Frankin eBookman

"We're currently examining the different models being used by (mainly public) libraries to circulate eBooks. We have two of the first generation Rocket Readers currently sold by Gemstar eBookstore and considering the possibilty of adding additional readers.

We're also looking at the Audible.com MP3 audio ebook program for libraries as well. This will require an investment in MP3 capable players as well. What would be ideal is to use a hybrid player/reader that could handle both formats. Franklin's eBookman is a first gen attempt at such a device.

I'm hoping to locate a few libraries out there that are using the Franklin's and gather some feedback on how they've worked as both reader and player. I've located a few, but (not surprisingly) they appear to be mainly university libraries.

Anyone out there in 'blogspace aware of any libraries (hopefully public) that have succesfullly implemented ebooks using a hybrid device like the Franklins?" [LibTech Weblog]

I'll have to dig through my digital and paper stacks to see if I know of a public library using these, but I really wanted to use this post to highlight a little-remembered fact about the first generation of Rocketbooks. We have three of them at SLS, two regular and one Pro. We purchased them so that staff at our member libraries coudl see for themselves what they were like. The one advantage these particular models have over the newer ones is that they allow you to transfer any HTML page or Word document onto them.

So in the past, I encouraged libraries to load their current newsletters, calendars, etc. on their circulating Rocketbooks. With the REB1100 and 1200, you can't do that anymore. You're locked into the content Gemstar (and the publishers) want to make available to you, and guess what - that doesn't include free material. Big surprise (not)!

This is one fork in the digital content road that we are now facing. Besides the lack of standards, interoperability, and usability, another reason ebook hardware hasn't taken off is content. There just isn't a varied enough menu from which to select (imagine your favorite O'Reilly books on one reader and you'll start to understand). Even if the industry figures out all of the problems in the first sentence of this paragraph, ebook readers still won't go anywhere if the content is difficult to obtain, expensive, and immobile (in other words, not portable). This is what happens when you reduce the number of formats and material available to a specific device - no one wants the device.

If the entertainment industry follows this same tact and tries to lock down all of its content so that it's in unusable formats and is not portable, no one will want it. Older devices become premium over newer devices because they play more formats, or so the theory goes. If new PCs have copyright protection built into them, no one will want them and they'll just stick with the old ones. Which is exactly what might happen to those first Rocketbook readers. I remember lamenting how quickly the SLS RBs became outdated. Now I'm starting to think we might be able to sell them on eBay someday for a handsomely sum.

Roger Sween on the Minnesota State Library Smackdown

"An Open Letter to Minnesotans:

The Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning (CFL) has among its statutory requirements the responsibility for state level library services and development. As with its predecessor, the Minnesota Department of Education, such responsibility has been delegated to and administered by a unit in the department for nearly 100 years. Currently this unit is called Library Development and Services (LDS). Every state has a state library agency such as LDS, that is until now. In three weeks, LDS will be gone....

The state will have no designated agency for library leadership and coordination. Without a state library agency and state library director, Minnesota will lose its eligibility for federal library funds, currently at $2.6 million a year. When Congress funds the Literacy through School Media program at a level to require state administration, who will administer it? Federal programs require state level plans. The 2003-2007 plan for the Library Services and Technology Act is due July 30. How will it get in?

The state will lose many current services dependant on federal funds. This means no contract for backup interlibrary loan and reference service to public libraries. Tens of thousands of requests will go unfilled. Also gone will be the support to deliver education to front line library workers throughout the state who lack library degrees and cannot afford to travel to obtain them...." [Roger Sween in Library Juice]

There's more to this essay, so if you live in Minnesota you should read through it and learn more about what's happening to your State's libraries.

In Illinois, we were keeping an eye on the MnLINK project because, like our Virtual Illinois Catalog, it's using the old SiteSearch software to create a virtual catalog of libraries across a state. I personally like the regional, map-based approach MnLINK took, which is similar to something we're hoping to incorporate into the next version of VIC. In reading about MnLINK, it's difficult to tell exactly what impact the budget cuts will have, although it seems the effects will be more long-term (development) rather than short-term (having to shut down altogether). Certainly no LSTA money for future development, even though they're getting ready to implement interlibrary loan.

Public libraries in Arkansas are facing similar problems, but hopefully the legislators in these two states will come to their senses, as those in Washington did (even though Governor Gary Locke is still withholding some funds from the State Library).

Examples of Erroneously Blocked Web Sites: from the CIPA Decision

"The following examples come from the decision of the Third Circuit Court in ALA v. US, which is available at http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/02D0415P.HTM." [Library Juice]

Some examples from the decision itself, besides the usual suspects:

"The filtering programs also miscategorized a large number of sports Web sites. These included: a site devoted to Willie O'Ree, the first African-American player in the National Hockey League, http://www.missioncreep.com/mw/oree.html, which Websense blocked under its 'Nudity' category; the home page of the Sydney University Australian Football Club, http://www.tek.com.au/suafc, which N2H2 blocked as 'Adults Only, Pornography,' Smartfilter blocked as 'Sex,' Cyber Patrol blocked as 'Adult/Sexually Explicit' and Websense blocked as 'Sex'; and a fan's page devoted to the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, http://www.torontomapleleafs.atmypage.com, which N2H2 blocked under the 'Pornography' category."

That last URL either goes to a porn site or has images that could be considered inappropriate for minors (I think - it's in a foreign language so I can't be sure which), but the other two sites are pretty harmless. It's difficult to tell why they are being blocked by any filtering software.

Note, too, that someone at the District Court posted the decision by saving it to HTML in Corel Wordperfect 8, which doesn't seem to have understood all of the links so you'll have to manually copy URLs from the document if you go there to read through the full list.