"LegalTorrents is a new site offering 5Gb of electronic music from a variety of labels, all licensed under Creative Commons. What makes this site unique is the large downloads are shared among everyone downloading, thanks to the P2P technology of BitTorrent. Once you download a client and load up a music torrent file, you'll be downloading the file from everyone that has downloaded the file, and as you gather data others will be downloading from you. It's an incredible technology meant to share large file downloads like these music archives and things such as linux distributions. The technology also has a checkered past due to its use for sharing illegal files, hence the name of the site, LegalTorrents." [Creative Commons: weblog]

Hmmm... so could a subset of these files (or a similar one) be a starter collection of MP3 music files for a library to use to test and offer downloads directly from an online catalog? We have to start somewhere and figure out how best to integrate this type of service before our patrons begin demanding it.

Blackberry News

"From Cathy S. in Calendar/Courts:
I just read a blurb in Corporate Counsel that will resonate with many attorneys here:

'Wireless E-mail Improves Productivity: A new report from The Radicati Group Inc., Enterprise Wireless E-mail Market Trends, 2003-2007, [PDF] says by the end of 2003, employees using wireless e-mail will have put in an extra 55 minutes of work per day. This figure will grow to 80 minutes by the end of 2007.' " [The KERBlog]

With my Treo 600, I'm already traveling down this path, but I actually don't mind it and it's not much of a burden. I tend to check my work email when I'm standing in line somewhere or doing something equally time-wasting. Except, now I'm not wasting time anymore. So I figure I'm racking up comp time.  :-D

Marketing Wireless in Libraries

"Someone on Web4Lib asked about posting symbols or signage to identify wireless access in libraries. This is a slightly revised version of my reply on the list, sent after several folks referred the original poster to the wireless warchalking symbols popular among the digerati.

Essentially, this is basic library marketing 101. If you're planning to market wireless services not only to the folks who will seek it, but to folks who would either find a way to use it if they knew what it was or may never even use it but will mentally file this service under 'what a great library this is,' then integrate the fancy symbols with very plainspoken, large, plain-lettered wording. Go to a site that offers wireless for its customers and see how they peddle it. (Remember, that's what you're doing: selling a service.)

Make the language achingly clear. 'Wireless hotspot' comes to mind... but maybe something else makes more sense locally. Assuming you have a bookmark or brochure advertising this service, repeat the logo and the phrase throughout the materials. I know that libraries offer things for free anyway, but why not push that as well? Wireless--FREE!...

Or you could practice another kind of library marketing, and either put up one tiny, very obscure sign, or make it very large and then title it 'Bibligraphic WEP-enabled 802.11* Access.' And in your assessment of the service, observe that very few people use it. ;) " [Free Range Librarian]

I just had to blog Karen's response because it's so true it's tragically funny.