Musings of the UCD School Library Students' Cataloging Class-2009

Posted below is the work of very dedicated library students as they think about the libraries of the future!

Digitization and the Future

Charlotte said...

Digitization and the Future

I wrote my paper on the digitization of books and primary sources. Part of my focus was the Library of Congress' American Memories Digitization Project, which is working on digitizing thousands of primary sources across the country. I also looked at Google's attempts to digitize the collections of several libraries in the U.S. and England. This will amount to millions of resources when they are finished.
The positives of these digitization projects outweigh the negatives, I think. They will give people access to many works that they might never have seen otherwise. Access to primary sources for students is invaluable for research assignments and for learning in general. And the attempts to digitize out-of-print and other rare books will make these resources accessible to more people.
One of the big negatives centers around copyright laws and whether these digitization projects -- or the groups behind them -- have the legal right to copy all these resources. Google is in the midst of several court cases right now, related to this very issue.
It does seem, though, that digitization is the way we are headed for many resources. It makes sense economically, as the scanning process gets easier and paper becomes scarcer and more expensive. It obviously makes sense environmentally as well. And because most of today's students are more interested in computers than textbooks, it is a trend that will probably gain in popularity even more in the near future.

Web 2.0 and Libraries

I decided to do my paper on web 2.0 and how it is affecting school libraries. It was interesting to see the positives and negatives people feel these tools have had on libraries. For the most part, many of the blogs and articles I found were focused on the positive aspects of web 2.0. They sung the phrases of many things: how inexpensive these tools are, how easy they are to learn no matter how old one is, and how it keeps the library more relevant with its' patrons. It was much harder to find articles on the negatives of web 2.0. One article I read, "Web 2.0 and You", by Donna Baumbach, had done a survey of 631 librarians, asking them about web 2.0. The survey cited that four major obstacles occurred when it came to thinking about web 2.0: tools being inaccessible at school, little time to experiment with these tools, non-relevant training and basic lack of knowledge. Obviously, after taking two semesters already in the UCD program, I know that most everyone is loving the web 2.0 products, myself included. But I came to the realization at the end of my research that at least with myself, it is important to find a happy median between using web 2.0 tools with your community all the time, and still giving them that personal, face to face interaction.

Digital Preservation and the Sharing of Primary Sources on the Internet

The trend that I researched for the final paper was digital preservation and the sharing of primary sources over the Internet.  This is a topic of which I was only vaguely aware, so it was truly a learning experience for me.  The advances that have taken place during the past decade in the technological fields making possible the digitization of all types of material is matched by the growing collaboration between associations (libraries, museums and special collections) combining their resources to share their treasures with the world at large.  These collaborations can be both for profit or non-profits; I used the World Digital Library and ProQuest as examples of each type.  The sharing of primary sources via digital preservation is not without its problems; images can be manipulated and information misrepresented and format obsolescence is a real challenge but the ability to connect a vast amount of people with cultural and historical items far outweighs the difficulties.

Is it a Library or a Bookstore?

The trend I researched is that of libraries attempting to capitalize on the success of bookstores by changing the overall look of the library. This includes but is not limited to the classification of books for ease of the library patrons as of yet unfamiliar with libraries. This practice involves the manner in which books are displayed, and seems to boil down to the question of is it better to have specific books easily available but overall difficult to browse, or is it better to allow for an unsure reader to browse for their books making it somewhat more challenging for a patron looking for a specific title to find that title. The question at hand, is it possible to incorporate the user friendly atmosphere of a bookstore in your library without alienating your long standing patrons?
Ultimately, I think the best solution is a happy medium. Signs in appropriate places to clearly mark the areas (but not too many), broader categories with the more popular groupings highlighted (like fairy books, or pirate books). It’s best to create a clean look with a natural flow for the patrons to get around. This is how I hope to design my library and I’m looking forward to tackling this task in the upcoming years!

Future Trends: Digitization of Books, Old and New

I researched the current trend of digitization of books by Google. It is a massive effort to place all books from all time in digital form. Google wants to make available these books and selections in full image format for the public domain. Public accessibility is the primary goal. Also, the effort is intended to preserve material indefinitely. Google wants everybody with a computer to be able to have online access and search capabilities to all books that exist. This is quite an undertaking, and it is not without its hiccups, bumps, restrictions and legal battles. Aside from these virtual stalling tactics, what are the long-term implications for the former keepers of books, the libraries? What are the benefits of such a program? And, more importantly, does this effort reflect a future trend toward digitizing all information that exists other than books, such as photographs, artwork and deteriorating manuscripts? Lastly, is this future trend the demise of the “hard copy”—the actual print version of information?
My paper ended up being 8 pages long, so if you'd like to view it in full, I have placed it in the class dropbox. It is a super-interesting subject matter, and I hope you enjoy it.

eBooks in Libraries

I researched eBooks and their place in the library.

Littman, J. & Connaway, L .S. (2004). A circulation analysis of print books and e-books in an academic research library. Library Resources & Technical Services, 48(4), 256-262.

Researchers studied Duke University between the first e-book MARC record being added to library and August 2002 (first records added February 2001; average study period of 16 months). Results of study:
• 7880 titles total in both print and e-books.
• 3,158 e-books accessed
• 2,799 print titles circulated (not counting in-library use)
• 1,688 for both (39%)
• 1,484 e-books accessed but not print (34%)
• 1,125 print titles circulated but not e-books (27%)
• 3,597 titles unused
E-books received 11% more usages than print books. The researchers concluded that e-books can be a valuable resource in libraries. The topics accessed correspond with print books (the same titles and topics were as popular in e-book format as print format). They conclude that e-books may become more popular as their format becomes more wide-spread. They found some evidence that some patrons may like to use e-books for quick reference and print for more extensive reading (though this is not always the case). Also, some patrons may be using e-books to “sample” material prior to acquiring print book. The article also suggests that it would be wise to purchase e-books for heavily used books.

Bedord, J. (2009). Ebooks hit critical mass. Online (33)3, 14-18.

Ebooks are a growing trend due to significant improvements in content and hardware and more open public. Kindles and readers are improving their readability (screen resolution, battery life, etc). Obvious benefits of ebooks include:
• Can convert more easily to audio (though it would be in computer voice)
• Visually-impaired patrons can easily convert font to larger text
• Lower price
• Ebooks can be accessed by multiple users in libraries
• No overdue charges
• Ebooks can be accessed 24/7 through website
• Ebooks are mobile
• Patrons who are in remote areas can access library collection
• Ebooks cannot be lost by misshelving

Ebooks have seen success due to the growth in number of titles available and better access to ebooks. However, availability of titles is still spotty (obviously most books are still in print format). Ebooks have often been available on separate sections of library websites – initially, patrons were not aware if the books they were searching for were in ebook format. The popularity of aggregators on phones will probably lead the expansion of the ebook, and this format (application on phone) is currently the most popular way to access books.