I gotta say that this title, about a Microsoft iPod Killer for me is depressing, in that wherever there is a market created by a true innovator like Apple, that Microsoft is able to through its sheer size and market dominance, steal that market away from the ture innovator!

Think  Mac vs Windows, think Internet browser, Mosaic then Netscape.

The only ray of hope I can see on the horizon is Open Source Business Models, that create new opportunities for innovators!

Microsoft's iPod-Killer: Portable Media Center?. securitas writes "The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Todd Bishop reports on what's billed as an iPod-killer: the Microsoft Portable Media Center line of digital ... [Slashdot]

10:30:43 AM    

Thank heavens I can finally announce it! As many of you know, I've been trying to get a group purchase of Audible content for my libraries for more than two years, and I am thrilled to finally be able to say it has happened! It's been a difficult road to get it off the ground, but we leap-frogged many of the normal startup problems we would have faced thanks to the fine folks at the NOLA Regional Library System in Ohio.

NOLA has been running the original Audible group purchase since October, 2001, at ListenOhio, and I've been tracking their project for some time. Last year, NOLA offered to let Illinois libraries join their program, and I jumped at the chance before they even finished the first sentence. It's taken six months to get to a point where we could go live, but the day has finally arrived and you can visit the ListenIllinois web site to see what I mean.

We currently have 12 Illinois libraries in ListenIllinois, 11 publics and one high school. Right now Wheaton Public Library is the only library circulating titles/players to patrons, but we expect the others to go live this month. To give them full credit for their foresight, the 12 are:

• Chicago Ridge Public Library
• Coal City Public Library District
• Downers Grove Public Library
• Downers Grove South High School
• Homer Township Public Library District (my home library, yay!)
• Joliet Public Library
• Lemont Public Library District
• Northlake Public Library District
• Oswego Public Library
• St. Charles Public Library District
• Thomas Ford Memorial Library (Aaron's library!)
• Wheaton Public Library

Thanks to NOLA, we start with a catalog of 1800 titles, and we collectively purchase pretty much every title that Audible releases each month. Right now, each library is circulating Audible Otis players and patrons use the ListenIllinois web site to browse and choose titles. Of course, the overall goal is let patrons download files directly from online catalogs onto their own players, but for us this is the first step in that direction. In fact, I hope that one of Illinois' contribution to the project will be MARC records for everyone's catalogs.

I'm pretty sure that this collaborative group purchase across two states means we're the largest library buyer of Audible content, and personally I hope we can use that clout to push publishers to release more material in this digital format. Once the dust settles a little, I plan to pursue circulating titles to patron devices and I want to contact publishers directly to prove to them this can work. The time for being scared is over, and we need to move forward now.

I'll provide periodic updates for ListenIllinois, especially once we start getting some concrete numbers. The initial opportunity to join was open to only three Illinois Library Systems - Suburban (me!), DuPage, and Heritage Trail. My own kudos to DLS and HTLS for their willingness to take this to their members! However, in a few months, once we have all of the kinks worked out, we'll open it up statewide to any Illinois library that wants to join. I can't provide details here, but trust me... it's an incredible deal. If you're interested in joining when we get to that point, feel free to email or IM (cybrarygal on AIM) me.

10:24:12 AM    

For 2004:

1. Start a blog for your web site, and concentrate most of your news there. If possible, put the blog posts on your home page (either make it a blog or display headlines using RSS) so that your new information gets maximum exposure. I'm not just hyping blogs - it truly will make it easier for you to keep your site more current and dynamic, and there are ways to do this at no additional cost.
    
2. Provide remote access to as many of your databases as possible, preferably using the patron's library barcode number as the autho key rather than some inane autho/password combination required by the vendor. A standing offer for SLS libraries: we'll implement scripts to help you with this - just email me.
    
3. Start investigating wireless networks because you need to offer wireless access for the public to use with their own devices. Even if you don't think you will implement it this year, you need to understand what's involved because you will offer it at some point in the future and it's best to be prepared when that time comes. I know some people will argue that not all public libraries need to offer this service, or at least not any time soon, but you can only make an informed decision if you understand what's involved.

   Example: a couple of weeks ago I was interviewed for a forthcoming article in the Chicago Sun-Times about technology in libraries. The paper sent a photographer to get a picture of me for the article, and we met at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library to do this. The photographer was a gadget guy, so he was particularly interested in hearing about ListenIllinois and wireless access. He was thrilled to learn that the TFML offered free WiFi, and he was even knowledgeable enough to ask why there were no signs highlighting the service, specifically any warchalking symbols. In fact, he said he was willing to sit in his car in the parking lot when the Library is closed to use it because it would save him a trip downtown. TFML isn't his home library, but it hadn't occurred to him to go to public libraries for this service instead of Starbucks. Now, he'll try us first and Starbucks second. Which is a good thing, because we'll have definite image problems (okay, worse image problems) and major credibility issues if people can get wireless access all around town, except at the library.

   Is this guy on the leading edge of the bell curve? Sure. But that just means that the larger number of people that make up the camel's hump of the bell curve are on the horizon. You don't have to provide wireless access today (although you really will have patrons that use it, just like TFML does, even without any marketing), but you do need to start thinking about it.

4. In the same vein, you need to start thinking about online, real-time reference. In Illinois, there are consortia you can join to make the strain on your resources easier, and this is increasingly true in other states as well. Instant messaging and chatting are moving beyond Generation Y and are becoming a norm, making this a valid channel for library reference here and now. To again use the Thomas Ford Library as an example (I like using them because they are a relatively small library surrounded by larger libraries), while I was waiting for the photographer to show up, Rick was "on" the virtual reference desk for MyWebLibrarian, and he received two help requests within about a half hour. This was a little before lunchtime on a weekday when school was out of session.

   Again, think bell curve. You don't have to implement it tomorrow, but you do have to understand what your options are, even if you just throw up an AOL Instant Messenger link for specific hours each week, just to get your feet wet. (In fact, this is exactly what TFML did before they joined MWL.)

If your library is already doing all of these things, congratulations! Of course, you can't rest on your laurels (and hey, if you're doing all of those things are you marketing them in appropriate ways?), but those would be resolutions for another day....

10:20:35 AM