Tinfoil + Raccoon

Thank You, Mr. Sauer, You'll Be Missed

(also cross-posted at ShiftJournal)

Late last week, a local friend posted on Facebook that retired Central High School teacher Jim Sauer had passed away. This made me more than a little sad because Jim had become a daily fixture at the library. I'm not sure that any of my other colleagues knew who he was, unless they were Central alums, because he was just another of those older gentlemen who came early and stayed late, reading newspapers and magazines for hours, and maybe resting their eyes for a few minutes. But, aside from missing a friendly daily patron, Jim--Mr. Sauer--was one of the first people who made me know that I had made the right decision to pull up stakes and move my girls away from the place where they had been born and raised.

We moved here in June, and it was the first fall of classes for my girls. My oldest daughter, Olivia, (Juniorette, to you long-time readers) was a sophomore in high school when I got a call at work. It was School calling. It was Mr. Sauer, Olivia's Psychology teacher, calling during school hours. He got right to the point: "Is there something wrong with your daughter?" Immediately, my heart jumped to my throat. I mean, Olivia had Asperger's Syndrome, but we'd had a meeting at the beginning of the school year with a counselor, Vice Principal and a few others, and everyone was to have gotten the message, and even though we had some bumps, I'd never gotten a call like this. "What do you mean?" was all I could ask.

As it turns out, Olivia had been handing back all of Mr Sauer's handouts, quizzes and tests with corrections on them. She was not a behavior problem, but she was kind of challenging him occassionally if she thought he misspoke and was behaving in a way that students generally did not behave towards teachers. I asked, "You do know she has Asperger's Syndrome, don't you?" He said he'd had no idea, and that in that context her behavior made perfect sense. He then went on to praise her as the top performing student out of all three of his Pyschology I classes, and found her to be very insightful and appreciated her presence in his class. WOW. No lecture on appropriate behavior and no petition to have me talk to her about how to defer to the teacher. Just pure praise and understanding. I had waited 10 years to find teachers like Mr. Sauer.

Olivia showed me some of the handouts, and I understood why she corrected them. They were a challenge to her Aspergian need for grammatical and punctuational perfection. I talked to her about how not everyone has the same skills--even teachers aren't perfect. For instance, we can't math ourselves out of  a paper bag. I explained that there are kinder ways to correct people as well. I also explained that she should be grateful to have a teacher like Mr. Sauer and that some teachers would have reacted differently, maybe even punitively. This was, very thankfully, the beginning of a mostly very positive experience for her at Central. 

I had no idea just how beloved Jim Sauer was when I first talked to him. As we've been in the community for five years now, I have since learned that he wasn't going out of his way for us, a new family with special needs on that one day. He was a teacher, and that's just what he did every single day. I'm so glad I got to meet him and thank him personally for his kindness to us. Acts such as that are immeasurably meaningful. Thank you Jim, and teachers everywhere. James George Sauer obituary.  Facebook group: We Love Mr. Sauer!

Serendipity is Not Quantifiable

On the back of our statistics sheet, we jot down a few reference questions every few days. We've been doing this for about two years for a couple of reasons. For awhile, it felt like all we were doing was looking up phone numbers and logging people on to computers, and frankly, that was kind of depressing. Thankfully, we've fixed the computer issue with technology and friendlier policy. We also wanted to be able to present our board with a more narrative version of our work, should they need or want it. I've poked through enough literature, lists and discussions to know that few people are convinced that their statistics are truly reflective of the work they do. We've talked, as a team, about changing our stats, but those discussions have never gotten traction. Instead, we've enhanced them with narrative.

The types of questions we write down tend to be the type that showcase our mad skillz as reference pros--the type that will make the board think, "by golly, they're earning their keep!" The questions probably aren't any big deal to you reference types or to Google-fu brown-belters, but I think they show our value to the community beyond logging people onto computers or looking up phone numbers. Here's a selection from the first half of this year:

• Information and pictures of hotel decor in 1970s
• I am giving a workshop on travel for older people. What resources do you have?
• What is the American Dietetic Association's position on white mushrooms as far as functional foods are concerned?
• How much does a family of four spend of food in a week in La Crosse?
• Wisconsin rule & law for juveniles who are living in residential institutions
• Strange things are happening in a home in XXXXXXX.  Can you tell me if anything happened here that make it haunted? (This is actually a pretty common question that our Archives Department fields.)
• Current books on how to approach venture capitalists.

So, these are reasonably meaty questions, and I know that staff spent a good amount of time on them. They are questions that show our expertise and our continuing relevance as a department, because, as we see on a daily basis, most people can't Google their way out of wet paper sack.

But, that's not what this post is about. I got a reference question from a young man yesterday, the likes of which is not on the sheet of tracked reference questions. It was so simple that I was able to answer it off the top of my head. And it was so amazing that it made my heart nearly burst with joy. This is the first week of summer vacation, so we've had a lot of young people in the library. He looked to be high school-aged, but could have been in college. His question?  "Do you have a poetry section?" Since he was student-aged and a boy, I assumed this was a forced march for him, so I asked him if he was looking for something in particular--maybe even a particular poem (which I would have tried to Google for him). "No, I just want to browse."  Just. Want. To. Browse...Poetry?  I kept my cool. I probably smiled a little too broadly, but calmly directed him to 811 and let him do what libraries have let patrons do for decades: provide him with the non-commercial experience of leisurely browsing and discovery. Of picking a starting spot, angling his head, and scanning a shelf, maybe several, before something popped out. Maybe it's a familiar author from a class that makes him pull a book from the shelf. Maybe it's a marvelous title. Maybe it's a jacket blurb. Or maybe, like a lot of us, he judges books by their covers. (This is still how I select much of what I read, browsing the recent arrival shelves, and it's the part I like least about my e-readers.)

My interaction with this patron shows up in my reference tally as a "D" ("Desk"), and hopefully, if we've done our job as selectors, it will show up in the circ stats with whatever he's checked out. But what lies in between, whatever happens in the stacks, only Ranganathan knows. That's pure serendipity. And serendipity is not quantifiable.

 

Ereaders, Overdrive Compatibility, Libraries as Digital Content Ghost Towns

This past Saturday, I stopped by the nook kiosk at Barnes & Noble so that I could chat with the sales rep and better explain exactly what the library had to offer from Overdrive. We’ve had a few patrons who’ve said they were told by BN sales staff that they could find TONS of free books at the library. While, technically, this is true, if you count the public domain content, most people were already force-fed the classics at some point during their formal education and want something a little more current.

Pro tip: It’s not a good idea to engage retail employees on the Saturday before Christmas. Especially one who is hawking THE HOT ITEM ON EVERYONE’S CHRISTMAS LIST at a kiosk in the entry of a mall anchor store. What I mean to say is, Holy cow, that joint was jumpin’!  I waited at least ten minutes to get the guy’s attention. In that ten minutes, he sold at least two nooks, and lost another customer who decided to come back later. Other people stood and listened--there was kind of a county fair/veg-o-matic vibe to the scene. Finally, I saw a break, jumped in and introduced myself as someone from the library who wanted to make sure BN staff understood exactly what we had to offer, since I wasn’t sure the right message was getting out. We barely got started when more customers came up to the kiosk. I stepped back and let him work. After about five minutes, I gave up and went browsing. I came back about 20 minutes later and managed to catch him in between customers and we ended up having a great chat.  

He’s already a library user, but wasn’t really familiar with Overdrive except on a basic level. So, I gave him the talk that I’ve been giving all the patrons who are smart enough to come to us before buying an e-reader.

Are You Really Ready to Buy an Ereader?: Overdrive-Compatible Version

First off, Kindle does not work with Overdrive. Sometimes, though, a patron will leave after a discussion having decided that a Kindle is the best choice for them. These are people who: a) Do not mind paying for content; b) Do not care about closed, proprietary format; c) May not be very tech savvy and/or want something very easy to use and; d) Want a wealth of content to choose from. There’s a reason why Kindle makes up the bulk of the ereader market. I have questions to help patrons get to the Kindle/Overdrive/forget-it point, but this post focuses on the Overdrive/forget-it questions. Overdrive does a good job of keeping their page of compatible devices up-to-date: http://www.overdrive.com/resources/drc/compatibleebookdevices.aspx.  This post also does not address the issue of what kind of Overdrive-compatible ereader is best.

Once it’s established that a patron is wedded to an Overdrive-compatible device, the first question I ask is: What kind of reader are you? Are you a voracious reader? Are you a discriminating reader, or will you read anything? Do you want hot titles or do you really like the classics?

After this, we co-browse the Overdrive interface and look at what is available. Winding Rivers Library System currently only participates in the statewide Overdrive resource.* As of this writing, there are only 1262 ebook titles available to the entire state of Wisconsin. If you click on “currently available eBooks” that number goes down to 149--usually the same titles every time--”Blueprint Reading,” “Careers in Engineering,” and several series of graphic novels. There also tend to be high numbers of holds on the popular titles.

While co-browsing this list, I tend to see a lot of wrinkled noses and dismayed looks, which is when I deliver what is probably the deciding phrase: “for you to get really good use out of an ereader, you’ll probably end up buying a lot of the content you read for the next couple years.” For people who already buy print books, this is no big deal. But for people who rely on the library for free books and other content (or who are considering an ereader for someone else), this is a patently unpalatable idea. It’s at this point where people go, “what the heck, I’m in” or decide that it’s not the right time to take the digital plunge.

The reactions of those who decide it’s not time are varied. Some are deeply disappointed because they had been led to believe by all the hype that it was something that it clearly is not. 1200 books is not a digital revolution. Some seem a little relieved because they were on the fence. The one common reaction is that everyone has been grateful for the honest discussion about the situation. I encourage everyone to check back with us in six months--on the Overdrive page or to friend us on Facebook--for updates on the situation. I tell them that it will get better. I apologize for not being able to deliver awesome service this way, the same way we can in other ways.

As a member of the state Overdrive ordering committee, I can tell you that there’s an effort to get as much new content into the state Overdrive system as soon as possible, given budget and other limitations. Libraries and library systems came up with $20,000 for a year-end challenge match, knowing that Santa is going to be delivering a lot of ereaders this Christmas, and another big order will be made in January. Unfortunately, the discounts for ebooks are not there as for print books, so the money doesn’t go as far. The other limitation, which I discovered when venturing into the Overdrive catalog as a first time selector, is that content is much more limited. I decided to focus on teen titles and started out with Amazon “best” and “bestsellers” lists, since I’m not up on teen titles. I wish I’d kept track of hits and misses, but my guess is that less than 30% (and probably more like 20%) of hot/new/top-selling teen titles in Amazon were available in Overdrive EPUB. Overdrive can only sell what they can get. I don’t know if exclusive deals are being struck with Amazon, or what, but it was kind of a grim exercise for me. I hope I can make good on my promise that it will get better and that libraries aren’t shut out of the digital mix.

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*(Individual libraries within the system are eligible to purchase additional copies of popular titles via Overdrive's Advantage Program, but La Crosse Public Library has decided that it is not in our best interest in our role as a resource library to limit titles to city patrons. We feel very strongly about this and hope that Overdrive opens Advantage up to system sharing very soon. We’ve never limited print books to city residents and won’t do it with digital books.)   

T+R, I Can't Quit You

Now that blogging is officially unhip, I guess it's safe to take back my break-up. Also, I offered to write something for our consortium, not understanding that I had to post it on my blog. So, hello again, not that anyone is paying attention.

Amended 12/22: Apparently, I completely misunderstood our consortium consultant--she had planned on hosting my post on the WRLS site. At any rate, I thanked her for inadvertently prompting me to get my writing/blogging mojo back in gear.  My post on ereaders and Overdrive has turned out to be my most highly-read post ever.

So long, it's been good to know you...

It's been almost a year since I've posted, so I think it's time to close up shop. I thought that when my health started to improve, I'd be all fired up to dig in again, but now that I'm clear-headed and mostly pain-free, I find that I'm wanting to shed things that aren't useful, don't work for me, weigh me down. This is one of them. I'm not sure if "this" is blogging, writing or thinking about librarianship as much as I used to. What I do know is that I don't feel any obligation to any of it and am just enjoying a life without pain. I'm still around on Facebook and in FriendFeed and I am totally kicking ass and happy at work. I'll keep this up for a few days before it totally goes dark.

Greetings, Channel 19 Visitors!

If you came here after seeing the interview with me on WXOW, welcome. Say hello in the comments if you like.

Librarian Day in the Life--7.28.09

(A shorter version of this post appeared in the La Crosse weekly newspaper, Second Supper, July 30, 2009. I particularly like writing for them because I did not have to sign away my rights to my content. They have a home page where they run major stories and reviews, but my stuff only shows up in the full issue interface at issuu.com )

One of my goals for writing for Second Supper was to get away from writing so much about libraries. In that regard, this week's piece is a big ol' bucket of fail. I had started another piece--it was about going to my first library conference after taking a break for a couple years. It just couldn't get it to gel, so put it aside. Not to worry! It's still in the hopper because I know you are dying to hear about why tech support IS reference and how my friend, Steve, stalked Neil Gaiman until he got close enough to chuck a zine at him without getting arrested.

This week I am participating in the Second Annual Day in the Life of a Librarian. As if librarians don't talk enough about their jobs as is, once a year they feel the need to broadcast their labors to the larger world. What follows is an abbreviated version of a typical day in my mid-sized, midwestern public library.

8:15 am -1 pm

In at 8:15 after dropping off daughter at TC. Check weekend mail, 90% of which is spam. (I know, I know! If only I'd incorporate Acai Berry into my nutritional regimen, my life would be transformed--My skin would clear up, I'd drop 40 lbs and start pooping magic, fruit-flavored rainbows.)  Realize I forgot my lunch and my Ritalin. Back home I go. At least this gives me a chance to say "Good Morning" to youngest daughter and "Good-bye" to Truck Drivin' Husband.

Start of day, take two: Say hi to staff and settle in.

Web guy comes in to pitch a programming idea to me. It involves bikes and a partnership. I'd estimate that about 15-25 % of ideas we toss around come to fruition. I think that's pretty good. I like to hear ideas and encourage others to think big and share stuff, even though it may seem implausible. I send him to the Director to see if she faints or cheers. I hear later that she cheers. This does not mean will be doing it, but that we can brainstorm ways to make it happen.

Try to remember my login/password to our new web interface. The fact that I cannot remember means that I have not worked on my pages recently. *Shame.* Finally, I remember. One less dumb question I have to ask Web Guy. (You know how librarians say there's no such thing as a dumb question? It's a lie. Especially when it's from a librarian who should keep better track of her multiple log-ins.)

A coworker who follows me on Facebook asks if I got my Second Supper article done, as I mentioned my impending deadline a few times over the weekend, including a status update that said, "Rochelle Hartman is not so sure about this piece she's writing that's due tomorrow." Before co-worker leaves office, she asks, "What is Second Supper?" Ouch! So, I school her and will hand-deliver the next issue to her desk. 

One of the three Rons stop by my office. My office is right next to the public access computers (we manage 40 workstations), and my door is almost always open, so frequently, patrons will stick their head in to ask for help, rather than going to the Reference desk. Sometimes those interactions turn into relationships, as has happened with the three Rons. Ron #1 has been my pal for a couple years, now. He's a retired pastor who comes in to the library just about every morning to check news, email, financial stuff. The other two Rons are guys I helped set up email accounts and gave basic internet instruction to. They were both quick studies, so they don't ask for help much any more, but they do usually stop in and say howdy.  This is actually one of the best parts of my job. Working in public libraries, in my experiece, is like working at Cheers--only with books and computers. Well, but without the beer (except during Oktoberfest when library staff have been known to get a contact buzz from Festers checking their email).

Put in a call to the County Crisis team about doing a welfare check for patron we've been concerned about for a couple weeks. 

Work on content for new website.  

Shhhh. Do you hear that? Nothing! That's the sound of the end of children's summer reading program last week. It's been a tantrum-free library so far today.  

Social worker looking for person we're worried about. He wasn't around, but she said she’d come back.  

Lunch in my office with door closed. Patron comes in anyway to ask what our policy is on watching "naked porn" on the computers. The policy is "no.”

Afternoon on the Reference Desk

• 11 laptops checked out and in
• 1 disk drive checked out
• 4 computer log-ons
• take money for prints
• Troubleshoot printing software
• "Is season 6 of 24 ready for me?
• "How do I check my email?"
• "Can I use your phone?"
• "Can you get this book for me?"
• A complex question! Market analysis assignment for student.
• IM patron wants to know status of her job application
• “Can you verify a phone number on this website? You are always really nice when I call. Are you single?”
• “Do you have an almanac I can check out?”
• Talk to IT guy about printing problems
• Email from webmaster at another library asking for help in finding stuff to help him write a website accessibility policy
• “What does it mean when the card catalog says an item is a "web resource?"”
• "Do you play internet games? Do you play Gangsters on MySpace?" (Sorry, no.) 
• One of the Rons stops by to say hi.
• Crisis Team member returns and we identify patron who has been the cause of concern. She’ll observe for awhile.
• “I still can't log in.”
• Shush moment: Can you please turn your music down?
• Patron wants DVDs about coffee and Ethiopia--not related--for kids. Nothing on coffee--suggest YouTube.
• “Do you have a cord for my camera?” (No) “How about an SD card reader?” (Yes)
• 2006 issues of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar
• "Can you find the address for editor of the St. Louis Post Dispatch?"
• "Can you find the phone number for the lady who does the Bucket List speech?”

Oh no! Someone broke the Internet (Runescapers, I’m looking at you!)! Staff and patrons twitching with anxiety. Okay--it’s just me. Back on in 10 minutes. Can stop hyperventilating now.

Last check of email and tomorrow’s schedule.

5:34 pm Home time and Secret Life of the American Teenager. (Don’t judge! I work hard for my low-brow entertainment.)

If you'd like to know what other librarians' days look like, check out this page: http://librarydayinthelife.pbworks.com

Amazon on Kindle: "We don't talk about our enforcment actions"

Anyone who has been following the discussion about whether or not it's okay for libraries to loan Kindles knows that Amazon has appeared to be giving mixed messages about the exact interpretation of their Terms of Service. I asked Norman Oder at Library Journal if he could contact someone higher than a first-named support staff person to give a definitive answer.

The definitive answer is that Amazon seems to be taking the don't ask/don't tell approach to the Kindles- in-libraries issue. Oder writes:

Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener confirmed to LJ—as he did last year—that the policy bars library lending, but “we don't talk about our enforcement actions.”

The rest of the story is here. Maybe Amazon could give some chill-out lessons to the recording industry.

A Visit to Wisconsin Job Center in La Crosse

I wrote this for an in-house blog, but I think it's something that a lot of libraries are thinking about, so I decided to share it. It was a very valuable community connection to have made, and I like to think that we can become more of an informal partner.

 

Why I visited the Job Center 

I had wanted visit to Job Service, so that we, as a staff, could better understand their services and how we could play a role in helping people who use the agency. I also wanted to see if we have a role in a community where many people do not have minimal skills for jobs that increasingly call for tech skills. We see a lot of job seekers who lack basic internet skills and wanted to know how the Job Center worked with these people. I got in touch with Kathleen Olson, Employment and Training Specialist at the Job Center, who arranged for me to visit on March 2.

 

What is the Job Center?

Kathleen started my visit by explaining that the Job Center is not just one office or organization, but a one-stop shop that houses and partners with numerous other organizations that work with various segments of jobseekers. The umbrella organization in the state is the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development which oversees two Job Centers in each of the state's eleven regions. La Crosse is part of WDA #9, an eight-county area in Western Wisconsin.

I asked Kathleen to walk me through a first visit for someone looking for employment services. First off, everyone who uses the Center for any reason, signs in at the reception desk. A new visitor is required to fill out a Resource and Referral Form. The first side gets your personal information and asks what sorts of information you want. It covers a broad range of categories, in addition to employment-related resources, including GED, food assistance, housing and domestic abuse.  The second section narrows down your specific circumstances for job referral (criminal record? homeless? senior? at-risk youth?) The form also asks what agencies you are already working with. The back page allows people to register for one-on-one assistance.

 

What services does the Job Center offer?

Once someone is established as a client they can get as much or as little help as they want. Some people use the Center as an information source and mostly go for computer access so that they can look for jobs or housing, do interest inventories, work on computer skills and resumes, and apply for jobs online. This group of people is referred to as "job-ready." For the most part, they have the hard skills (those needed to do a given job) and the soft skills (job hunting etiquette, interview skills, and even something as simple as personal hygiene) and are not in need of assistance or other services.

 

Clients who receive direct services often lack hard or soft skills or both. Within the Job Center are offices for other agencies that can help people with specific problems. Steve Johnson from Independent Living Resources is a Disability Navigator who keeps office hours at the La Crosse Job Center. He works with job seekers who have disability-related barriers to finding employment. He also works with other Job Center agencies and outside employers. Often, his clients have multiple barriers to employment. He works with a lot of mentally ill clients who, as a result of their illness, have become homeless or have a police record. Some of his clients are veterans who struggle with not only physical disabilities, but with PTSD and addiction.

 

Some of Johnson's clients also receive services from the Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program (DVOP). I spoke with DVOP specialist David Wolf who not only has office hours in La Crosse, but who works with incarcerated veterans to make sure they have the needed skillsto look for work after their release.

 

There are numerous other grant-based programs that provide training and/or employment for targeted groups. There's a complete list of programs and partner organizations here. There's also a transportation program that helps people buy used vehicles with no-interest loans, get a voucher for auto repairs and receive reimbursement for specialized, disabililty-related transportation needs. More information is available at Transportation Connection.

  

Not grant-funded and available to all clients are workshops including Job Club, Jump Start Your Job Search, Basic Resume Writing, Job Seeking, Advanced Resume Writing and Interviewing.  You can use services without setting foot in a Job Center office via JobCenterofWisconsin.com. This is a free resources that allows job seekers to search for employment opportunities in Wisconsin and adjacent, out-of-state counties. With the website, you can create and post a resume, write cover letters and reference pages, apply for jobs, and save your searches.

  

 

Here are some specifics about computer use and other services at the Job Center office:

• Computers are first come/first served, with no timing or time limits. If people are waiting, computer users are asked to be considerate of others and move along.
• Computers are to be used only for job searching or skill development. The receptionists do casually monitor use and give reminders about guidelines.
• For a fee, clients can send or receive faxes ($1/page), print (first 10 pages free, .15 after that), and purchase resume paper and envelopes, larger manila envelopes and floppy discs. 
• All computers have Winway resume software loaded on them. Winway is much easier to use than Word.
• There is typing tutorial software to check out.
•   

Job Center does not offer any productivity skill-building training (basic computer use, keyboarding), but refer people to Western Technical College or other community training opportunities.

The philosophy at the Job Center is that people need to learn to do for themselves. They believe that learning how to do things on your own is part of the employment process. They do not fill out forms, do resumes or do anything else that a patron can do themselves. They do offer limited one-on-one coaching with clients to review and critique resumes and letters. These are not "how do I make a resume," sessions, but review of complete documents that are in pretty good shape to begin with.

 

Many of the services and programs offered through the Job Center are grant-funded, so it's good to check the website or call to see if a particular program is still available. Because there is no full-time web person, it's a good idea to call for verification of programs and the training schedule. Services will likely get a boost because of the stimulus bill.

 

How my library can help

As a result of this visit, we've come up with the following responses:

The best way we can help is to refer people to the Job Center.
We can also help by offering training in basic computer skills. We're working on getting this going. Staff tried to offer training sessions a few years ago, and they never jelled. My hunch is that this is the perfect time to try them again.
I have an idea for offering less structured, open practice sessions for jobseekers, in addition to specific training sessions. Rather than promoting it, we could start out by having the Job Center refer clients and see how it goes.
Soon, we will be making Mavis Beacon typing software available for in-house check-out at the Reference Desk. We will be looking for other training software as well. (Share ones that you know about and have used!) 
Staff members from Reference are encouraged to attend training sessions and workshops at the Job Center as observers.

If your library is adjusting or adding service in response to the economy, please link to your posts or leave comments here.  

Kindle News for Libraries to Chew on

2/20/09 Update with conflicting information from Kindle support at end of this post.

Since Amazon is fixing to birth the bouncing baby Kindle 2, discussions about loaning Kindles to library patrons, including the legality of doing so, are cropping up on blogs, email lists and elsewhere. My Kindle posts from last year are getting lots of action, and it seems only responsible to update them. I've been looking for information and articles following up on the libraries that decided to loan Kindles, but most of what comes up are the gee-whiz articles from last year.  Thankfully, I received a new comment on an old Kindle post about one library's successful Kindle program. After a few emails back and forth between Mary White, Director of Howe Library in Hanover, NH, I decided to give her a ring and get the full scoop.

White said that before the Kindles were ordered, they "did their homework" by calling Kindle support to make sure that they were legally able to loan the machines. She was assured by the support rep, John, that it was indeed legal to circulate content to patrons. (I have a question into Kindle support to verify this.)  The rep also gave her this tip: "when you purchase a title, it can be loaded onto a maximum of six Kindles attached to your account." So, she said, the purchase of 13 titles at $10 each, cost the library $130, rather than $390.   (I cannot find this same policy on the Kindle 2 page.)

Here are the elements of the Howe Library Kindle collection :

 

• Three Kindles, funded with money donated in memory of a long-time library volunteer
• Each Kindle has the same 13 titles, including best sellers, local authors and book club selections
• Check-out period is one week, no renewals (currently, there is a wait list of 60+ patrons)
• The Howe account is deactivated on all the machines, so patrons cannot load new content
• Because they are a big-ticket item, borrowers must be 18 or older and sign an agreement that they are financially responsible for loss or damage.

White's enthusiasm was unqualified. Her patrons have enjoyed the experience and have not had ANY trouble figuring out how to use the machine (translate: no frantic "how does this work?" calls to the check-out or reference desks). Before I heard from White today, I was talking with our IT manager, who wondered if it was time for us to check out some Kindles. I did some math and could not come out with a number that made me think "good value." We're cancelling a bunch of databases for abysmal cost-per-search numbers, and a Kindle, loaded with a small number of titles didn't come out with a good cost-per-circ. When I mentioned this to White, she said that they looked at loaning Kindles as a try-this-tech program. It's not about the content, according to White, but about the experience.

 

I asked her if there was an identifiable demographic for patrons who were checking out the machines. She said that she wasn't aware of one, but did say that "senior citizens are not afraid of them." One of the benefits of Kindles for older adults and others with low vision is that you can transform any title into a large-print book with adjustable font sizes.

 

At this time, Amazon still has backorders on the first Kindle. Those buyers will automatically be upgraded to Kindle 2. It will be interesting to see if the economy is a Kindle 2 buzzkill. Kindle 2 lists for $359, with $29 extra for the protective cover. Used Kindles and new-in-box ones from non-Amazon vendors are selling for $250-500. I'll start considering when the price is under $100. And if my library decides to buy a 2, I'll dutifully review it.

 

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On Feb 20, 2009, I received a conflicting reply from Kindle support rep Forrest B that said:

Thank you for asking about using kindles in libraries. As stated in the terms of service, a library issuing loaded or unloaded kindles to individuals is against the TOS.

I have emails out to a couple people who are working directly with Amazon and who have been told that it's a-ok for libraries to check out Kindles. Stay tuned!