PLA Blog

Unlike a lot of conferences, PLA has a nice long lunch break so you’re not racing to stuff your face. After lunch my friend and I walked the exhibit floor. Talked to the Playaway guys about how to deal with headphones and batteries. At our branch these things don’t circulate at all, but others seem to love them. Also talked to the Overdrive folks, and learned some very exciting news. They are beta-testing a Macintosh version of their Media Console, and hope to roll it out mid-summer. Now that audiobook publishers are agreeing to ditch the stupid DRM, patrons will now finally be able to use library downloadable audio books on their iPods! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told people about our downloadables only to see their excitement fade when I lamely tell them that it doesn’t work with iPods…

Next up  “How Branding Can Increase the Relevancy of Your Library” with Queens PL’s James Keller. (I was thinking about the “Weeders Attract More Readers” program, but last summer I did a big research project looking at the weeding in my system, and the handout for the program looked like it rehashed stuff I’d already studied.)

BTW, if you’re wondering about the weird timing of these posts, that’s because I’m writing them in a notepad, and then throwing them in the blog as my battery and wireless access allows.

From the preconference session Where Readers Go Books Follow: The Future of Audio Materials in Public Libraries:

Joyce Saricks and Mary K. Chelton, I worship you! But why was there no discussion about Digital Rights Management or how long it might be before librarians are able to provide access to digital audiobooks to patrons with iPods?

Audiobook narrator Scott Brick was very cool with faded jeans, untucked shirt, and tinted glasses!

When he first saw his name in a library catalog, Scott Brick called his friend and exclaimed, “Dude! I’ve made it!”

The reason why Scott Brick is an audiobook narrator can be summarized by a quote from Stephen R. Donaldson’s Lord Foul’s Bane: “A life without tales is like a sea without salt.”