the public library -- a great unbusiness

Libraries (and other nonbusiness institutions such as schools, museums, churches) have for some years been looking to the business world for ideas. This can be useful -- up to a point. What we want to be careful to do is to take only useful and appropriate ideas, not just for ethical reasons, but because often the strength of a nonbusiness institution is the fact that it's not a business. A library doesn't have to make money on every transaction. This is extremely liberating.

Some unbusiness advantages libraries have:

The best price around for its services -- free.
Time, space, and other resources which are not directly linked to immediate sales.
Freedom to serve all segments of society, rather than just those who are most popular in the eyes of the greater culture or useful to the institution.
Genuine respect for all patrons which is not linked to any individual's usefulness to the institution.
Respect for patrons' privacy.

These characteristics can give libraries have a tremendous advantage against their "competitors" -- stores and the internet. And best of all, they don't require any extreme effort or change of direction; they are things libraries have already been doing right for generations.

google's augmented reality glasses

The first step to cyborgism. High on my wish list.

Google: Project Glass

true choice

"Everything's a choice."
No, it is NOT.  

Genuine choice has no unbearable penalties. If the alternative is death, breaking a religious or moral taboo, extreme poverty or extreme loss of lifestyle, loss of the relationship with a parent or child, or complete social isolation, it's not a true choice. An individual's particular phobias or extreme humiliation might also render a choice not a true choice for that person.

Yes, some people make choices that have these results. Such people are called "heroes" or "saints." The fact that we have special words to describe them marks the fact that such choices are extraordinary. This should not be used as the standard for judging basic human decency, even for "choices" with extremely serious moral consequences.

Less serious choices are genuine if the consequences are in proportion with the situation, within the framework of that situation. Getting slugged by a bully may not be martyrdom, but it's a penalty out of proportion with the value of one's lunch money.

Choices are genuine only if they are truly possible for the chooser at the time the choice is being made. If a choice requires authority, physical ability, available money, available time, or other conditions that a person doesn't have, it's not a true choice. This is not to say the conditions need to be easy, just reasonably possible within the situation.

Situations in which the only way to accomplish a goal is by agreeing to certain terms, if all means of accomplishing that goal require the same terms, are not free-choice situations. There may be a choice to do without entirely, but that's a separate choice, and in no way makes the lower-level choice a free one. This is the case with the terms and conditions of software licensing. If one doesn't click on "agree," one can't use the software at all. And often all of the alternative programs or online services for a certain task have the same terms. Opting out is not a true choice when it punishes the opter.

Terms for existing services which change and must be accepted for the service to continue can never be a truly free choice. Losing something one already has hits with far more force than not acquiring something in the first place.

True choice doesn't have to be completely fair, but it can't be completely unfair and still be a true choice.

for genealogists, historians, and the just plain curious

The Internet Archive has views of the microfilm scans of the U.S. census, along with other genealogical records. Just leave the site search set at "All Media Types" and use the county and state name as your search terms. Alternately, you can search using the phrase, "Registers of births, etc" and the name of the state. It's completely free, with no fees or need to set up an account -- as all public documents ought to be.

buy nothing day

Today is Buy Nothing Day.

Instead, why not go to your public library, where the books are free?

Check out a book of seasonal recipes and make something delicious.

Check out craft book for a holiday -- Chanukkah, Christmas, Winter Solstice, whatever suits your beliefs (or your fancy) -- and make something fun with a family member or friend.

Read an old favorite of your childhood to a child.

Or just find a quiet book, or an exciting one, or a purely informational one, according to your personal tastes.

Enjoy.

petulant penguin books plays poorly with others

Penguin Pulls Out of Ebook Lending Over Piracy Concerns
(Nov. 22, 2011  Mashable)


IF they were trying to kill library lending of ebooks (and if anybody re-posts this, please include this "if" clause so I don't come off as a paranoid conspiracy theorist), this would be a great tactic -- one by one take away the participation of the major publishers, and thus the availability of the most popular books.

After all, one major reason some users don't borrow ebooks from the library is the sparse selection. But you know what, many (probably most) of those readers don't just cave in and buy the ebooks. I sure don't. I buy ebooks I would've bought anyway, and for books I'm not willing to pay for, I borrow a physical copy from the library.

Is there a chance of piracy? Of course. And some morons steal other types of free library books. But they are few because it takes an uncommonly low level of stupidity to do the work and take the risk of stealing something free. By far most people aren't even tempted.

Most of the people I see at the library checking out ebooks are fairly new to computers. Their previous experience is often limited to emailing their grandkids and looking at family pictures on Facebook. Sometimes the ebook reader (usually a gift) is their first computer experience. It's hard enough setting up the library account. They're not going to be pirating books -- or navigating warez or P2P sites -- anytime soon.

And anyway, illegal free copies of copyrighted books have been widely available online for years before public libraries started legally lending ebooks. Libraries aren't the problem.

Why would a publisher want to license ebooks to libraries? For the same reasons that for over a century they've been selling physical books to libraries:

Sales to libraries are sales, pretty much guaranteed for important and popular books, highly likely for many other books. Yes, this is a trade-off against possible sales to more individuals, but traditionally seen as a wise one, the way investors diversify and put some of their money into low-yielding but safe bonds and only some of their money into potentially high-profit but high-risk stocks.

Exposure. The loss of a few book sales can be cheap as advertising costs go. Lots of people see the books in libraries. People might be hesitant to pay to take a chance on a book they might not like, or to read a book once, but sometimes want to own a copy of a library book they've read and loved. And if they really love it, they buy extra copies as gifts.

Publishers, you're not manipulating me into buying. You're just making me dislike and greatly disrespect you, a business for which I used to have quite positive feelings.

a cool, futuristic way to find and study books in a library

Projection Mapping the Library
(November 7, 2011 The Future Now Blog)