For the past year, PLA has participated in a roundtable tasked with developing a system of public access technology benchmarks. Called Edge, this program is a set of benchmarks libraries can use to assess their public access technology and related support materials and advocacy tools. We had the opportunity to assess our work so far at two midwinter meetings.

On Saturday, during the ALA Midwinter Meeting, a public forum was held to update the status of the project and review the current benchmarks draft. I had the privilege, along with TechSoup’s Sarah Washburn, of leading three state librarians, a few independent consultants, and an IMLS representative in a small group discussion of the Engaging Community and Decision Makers benchmarks. These three benchmarks broadly deal with raising awareness and building a positive perception of the library as a community resource and were well received by the participants. One attendee said the current version was so much more than she expected. They also felt that with a little tweaking here and there, these benchmarks could be used in libraries as both an assessment of current activities and a planning tool. They did feel that the benchmark regarding partnership needed some work. It was too soft, especially in relation to the others, and not applicable to some libraries depending on their governance structure. We also had a more general conversation about the support materials. Everyone felt it would be necessary to get a thorough explanation of your score, along with some recommendations for next steps. This meeting was a great opportunity for us to hear from people who will actually use the benchmarks and gave us all confidence that, while we are not done yet, we are getting closer.

The entire roundtable met Monday. It was an intense day as we addressed a few major issues that need to be solved prior to a beta benchmarks release. When it was all said and done, we determined we need more input from you about the benchmarks and what tools would be most helpful in supporting their use. To that end, we will be opening up several feedback channels in the coming weeks. Please watch the PLA blog and enews for more information. If you and your library would like to be involved in the revision and review process at a deeper level, please let me () know.

Visit the Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) Facebook Page on Wednesday, January 18 at 1:00 p.m.(Central Time) for a Facebook Forum with Saroj Ghoting. Saroj is an early childhood literacy consultant and also has presented ECRR trainings. Be sure to join us for this informative hour-long conversation about the Every Child Ready to Read products and early literacy!

Some Guidelines
• Essays should be 150 words.
• Deadline to submit an essay is Wednesday, February 1, 4:30 p.m. (Central time).
• Send the essay to Kathleen Hughes, as a word document attachment to an email. Include your name, library school, and contact information.
• Use PLA 2012 Essay in the subject line.
• Winner will be announced on Friday, February 3.
Questions contact Kathleen Hughes – .

Do you have a great library literacy program that serves families or an innovative plan to start one? NCFL invites libraries nationwide to apply for the 2012 Libraries and Families Award, made possible by Better World Books. Three U.S.-based library literacy programs that serve families will win $10,000 each and scholarships to the National Conference on Family Literacy in 2012 and 2013.

Is your library literacy program making a difference for families? Do you have a unique and innovative approach? Both previously existing and new programs can apply. The online application deadline is 11:59 p.m. on February 6, 2012. Winners will be notified in late February or early March. Review the application criteria, and then submit your application!

A few facts:
An eBook is not a book.
A jpg is not a photograph.
An mp3 is not a vinyl record.

Digital media is fundamentally different from a piece of media bound by a physical or mechanical container.  The reason that digital rights management, the Harper-Collins 26 checkouts solution, or the Stop Online Piracy Act exist is because we insist on trying to find ways to make digital media fit within the same constraints we’ve become accustomed to for mechanical-era media.  We do this in order to preserve existing business models and the complex ecosystems that artists, publishers, and consumers have depended on so that everyone can make a fair living.  The problem is that successfully mapping the basic constraints of physical media onto digital media is no wiser an enterprise than making gold from graphite; it is futile and it impedes progress toward the evolution of a new, practical ecosystem for artists, publishers, and end users.  For that reason, I’m vehemently opposed to DRM, the 26 circ idea, and SOPA, all of which are similarly flawed solutions to the same problem differing only in scale and scope.

An eBook has more in common with a website or an app than it does a book.  Similarly, the nature of a text-only eBook bears more in common with a collection of digital images or a playlist of digital songs than it does a book.  Once media is digital, it has a different constraints and affordances than it did when it was in a physical container. There’s a closer constraint/affordance index shared between digital text, images, sound, and moving images than there is between any of those and their physical or mechanical counterpart.

Step away from that copy of John Grisham’s The Litigators that you are reading on your Kindle, and consider the true affordances and constraints of that file.  Forget the artificial constraints in place because of the system; leave behind intentional constraints applied by the author of the work, and think of nothing but the potential.  That “eBook” could be almost instantly copied and those copies could be transmitted across the globe at no cost.  That “eBook” need not remain a static work, it could be concurrently edited by many authors or other computers.  The contents of that “eBook” could be networked and intertwined with all other “eBook” content across the web; contextual metadata about chunks of that “eBook” content could be reused and repurposed to make other works.  Take a quick look at Small Demons as an example if that last sentence threw you for a loop.  I’d suggest that because the properties of digital media mean this can happen then eventually it will happen.  Everything eventually reaches it potential, in spite of artificial constraints.

So, when I look at the Nook, the Kindle, or even some of the eReaders on the market today that aren’t associated with their own content sales and distribution network, all I see are tools for lazy consumption that don’t take advantage of what “eBooks” can and eventually will be.  That’s A-OK, we all like to read, watch and listen passively to media and traditionally those are the activities public libraries have supported.  Still, I think the ROI is questionable at best for a library purchasing these gadgets, and I don’t think such a purchase is a long-term solution that accounts for the evolution of digital media packages and the myriad ways the public might be able to interact with digital media other than simply consuming it.  I’ve written a lot about my belief that a bright future for public libraries would be a robust commitment to community content production, rather than just the content consumption we support now.

In this transitional time, public libraries should aim for the future and invest in toolsets and programming that help their communities produce and participate in new digital works, not simply consume them.  To make something is to understand something.  If you build a radio from parts in your garage, you’ll have a very different relationship with every radio you listen to from that day on. A tomato you grow in your garden will always taste better than the tomato you bought from the grocery store, and you’ll develop a deep understanding of what that tomato is after you’ve nurtured its growth for months.  Every time you have tomatoes at a restaurant after you’ve grown your own you’ll have a different understanding of tomatoes; what they are, where they came from, and the potential they hold.  To help our communities taste better tomatoes, public libraries need media labs, hacker spaces, coworking spaces, expert staff, and a long term investment in technologies supporting community creativity.

This is all one man’s opinion with nothing but the best of intentions.  Feedback and criticism is accepted with a smile.

PLA training kits, authored by Sandra Nelson, tackle topics like stress management, time management, customer service and library advocacy. Designed to guide a half-day to day long staff training at the library, each kit includes: learning objectives, a detailed agenda, an engaging PowerPoint and companion script, discussion guidelines, an implementation plan, participant handouts and an evaluation form.

Titles include:

Customer Service: Balancing Rights and Responsibilities (ISBN: 978-0-8389-9731-4)

Libraries Prosper: A Guide to Using the PLA Advocacy Toolkit (ISBN: 978-0-8389-9713-0)

Stress Less: Taming the Tensions in Your Life (ISBN: 978-0-8389-8545-8)

Time Flies…But Where? Time Management Tips and Tools (ISBN: 978-0-8389-8563-2)

The price is normally $45 for each downloadable kit. The sale price is $27 for nonmembers or $22.50 for ALA members (after the 10 percent member discount is applied). Use promo code “wintersale11” to receive the discount. Purchase and download PLA Trainer Kits at www.alastore.ala.org.

You know they’re coming. Patrons and their brand new, fresh-from-the-gift-wrap e-readers. And they’re going to look to you for answers.

Be ready for the challenge by attending the next PLA Facebook Forum. For one hour, PLA will chat with Lynnette Hopwood, adult services senior librarian, and her e-reader savvy staff from the Fountaindale (Ill.) Public Library District. Learn about e-reader instruction ideas they’ve put into practice and get some ideas to bring to your library before the post-holiday rush arrives! Questions: .

PLA training kits, authored by Sandra Nelson, tackle topics like stress management, time management, customer service and library advocacy. Designed to guide a half-day to day long staff training at the library, each kit includes: learning objectives, a detailed agenda, an engaging PowerPoint and companion script, discussion guidelines, an implementation plan, participant handouts and an evaluation form.
Titles include:

Customer Service: Balancing Rights and Responsibilities (ISBN: 978-0-8389-9731-4)

Libraries Prosper: A Guide to Using the PLA Advocacy Toolkit (ISBN: 978-0-8389-9713-0)

Stress Less: Taming the Tensions in Your Life (ISBN: 978-0-8389-8545-8)

Time Flies…But Where? Time Management Tips and Tools (ISBN: 978-0-8389-8563-2)

The price is normally $45 for each downloadable kit. The sale price is $27 for nonmembers or $22.50 for ALA members (after the 10 percent member discount is applied). Use promo code “wintersale11” to receive the discount. Purchase and download PLA Trainer Kits at www.alastore.ala.org.

For more information about other PLA events and programs, contact the PLA office at or (800) 545-2433, ext. 5PLA, or visit www.pla.org.