History of Copyright

Nick Lavely

Reference Librarian

Metro State.

Copyright is an agreement - the creator can have all the proceeds from her creation for a while, but society want free access after that.

The Past:

Plautus - 1st person to insist on being payed for using his work.

1710 - British Statute of Anne - very similar to a lot of current copyright law.

Each American Colony came up with their own copyright law. This was a very important issue to the colonies. There is, in fact, a copyright clause in the Constitution: “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”

1790

With the first congress came the first copyright law. Closely modeled on the British Statute of Ann.

• Covered maps, charts, and books.
• No prior materials were covered – created a public domain.
• Term was 14 years - renewable once for another 14 years.
• Requirement for a depository copy held by the Library of Congress.

1831

• Widows and children could renew.
• Term grew to 28 years, renewable once for 14 years.

1870

• Expanded author’s rights to include translations & dramatic adaptations.
• Included photographs - the hot new technology.

1906 - 1907

• Congress debated perpetual copyright. Mark Twain was a big fan.

1909 – New copyright law.

• Introduced corporate authorship and works-for-hire copyright.
• Term 28 years renewable once for another 28 years.

The Corporate Authorship and Works-for-Hire clause gave publishers (like newspapers) and production companies (like movie studios) the ability to own the rights of everything that was created under the auspices of their companies. It took away the automatic right for the creator to own what they created, which had previously been assumed by copyright law. All studios took advantage of this. D. W. Griffiths used employment contracts to force creators to sign away rights. It corporatized creativity.

“Authorship could not be considered mystical or romantic after 1909. It was simply a construct of convenience, malleable by contract.” (‘Copyrights and copywrongs: the rise of intellectual property and how it threatens creativity’ by Siva Vaidhyanathan, 2003, p. 102.)

1912

• Amended to include motion pictures.

1952

• Amended to include lectures, sermons and performance of nondramatic literary works.

1971

• Amended to include sound recordings.

New technology = new copyright law.

In this period congress would keep expanding copyright for 3 years when necessary so nothing was entering the public domain. This is messy; it creates a lot of orphan works, questions as to what was actually renewed, who has right to claim, etc. Hard for creators to keep up with.

1976 – New copyright law.

• Included any media known or unknown
• Established Fair Use and the 5 Rights of Copyright Holders
• Established library archive rights.
• Registration not required
• Term: life + 50 years, 75 years for works made for hire.

The 5 Rights of Copyright Holders are:

• To reproduce
• To prepare derivative works
• To distribute - sell, rent, lease or lend
• To perform publicly
• To display publicly

4 factor test of Fair Use from Section 107 of the Copyright Act:

• Purpose and character of the use – how creative? Fictional or Factual?
• Nature of the copyrighted work
• Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
• Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Fair use is determined by case law not public law (law made by the legislature and signed by the president).

Offers restricted rights for copying, distribution, book to movie - make own version

It’s all right to consume media - borrow from library.

Fair use can encompass commentary, parody, limited educational use. It’s nebulous.

Library archiving - Single copy (not digital) for purpose of law

The default is - copyright on. Fair Use switches the paradigm.

Arguments to extend copyright:

• 56 year term is not long enough for an author and their dependents to gain the economic benefits.
• Life expectancy has increased.
• Growth in media has made older media more popular.
• The public already pays for public domain materials.
• Renewal process is time consuming.

1988 - Sonny Bono copyright extension.

• Steamboat Willie (earliest Mickey Mouse cartoon) was about to come out of copyright.
• Copyright holders – with Disney in the forefront, got copyright extended by 20 years.

Nothing new will pass into public domain until 2019.

The copyright agreement is out of balance.

Now

1998 - DMCA

• Signed by President Clinton.
• Works side by side with copyright.
• Limitation against reverse engineering & defeating DRM.
• Anti-circumvention rules.
• Fair use is not a defense.
• Term: ?

Library archiving - Section 108 update - 3 copies, digital; can copy the work if original format becomes obsolete.

What’s obsolete? 8-track is not an obsolete format, nor are LPs - as long as you can find something to play it on, it’s not obsolete.

Basically the DMCA means perpetual copyright as long as a lock exists.

Chilling effects:

• On research, publication, and journalism.
• On legitimate and/or fair use.
• On competition and reverse engineering.

Copyright/DMCA being used as a sword. People are using the DMCA to force removal of unfavorable comments. It’s easy to subvert fair use.

“It appears that the copyright laws are being used as part of a massive collection scheme and not to promote useful arts.” Judge Bernard Zimmerman

Medical Justice is a company that does medical forms. One of the forms you fill out at your doctor’s office might be one of their forms saying that if you review your doctor online, you give up your copyright on the review.

Current academia cases:

• Cambridge U Press v. Patton - Publishers are suing Georgia State University due to the amount and accessibility of content on eReserve system.
• Ambrose Video Publishing vs. University of California - Publishers are suing UCLA for copying a DVD and streaming it to students.
• Authors’ Guild et al vs. Hathi Trust - AG is suing a consortium of universities for sharing digital copies of their works, even though there’s lots of security in place to make sure there’s no access to the full text.

EBooks

• Overdrive, HarperCollins and the 26 loan cap.

There’s a loss of control at all levels. Licensing agreements are also used to subvert copyright laws and rights.

The current use of copyright is locking down our culture.

GoogleBooks (GB) is a fair use case.

• GB changes the paradigm and provides non-linear access by searching the whole card catalog – indeed the whole collection - for a term simultaneously. Highly transformative and does not supplant the need for the original.
• GB is basically creating an index, it is not creative.
• GB requires entire book to be scanned, but the database is secure and only a small portion is shown if copyright is an issue. It’s similar to a quotation. Snippets are not likely to effect purchasing. No need to prove absolute zero damage. Publishers have seen financial gains on GB.

The GB Settlement:

• Will give Google a de facto monopoly
• Setup is similar to ASCAP or BMI without the government controls
• What about library access? Licensing? Orphan works? $150 million immediately? No government oversight? It doesn’t address a lot of questions.
• It was settled out of court.

Afterword

American judgments are way out of proportion to the crimes:

• Sony BMG v. Tenenbaum (student) - He was sued for $675,000 for pirating 31 songs.
• Capitol vs. Thomas - as high as 1.92 mil for 24 songs. This is still in court – decision coming down.

Sweden – someone paid 30 dollars for pirating 24 songs. Much more reasonable.

7 things Google isn’t censoring.

Millions of people have a direct stake in copyright law.

48 hrs of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

Since 1909, copyright law has encouraged lawyers for publishers, record labels, motion picture studios and distributors to write law that has benefited them.

ACTA - Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement:

• Taking DMCA global.
• Removing safe harbor exceptions unless ISPs enforce three strikes policy.
• Notice and takedowns.
• Mandatory prohibitions on breaking DRM, even for fair use purposes.
• Brings in the government to enforcement private rights – which is ridiculous.

The agreement was passed on 9/30/11 without ratification, going through the Senate, or going to the people.

Wikileaks ha shown how the US has influenced copyright in other countries.

The UK wants to extend copyright for 20 years – The Beatles’ copyrights are ending soon.

It’s all being settled out of court. Nothing is going to court.

--Melissa @ Central