I had a most interesting time at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library in Topeka, Kansas, yesterday! In addition to giving a well-received presentation on social technologies (pdf) for the Northeast Kansas Library System, I learned about some very interesting goings-on in my alma mater’s state!

• The Hays Public Library is doing gaming tournaments! And not just any gaming tournaments, but Halo ones! W00t!
   
• The Nortonville Public Library, serving a population of 500, is circulating video games and is the first library I’ve heard of that has two GameBoys for in-library use only. Apparently, the Library is such a hub of activity for adults who need to use the internet, do research, etc., that the GameBoys are much appreciated to keep the kids busy while they’re waiting.
   
• NEKLS is blogging now, too. They have a great Technology Blog and a new one for announcements called Currency! The System as a whole is truly a great resource for its member libraries.
   
•  I have to also note how impressed I was with Christie Brandau. She’s the new State Librarian and not only did she attend my presentation because she totally “gets” it about shifting libraries and social technologies, but she has her own freaking blog called Travels with the State Librarian! She’s traveling around the State visiting libraries, sharing her adventures, and even posting pictures from each stop. Let me again reiterate how damn cool that is! And you know what a blog means, right? Yep, a feed! Here’s a great excerpt about one branch of the Johnson County Library where I spent a lot of time when I was growing up:

“Oak Park branch manager Leslie Nord shows some of the ‘ready kits’ available at the library. These kits include book, videos, audio and other media assembled by topic. For example, a ready kit on cake decorating would have everything in one bag about the subject to get started on a big baking project! What a neat idea!”

Here's another interesting post:

“First stop was the town of Quinter and the Jay Johnson Public Library. Librarian Sharon DuBois showed us the progress being made in an expansion of the library. I admire the fact that the library staff and trustees are energy conscious, and the building will be powered exclusively by solar power. The beautiful circulation desk in the second picture is made of glass and wheat board.”

Lots of wifi goodness stories, too (very important for public libraries, that wifi)! The stories she tells are amazing, and we all agreed that this great stuff should get into Flickr! I expect even greater things from Kansas libraries in the future because Christie will be pushing them to meet them in their world, not ours. For example, she totally gets the whole IM thing because she uses it to stay in touch with her husband who is in Iraq. I couldn't have asked for a better personal story to illustrate why libraries shouldn’t ban IM from their public stations, so thanks, Christie!

And thanks to the NEKLS folks for such an enjoyable morning – I learned a lot!

I’ve gotten some interesting comments to my post about The Digital Audiobook Divide, most of them positive but also some questions about why audio ebooks are different. In particular, Sarah Houghton posted a couple of questions, to which I left some answers in her comments, but I thought I’d repost the major one here.

“Do you likewise check out CD players for your CD materials...or DVD and VHS players for your movies?  If so, great!  If not, there's a bit of a double standard at work.” [Librarian in Black]

This is the first time libraries have proactively purchased a format that not every device can play. You can put a DVD in any DVD player and it will work. Same thing with a CD. Heck, you can put them in any computer (with a DVD or CD drive) and they'll work. There's a reason you weren't buying Betamax *AND* VHS 20 years ago, right?

For the first time, we're buying digital content that doesn't work across every device, and we need to understand we're doing it consciously. We're deliberately cutting out patrons (taxpayers) who didn't buy what someone else deemed the "right" hardware, not just hardware. That's a very new philosophy for libraries and a dangerous precedent for us to set as we accelerate into the era of "the heavenly jukebox" and digital information.

Therefore, if you can help address that divide by buying a $50 player (and if you can afford the outrageous prices for these audio ebook subscriptions, you can afford at least $50), then I think you have an ethical obligation to do so. I don't think you can use the justification of "expensive" hardware anymore, because you could buy two players for the cost of one unabridged audiocassette title these days.

I hope that helps clarify my position.