LibraryTechtonics

I’m currently in Danvers, MA, waiting for the meeting on downloadables to start. I’m gonna try to blog my quick notes live, just so’s, you know, they actually get *posted*, so forgive me if I’m brief or incoherent. I won’t be going into intricate detail, I’ll just be covering highlights from the meeting. I’m also tweeting the meeting on Twitter, which ups the continuous partial attention ante a comfortable smidge.

On tap this morning is the Recorded Books unlimited use model, the “new NetLibrary package” (to be explained), MyLibraryDV (the Recorded Books new downloadable video service), and Overdrive.

I must say, in advance, that I wish that NetLibrary and Overdrive would get together and have a love child, with the best of the genes of both. From a user perspective, the NetLibrary unlimited download model (no limit on the number of patrons who can check out an download eaudiobooks) is way better than the Overdrive one-patron-one-checkout-one-download model, and better mirrors what people see on the web everywhere else.

Anyway, the meeting’s getting started.
The Salem News had a front page story about digital fun at the library. I can’t find it online, but if I find it later, I’ll post a link to it.
NetLibrary: Andy Bush - Manager, US Library Services (OCLC)
In his introduction, Andy notes that throughout our morning of presentations we should keep WorldCat in mind, because the biggest thing you can do to create more success is to make your content more visible. Like it or not, patrons are starting research at Google and Yahoo!, and Open WorldCat is hauling in 10 million captures from Google and Yahoo! a month and bringing them back to the library (according to Andy).

DRM: NetLibrary does not work with iPods because of the Apple iPod proprietary digital rights management package that needs to be licensed, and Apple doesn’t want to play nice with NetLibrary (Andy says that Apple only uses the DRM on iPods and iTunes, but that can’t be right, since Audible supports iPods; I’m guessing he means that it won’t play nice with *library* services).

Apparently, Microsoft decided to follow suit with the Zune, and create proprietary digital rights management that needs to be licensed, as well. Poo. NetLibrary is in conversation with Apple about somehow licensing the DRM, but there’s no timeline or promise that the negotiations will bring anything to fruition. So, I’ll tell you what I tell the patrons when I hafta explain this over and over again: write to Apple and Microsoft, and encourage them to play nice with library services. Please, Apple and Microsoft, cut libraries a break.

Purchase vs. Subscription: I didn’t know that there was a purchase program available through NetLibrary. The subscription model allows unlimited downloads for unlimited patrons. The purchase model is much like the Overdrive model I’ve used at the Boston Public Library, where you buy however many copies you want, and only one person at a time can have each copy checked out, like a book IRL (in real life). Now I’m wondering if Overdrive has a similar set of options for service packages.

Chunking? Right now, all of the NetLibrary files download and play as one ginormous file (Overdrive gives you the book in pieces). It’s really inconvenient, especially for the more beginner users who buy less robust MP3 players without the fancy fancy bookmarking features (I, myself, find it annoying). NetLibrary is considering what is termed “chunking,” breaking up the files into pieces to make it easier to navigate. I can see the hesitation, since Overdrive has a download management and play app that helps you download, play, and transfer those chunks easily. So, this means that NetLibrary either needs to develope a similar application, or find a way to make it easy for Windows Media Player to see the chunks as one file, as a good usability tactic. (I was not impressed that Andy tried to play off the big file thing as something that could be solved by having a better MP3 player.)

No Burning for You!: A question about burning to CD came from the group. It’s not possible, and I end up explaining this a lot to staff and patrons, because people will often try to burn it to CD when they don’t have an MP3 player, or, oddly, when they can’t get the file to work on their computer. The DRM doesn’t allow for the burning.

Tags: technology