Social Worlds, Libraries, the Future and Beyond!

Evaluating the Costs of Electronic Textbooks and Readers to Reduce the Costs of Nursing Textbooks

2011-09-08T18:45:00.001-07:00

Using funds from a Small Projects Grant from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine of the Mid-Atlantic Region the staff of Warner Memorial Library experienced first hand several e-book readers or e-readers, portable devices used to read digitized books. The grant permitted the Library to purchase two Amazon Kindles, two Barnes and Noble’s Nooks, a Sony E-reader and two Kobo e-readers from Borders.com.

The participants evaluated e-books and e-readers as tools to reduce the cost of nursing textbooks. It also demonstrated the possible utilization of e-readers in the classroom setting. While the assessment of the cost benefits of e-books continues, shared here are notes on the practicality of one e-reader for the classroom.

Recently, Shurtz and von Isenburgreported in the Journal of the Medical Library Association that the Amazon Kindle had “major advantages in clinical settings.” The devices provided “portability and searchability.” The members of that study easily carried numerous e-texts relevant to their clinical practice in their Amazon Kindle. Additionally, the devices proved highly searchable with the ability to explore contents from multiple texts simultaneously. While the Shurtz and von Isenburg noted limitations in the Kindle, they believed that “further development of the device”would address the shortcomings.¹

Eastern University librarians assumed that this assessment would hold true for the less stressful environment of the classroom. Additionally, their study revealed that the Amazon Kindle offered significant social networking features enhancing the reading experience. This made it an attractive recommendation to faculty.

The study countered concerns about the Kindle’s lack of support for documents using digital rights management (DRM) and book sharing issues by noting the support for an interactive reading experience. Faculty and students via the Kindle website, Twitter and Facebook, could share notes, feedback comments and highlighted text. The librarians felt that this would facilitate greater faculty involvement with the student readings.

Participants initiated sharing notes and highlights from the device by switching on the “public notes” for a selected text. It is important to clarify that the shared notes were truly public; when activated, anyone could track a reader’s notes and highlights. Shared books selected from the checkbox form, "PUBLIC NOTES: MAKE YOURS PUBLIC” immediately displayed highlights and notes to the Amazon Kindle website.

A search for a particular reader’s name using the search tool at https://kindle.amazon.com/, presented a link to their Kindle webpage. Here participants viewed one another’s highlights and notes. Using the Kindle device, observers viewed shared notes and highlights via the “View Notes & Marks” drop-down menu selected from the Menu button on the display.

For those who did not use the Kindle device, a free app was available as a download from Amazon’s Kindle Store. This provided access to Kindle books for the most popular desktop and mobile platforms. Staff observed limitations to the app version, full listings of a reader’s highlights and notes displayed only on the Amazon Kindle website. They were not available to the app.

Social sharing was enhanced a step further when posting to Facebook and/or Twitter was activated. This feature, accessed through the “Menu” button from the “Home” page on the Kindle device, offered an exciting augmentation. A drop-down box for “Settings” and the option “Manage Your Social Networks” activated the service. The reader entered the Twitter or Facebook account username and password into the appropriate form. Afterwards participant could highlight notes and comments from their readings and post using the “Save & Share”.

The social networking tools built into the Kindle offered a benefit not currently found in other e-readers. This social sharing provided additional interaction and communication during the reading of texts. As an ever-increasing number of publishers, such as Elsevier and Springer, make publications available in a variety of formats, added features, like social sharing, make purchasing decisions easier.

1. Shurtz S, von Isenburg M. Exploring e-readers to support clinical medical education: two case studies. . J Med Libr Assoc. 2011 Apr;99(2):110–117. DOI: 10.3163/1536-5050.99.2.002.

Final version of this article appeared as The Kindle E-reader in the Nursing Classroom published in the MLANews, Volume 52, Issue 6, June/July 2011.

Notes from a Book

2011-09-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

1. Shurtz S, von Isenburg M. Exploring e-readers to support clinical medical education: two case studies. . J Med Libr Assoc. 2011 Apr;99(2):110–117. DOI: 10.3163/1536-5050.99.2.002.

Final version of this article appeared as The Kindle E-reader in the Nursing Classroom published in the MLANews, Volume 52, Issue 6, June/July 2011.

Nooks for Nurses

2011-09-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

In an article in the June / July 2011 issue of the MLA News, staff from Eastern University’s Warner Memorial Library reported that Amazon.com’s Kindle e-reader offered features that made it an excellent choice for nursing students. Reporting on a project funded by the National Network of Medical Libraries / Mid-Atlantic Region, it was noted that the Kindle offered superior social networking tools and an excellent user interface giving it an advantage of the Barnes and Noble original Nook e-reader. However, with the advent of the new Nook Simple Touch e-reader, early in June 2011, along with an updated version of the user interface, a reassessment was necessary.

The Nook Simple Touch offers a totally redesigned interface that makes downloading books, reading and navigation much easier than that found in the original Nook. Gone was the awkward two-screen interface of the original, replaced with a simple single touch screen. The navigation tools surpassed the physical keyboard found on the Kindle. The Nooks enhanced e-ink screen with a speedy page refresh makes reading on the new Nook enjoyable, in this Nook also has surpassed the Amazon product.

The advantage of the social networking benefits mentioned in the earlier MLA News article has disappeared. The new Nook offers the ability to send information ”post-its” to Twitter and Facebook, an excellent means for sharing readings with members of a class. Additionally, the improved web-browser opened up a large array of possibilities for classroom use with the potential to easily link to important web-based nursing education resources.

When looking at the way Barnes and Noble has positioned its Nook products, the bookseller has the potential to make a major impact in the textbook market 1. Barnes and Noble provides a wide array of Nook applications across a variety of mobile and desktop applications. If your preference is to read e-books on a PC, Blackberry, or IOS (iPad or iPhone) device then there is a Nook app available for a free download. 2. Barnes and Noble is a major player in the campus bookstore business. The company’s physical presence on campus provides a very accessible means for service and support. Additionally, as a major supplier of textbooks, Barnes is in a position to expand its e-textbook offerings. 3. All Nook e-readers are Android devices, with a potentially rich array of apps for nursing and medical education. 4. The Nook-study application, a free download for PC or MacIntosh, provides an additional avenue for nursing educators who use the online class management site Blackboard to impact student readings through the Nook-study Building Block product. (The Building Block is also a free download from the Barnes and Noble website.)

The developments over the last few months give the Nook a technological edge over the Amazon’s Kindle. So, whether purchasing the Color or new Nook Simple Touch, nursing educators and students will have a range of options for the classroom. If nursing faculty, students and medical librarians are preparing to dip into the e-reader pool, then the new Nook is a product deserving consideration.

Have a look at the new Nook and all the Barnes and Noble e-readers at http ://www .barnesandnoble .com /nook /index .asp .

Final edited version of this article can be found in the NAHRS Newsletter, Vol. 31, no. 3, July 2011

In Search of Florence Nightingale: Texts in the History of Nursing found in Google Books and the Internet Archive

2011-09-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

There has been much press about the future of libraries and the large-scale scanning of texts by Google Books (http://books.google.com), Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) and similar projects. An amazing array of digitized pre-1923 texts are available, pulled off the dusty shelves or drawn out from the remote storage locations of major library collections for digitization. It is difficult to tell what this explosion of information will mean for the future of historic research, and specifically research in nursing history.

For those interested in the nursing’s past a wealth of information emerges from these digitized collections. Recently while searching for early journals in the Internet Archive, late 19^th century and early 20^th issues of Public Health Nursing, The Canadian Nurse, British Nursing Journal, and The Trained Nurse and Hospital Review appeared. Additionally, Google Books presented very early additions of the American Journal of Nursing.

Browsing through the e-books in the Internet Archive revealed early editions of Lippincott’s Nursing Manuals, Nutting’s A History of Nursing, DeWitt’s Private Duty Nursing, Adventures of an Army Nurse in Two Wars by Baroness von Olnhausen and Louisa May Alcott’s Hospital Sketches. However, most impressive among the texts was a nearly complete collection of texts by and about Florence Nightingale.

Most importantly, found in the Internet Archive was the digitized Elmer Belt Florence Nightingale Collection from UCLA (http://www.archive.org/details/f_nightingale). It is a collection of books and other items by and about Nightingale, donated to the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library in 1958 by urologist Dr. Elmer Belt. The collection honored the work of Dean Lulu Wolf Hassenplug founder of UCLA’s School of Nursing. The digitized collection included editions of Nightingale's influential "Notes on Nursing" (1859 and later) and her other publications as well as autographs, biographies, and letters.

Additionally, the Internet Archive contained books from a range of other libraries. The New York City Library digitized Florence Nightingale, The Angel of The Crimea: A Story for Young People written in 1909 by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards. It was a youthful retelling of the Nightingale’s contributions to nursing. The scan was of excellent quality, as most of the Internet Archives’ scans were. It captured the look and feel of this writing (http://www.archive.org/details/florencenighting00rich). There was also Florence Nightingale: A Drama, published in 1923, a play on her life and another excellent digitization.

Google Books returned additional materials. The Journal of the American Statistical Association, Volume 15 from 1918, provided an interesting article by Edwin W. Kopp entitled Florence Nightingale as Statistician. When browsing through Books the New York State Journal of Medicine: Volume 10 revealed a September 1910 editorial written in memorial upon her death. In addition, from Harper’s New Monthly Magazine came an editorial, written in 1855, concerning woman’s suffrage, entitled A Sphere for Women: Miss Nightingale. The author, who did not appear inclined to support suffrage wrote, “If any woman is pining for a sphere, let her take passage and follow Florence Nightingale, and do good as extensively and as silently as she.”¹

There were many excellent texts on the history of nursing and medicine found in Google Books and the Internet Archive. Unfortunately, neither resource made for easy search and retrieval of documents. The Internet Archive appeared to use something akin to Library of Congress subject headings. However, there was no consistency in its use.

Overall the quality of texts scanned by the Internet Archive and associated supporters were superior in quality to those found in Google Books. The Archive also provided for downloads in multiple formats. Moreover, there was also an online reader, which mimicked the look and experience of reading a physical book. Nonetheless, both collections provided an excellent service to the public and academia.

The services are highly recommended. It is well worth any librarian’s time to browse and see what valuable materials are there.

The final edited text of this article was published in In Search of Florence Nightingale: Texts in the History of Nursing from Google Books and the Internet Archive published in NAHRS Newsletter, Volume 31, No. 1, Jan 2011.

Too Many Ways to Share Good Books

2011-05-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Goodreads ( http://www.goodreads.com ) is one of my favorite social networks. I don't spend enough time looking through the reviews and sharing my books. However, when I do I find it a very enjoyable part of a day. I fyou are not familiar with the site, take this opportunity to set up and account.

There are so many ways to share the reading experience these days. I addition to Goodreads, the Kindle allows the reader to post notes and comments to the Kindle site, Twitter and Facebook. See my Kindle notes page at https://kindle.amazon.com/profile/Mark-Puterbaugh/108229/public_notes .

Let the world know you love books! Read and share on one of the many social networking sites. It promotes learning and literacy on many levels.

Becoming More Human

2011-01-30T06:54:00.000-08:00

I have been reviewing an article for publication in, of all things, a journal of nursing education. It struck me how far we have come from the days... let us say from the days when I was in college. The use of simulation and virtual reality are becoming normative in medical education. The use of robotics, especially coming out of Japan, promises to revolutionize health care in the 21st century. That is if we can ever overcome the political and economic struggles we face.

How will this all come down to the consumer end of life? Undoubtedly, there will be a huge price tag. Most definitely, it will change our culture in radical ways, as it has already. Within my remaining lifetime, maybe 35 years, I expect to see virtual reality and robotics as commonplace as the smart phone. There will be no C3POs! However, there are devices that will interact with us in very natural ways. They are being deployed now. The artificial intelligence will be able to handle better our "fuzzy" human ways of thinking and communicating. However, I doubt very much if I will ever see any technology capable of self-realization.

A friend of mine was making travel reservations on the phone. She was talking, but not to a some one. The service used a controlled vocabulary to interface over the phone. Despite an Asian accent, the system understood the responses very well. This was a very simple system. I imagined what more complex systems are and will be doing. Computing speeds increase, storage space grows and soon we will not be able to discern whether the voice on the other end is human or not.

Will we be able to discern who is making our medical diagnosis or performing our operation? I hope it will not matter. It should improve things for doctors, nurses and allied health professionals to have the technology at hand for quick and accurate diagnosis and treatment. However, I do believe that humans will know humans best. Possibly the rise of technology will change medical practice into something rather old-fashioned, a human practice. Maybe relieved of much of the burden that technology can handle, doctors, specialists, and nurses will allow their humanity to break through. Let the technology handle the "cancer in 302", let the doctor and nurse treat the "person in 302". I hope that in the end all our technology will lead us to becoming more human and humane with one another.

These are just Sunday morning musings.

My Favorite Toys of 2010

2010-12-31T14:26:00.000-08:00

My favorites are not listed in any particular order. Although, the iPod Touch is my constant companion.

1. Apple's iPod Touch - I use this in so many ways. It is the Swiss Knife of handheld mobile devices. I use it to Tweet, access Facebook and LinkedIn, read, listen to music, keep up with the latest news, follow the weather, e-mail, and much more. The Touch provides the means to chat with friends in China, Korea and Taiwan on a regular basis, despite the time differences. The free texting apps save me money replacing the chat tool on my cell phone. My only regret is that my iPod Touch only has 8GB of memory. (It is hard to believe that I am saying only 8GBs. Once I was a person happy to have 16K of memory on my Atari 600XL.The 600XL is still my favorite all-time PC.)

2. Samsung NP N135 Netbook is another constant companion. This tool has made my morning 1.5-hour commute productive. It sports a very sharp LED display, comfortable 93% keyboard size and a long five (really) hour battery life that lasts as long as advertised. Let us not forget excellent Wi-Fi, webcam, 3 in 1 media reader, and three USB ports. Best of all the shell is a matte finish; I do not have to wipe it clean constantly. Samsung makes some great products.

3. Samsung 46inch LCD Series 550 TV. What can I say? Samsung is currently the champion of video displays. This is a fantastic TV! There were some complaints about faulty power on this unit. I have never had a problem with any component on the set. I just enjoy the view. Looked at Sony, LG and Panasonic the image quality on the Samsung TV is superior. (This is my second Samsung LCD. The other being a 20 inch screen.) There are great electronics coming out of South Korea.

4. Speaking of Korea, my new Korean love is the LG BD590 250GB HD Network Blue-ray Disc Player. It provides excellent DVD playback and a friendly, fun interface. Additionally it provides an internal 250GB hard drive to store and instantly access a variety media types. Additionally the BD950 provides access to various web based services including Pandora, AccuWeather and YouTube (I really like the YouTube interface).

5. The new AppleTV is so much fun. Sure, it is great for NetFlix (It has a better NetFlix interface than that on the LG BD590). Nevertheless, I also enjoy having all the media that I have downloaded from the Internet Archive accessible through the iTunes application on my Windows PC. All my pictures and home videos are there via iTunes also. Who can ask for more out of this $99 gizmo. I cannot wait until I can add the Safari browser and the other apps I use on the iPod Touch to my AppleTV. Just think how nice it will be, having a 46-inch iPod.

6. Logitech Wireless Keyboard and Mouse MK300 has been a great addition to my PC. Most conveniently the mouse becomes a remote when I am on the futon watching a Hulu or NetFlix movie.

7. Motorola MOTOROKR EQ5 Bluetooth Portable Speaker works very well with my iPod Touch. I use this a great deal while listening to the Audiobooks app.

8. I love my Kindle e-reader and the several hundred free books that I have downloaded to the device. The Kindle is light enough to carry along with my netbook on my commute. I have collected some excellent books free from Amazon. My only complaint has to do with the way the free books are converted; Greek letters do not transfer well when I export items from the Internet Archive. I feel ePub would be nice for the Kindle too.

9. Diamond VC500 One Touch Video Capture Device captures sound and images from almost any video or audio source. I have used it to capture media from my VCR, DVD player, cassette deck, radio, phonograph player and a digital TV conversion box.

10. Insignia NS-DXA1 Digital to Analog TV Tuner Converter Box in combination with the Diamond VC500 provides HD TV to my Windows PC. The program guide is a great, albeit limited, feature providing a very clear way to see what the current and next programs are. It has been an excellent addition to my desktop array.

I hope that I have 10 new items to share with you, next year. Well, as soon as I pay these off, I will look around for new toys.

Happy New Year!

My Top 10 iPod Touch Apps for 2010

2010-12-20T11:43:00.000-08:00

If anyone is interested in the apps an Information Services Librarian uses (constantly), here are my Top 10 favorites for 2010.

If you’re not interested that’s okay.

All are available via the iTunes App Store, http://itunes.apple.com.

The list is in no particular order. I use all of these everyday.

1. Stanza – Stanza provides access to a wide variety of electronic texts using a very friendly interface for downloads and access. Great tool for a commuter who doesn’t have time to unload the netbook or Kindle while waiting for the next bus.
2. Meebo – As the advertisement says, “The Meebo native iPhone app. It's fast, it's pretty, and it just flat-out works.” Wherever there is WiFi I can keep in contact with all my favorite peeps.
3. Dropbox – Undoubtedly this is the most useful and most used app for all my computers. Dropbox allows you to sync your files online and across your computers automatically.
4. WorldCat – Never suffer from library separation anxiety again. This Boopsie based app provides the best features of the Worldcat.org website.
5. Audiobooks – Great way to relax and learn by listening to over 3,500 classic audiobooks for FREE. Premium content is excellent and reasonably priced.
6. Twitter – Easily allows me to Tweet and Retweet on the go. Simple interface mimics the best features of the Twitter website.
7. Facebook – Being a Facebook addict, having an app with all the features of the website in a convenient, friendly interface makes mobile socializing fun and easy.
8. SkyGrid – As the add says, “SkyGrid is the #1 Rated iPad App for News and the best way to follow the things you care about!” Indispensible app for keeping up with the latest tech trends.
9. Google Mobile – Never be without your G-Mail again. Nice app with a friendly interface to all Google’s services.
10. Textfree – provides free and unlimited texting from an iPhone/iPod Touch. Always be in touch with this Pinger app.

Late or Left Behind

2010-12-12T06:44:00.000-08:00

I'm a commuter. Whether you get to work on time or at all in the city of Brotherly Love is a hit or miss proposition on any day. It's easy to be left behind or never to arrive at all. Wednesday was one of those miss days. Arrived at the train station to see that my train was suspended due to an Amtrak power failure. I could have taken an alternate route. But, that would have left me with a 20+ minute walk to my work place. That is all right in the summer, but with it being 30 something degrees outside, I decided to hang in town and see if anything would change quickly and then I could take the train.

While waiting, I parked myself in the food court at the Comcast Center. It is a very pleasant place with public wifi. (It was either that or McDonalds.) I booted-up my netbook and text chatted with the reference desk at the library, even shared a quick video tour of my temporary work place. Beside the conversation that I had with my fellow librarians, I had a conversation with one of our students. I was working. I became the Comcast Food Court reference librarian. It was cool.

Time went on. I kept checking the situation with SEPTA.org, the local transit service website. There were no changes to report. When I had first arrived at the food court, I was the only person on a computer. Now as it approached 11AM there were more. I packed up my computer and bought a slice of pizza (Portobello mushroom, yummy). By the time I sat down to eat, more people had arrived. The food court was beginning to look like a campus computer lab. Having consumed my lunch, I counted the number of computers. Amazingly, there were 22 laptops opened for business. In fact at one set of tables, six people and their computers were circled together apparently working on a project. I couldn't count how many people were texting or surfing the Internet on cell phones. These were not kids on break from school. They were mature adults doing their jobs. I was amazed as the sleepy food court transformed into a bustling place for business.

Ten years ago this would not have been possible. The growing accessibility of wifi access to the Internet is changing our culture rapidly and radically. As I look out my window on this sleepy rainy morning, I wonder how many reflect on the changes these technologies bring to our lives. Living in our silos it is easy to ignore how the world is changing, despite the 3000 channels available through our cable boxes. It is easy to think that the use of these new technologies is limited only to the kids.

We must ask some real hard questions. In this age, can education can be complete without exposing the next generation to the technology they will face in the real world? Will our kids be able to work in a high-tech global economy?

The other day, I had a faculty member brag to me that he had never read or sent an e-mail. He was quite proud of himself. Having this experience in the food court makes me wonder if such an attitude among educators (including librarians) should be tolerated. Yes, you can teach without the use of wifi and the Internet, it has been for millennium. But in doing so are you placing your students at a disadvantage? I'm not judging. Nevertheless, the question is something to ponder. It seems self evident to me that in the real world our students face major challenges, no matter the discipline.

We also must ask the question of our government; do we really want to cheat

America

's children? Can America afford to cut back on school budgets? Can “We the People” afford to see our libraries stunted or closed? For many of our fellow citizens the public school and the public library are the only places where they can experience the latest technologies. For all sorts of reason, the less privileged are kept that way.

I'm getting preachy. Enough to say, there is no reason in this country why anyone should be be late or left behind.

Bible Ontology

2010-12-04T12:04:00.000-08:00

I hold 2 degrees in theology. People often ask, "why?" The answer is a topic for another blog. But, I have acquired a taste for all things ancient. Yes, I spend hours gaping at old papyri, medieval icons, and when I really want to go old I look in the mirror.

I do enjoy theology and religious studies. Google Books and the Internet Archive have been a "heaven sent" for me. I find something new that's old every time I search the public domain collection of books.

Recently, I discovered something new in my search for better tools in biblical studies. It is the Bible Ontology site found at http://home.bibleontology.com. The Ontology is modeled & maintained by Dr. Myungdae Cho and his daughter, Mira Cho of South Korea. Dr. Cho teaches in the Dept of Library and Information Science at SungKyunKwan University and is a lecturer at other universities, including Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Korea.

For those of us who are unfamiliar with this type of resource it is difficult at first to see what the results on any given search does. However, working with the Ontology provides a truly new means of seeing the relationship between persons, places and concepts in the Bible. The Bible Ontology "aggregates all related meaningful data from all the sources in multiple resources, and displays them in the format of "Subject-Predicate-Object" format." (http://home.bibleontology.com/about.jsp)

Moses aggregate.

Doing a search for Moses provides a listing of related people, places and events. But it also returns results for ideas and things related to the in events, to roles assumed by Moses and related Bible verses. The values returned provide links that reveal further relationships, these linking to further relationships.

The Ontology Browser is a very powerful graphical tool that displays the relationships within the ontology in a visual manner. The relationship "spiders" are an excellent means to visualize how things are inter-connected. I will be spending more time examining the browse function, it is a great tool.

The potential of Bible Ontology as a tool for Biblical studies is large. Imagine this interacting with a critical edition of the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures, Greek and Hebrew Lexicons, Bible Commentaries, Dictionaries and materials related to the ancient world, classical religions and philosophy. Imagine a visualization of the Greek term "kenosis" from Philippians 2:7 spidering to classical and modern interpretations, sources from other religions and philosophies. The ability to visualize this would be of great help to the Biblical student.

Bible Ontology is well worth the time and effort to investigate to see the power of a semantic search tool and as a tool for Bible study. I will write more on this in the future.

Brave New World for the Written Word

2010-11-13T05:34:00.000-08:00

I have read more this year than in any time that I can remember. I think many people are experiencing the same thing. Why? With my iPad, Kindle and netbook I am carrying libraries of books with me. (I usually switch between three or four texts at a time.) I can read novels, reference, journal articles and technical books whenever I wish from the library I carry in my pack. Moreover, this library is not breaking my back to carry with me.

I like to keep my mind active. The idle time waiting and riding on public transportation can be boring. (I really do not care who is wearing or not wearing what. Nor do I concern myself that the conductor is rude or if the passengers are unruly.) I take out my Kindle or IPod and begin to read. Alternatively, maybe I put earphones on and listen to Joy Chan or Mark F. Smith read a Librivox Book. (I am mesmerized by Chan's reading of Mysticism written by Evelyn Underhill.)

Now it is the advent of the mobile phone novel. Why not? We spend so many hours gazing at those little screens. (See http://www.handyroman.net/indexeng.html .)

It is an amazing time for the written word.

PDA - It's about time.

2010-10-16T02:28:00.000-07:00

I was pleased to read that eBrary has added a PDA (patron driven acquisition) to their services.

I believe that PDA is an excellent idea. It places responsibility on the people who use the library to think about the collection. It gives them a stake in making their library's collection an excellent collection.

PDA does have it's shortcomings in that many excellent, less popular books may fail to make a profit. Therefore, it does not limit the librarians' responsibility, when it comes to collection development. In fact, just the opposite, librarians must think more about filling in the gaps in a collection. Librarians have to be more aware of the less popular but important works needed to complete a collection.

Yes, folks, the pain-staking task of collection development will become more important. This is both from a librarians’ view and from the publishers'. I hope that PDA will limit or end publishers habit of bundling "junk books" (dated or leftovers) into bulk purchases. It is time for both librarians and publishers to rethink the concept of what is good for a library. It is not the number of items in the collection that makes an excellent library; it is the quality of the items in the collection.

For paper or electronic versions of books, PDA is an excellent concept that can benefit libraries, publishers and the patrons.

The E-book Dilemma: Collection Development

2010-09-09T08:15:00.000-07:00

Digitized books are an important resource that librarians need to examine carefully. I know that that is stating the obvious. However, I think that many of us, in the profession, ignore the obvious because our daily work lives are spent in a building that houses paper.

A resource like Google Books is just the tip of the iceberg. Netlibray, Overdrive, Nook, Kindle, Ebrary and all the rest create a new landscape for the profession. We will soon reach a point where the number of e-books available will force librarians to act. Patron demand will assure this need to act. But what action must take place is the question.

More than ever the librarian must develop collection development skills. The librarian needs to know what is available and the best way to deliver a book in the format that a patron needs. For academic librarians its a question of who needs what, where. Commuters and distance learners really don't want a book they need setting on a shelf in the library. It must be asked if the campus student wants it on the shelf or available for their netbook, laptop, Kindle, Nook, iPhone or one of a hundred other portable devices.

So where do we begin? I feel a good place would be to start with the free books. There are large collections online in Project Gutenberg, Google Books and others. I have a preference for the Internet Archive,www.archive.org. The Archive has a million plus books available for download in a variety of formats. There is also a nifty online reader that simulates the feel of a book.

I have begun to sort out classic texts and organize them. Next will be to make them available through our library catalog. I have spotted items that are used my faculty and placed on academic reserve. Doesn't seem exciting. But, it's a place to begin.

What's my point? Simply, it's to start a process of thinking beyond the books in the library. It's to imagine a library without paper.

I'll share what I find. Hope you will too.

Book Collections from the Internet Archive

2010-04-11T04:40:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for an intriguing collection of e-books and texts, do take the time to explore the Internet Archive, http://www.archive.org/details/texts. As of the date of this writing the Archive claims over 2.2 million items in it's collection. There is no doubt of this number. the collection includes scanned items from universities around the world. Collections are presented from the libraries at University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, University of Toronto Zhejiang University to name a few.

The Biodiversity Heritage Library, http://www.archive.org/details/biodiversity, presents the digitized collections from 10 "major natural history museum libraries, botanical libraries, and research institutions." The collection presents the historic writings concerning biodiversity. Many of these writings have languished for generations in the special collections of these libraries, available only to scholars who knew of their existence.

The Biodiversity Heritage Library demonstrates one of the great benefits of the recent push to digitize library collections, especially the hidden collections. Materials once accessible to a small specialized few is now freely available to all who may have a concern. The freeing of knowledge may lead to new discoveries and changes in the way the natural world is perceived.

Of interest and historic importance are the sub-collections of e-texts. The Dance Manuals, http://www.archive.org/details/danceman, collection presents "dance manuals from the digital collections of the Library of Congress (spanning the years 1490 to 1929)"

The Microform Collection, http://www.archive.org/details/microfilm, provides access to materials from University of Chicago Libraries, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Alberta, Allen County Library, and the National Technical Information Service that were only available to their patrons through localized microform readers. The "Internet Archive is teaming up with libraries all over the world to begin digitizing microfilm and microfiche. The goal is to get as much content off the shelves and online."

There are many more ebooks and texts in the Internet Archive to explore. The problem is there may be too much. We live in a marvelous time, the beginning of a great paradigm shift can be envisioned. As knowledge is freed from the confines of hidden library collections, we may see a new Enlightenment. Let us hope this will be the case. Librarians of the near future are faced with a monumental task, finding ways to make all this knowledge more accessible to researchers and others who will benefit for all this work.

Future Roles for Medical Librarians

2010-03-28T17:41:00.003-07:00

Just put together some ideas on the future role of medical libraries and librarians. I would appreciate any constructive feed back.

Future Roles for Medical Libraries and Librarians

View more presentations from Mark Puterbaugh.

Doing College Level Research Using Google.com

2010-03-28T17:41:00.001-07:00

I think that I have demonstrated that it is possible to do college level research using the tools that Google provides. Yes there is a big "BUT" at the conclusion.

Doing College Level Research Using Google.com

View more presentations from Mark Puterbaugh.

Scirus

2010-03-28T17:40:00.001-07:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Scirus

View more presentations from Mark Puterbaugh.

Overwhelmed

2010-03-13T06:10:00.000-08:00

I think the title says it all. I've been investigating several sites to gauge the state of digitized books and other texts on the Internet. What I've discovered is that there is an overwhelming number of books available. I've looked through the collections found in Google Books, Project Gutenberg, The Christian Ethereal Library, ManyBooks.net, the Internet Archive's text collections and.... The list goes on and on!

Recently the Internet Archive announced 60,000 texts from the Library of Congress, this is a grand addition to their American Libraries archive of over 1.2 million items. While Google books receives the publicity, the Internet Archive has quietly put together one of the largest repositories of texts, audio recordings, video and more into one interface than any place on the Internet. Plus, they have a wonderful web based reader. (See below.)

What does it all mean? First, librarians will be overwhelmed for a long time just trying to keep up with all the changes and the number of resources available (we haven't discussed the thousands of open access journals). Also it means that we, the information specialists, have a key role to play to play in shaping the future of information economy. Everyone is in the same situation, there is far too much information available in far too many resources. The current standards and systems to classify, organize and retrieve all of this are outdated, meant for a time of card catalogs and primarily paper collections. The current "keyword" searching returns far too much data to be truly useful. Something of worth will be missed.

Finally two predictions for the future!

First, someone will design an AI tool or system of tools that will search, classify, organize and retrieve Internet based information. It will organize information in a far more detailed and accurate system than the Library of Congress Classification standard. It will also be scary smart. Google current search and organize algorithms will seem brain damaged in comparison!

Secondly, the days of the generalist librarian are coming to an end, even in the public library. Librarians will have to become subject information specialists. With so much information available it will be the only way for the professional to survive.

I'm glad I'm 55. It's only the beginning. I will probably be out of the way before the change becomes necessity. For now, I'm just like you all, overwhelmed!

Digital Nation

2010-02-08T11:48:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen PBS Frontline's Digital National then you need to do so. It is an excellent recap of what is happening in our culture. Warning there is some scary stuff in this program. I found the drone pilots to be alarming. I wonder what the dehumanization of war holds for our future. Disturbing also was how our military is using arcade games called the "Army Experience" to recruit youngsters into the war game.

There is also some awe inspiring sequences. I thought netiquette that is being taught to Korean grade school children was an awesome idea. Having an avatar designed in your likeness would be wonderful. There's the mind controlled avatars that allow you to eat and drink virtual goods. The medical use of high tech and IBM’s use of Second Life are all excellent examples of our growing use and dependency of digital resources.

Check it out on the PBS website: http://video.pbs.org/video/1402987791/

IPad, Kindle and E-books: It's Really Not About Us

2010-02-06T12:26:00.000-08:00

Often it seems to me that when we enter into the discussion about e-books we only think in relationship to our own preferences for paper. In the case of ebooks, and readers like the iPad or Kindle, we should be thinking in terms of the future and the so-called "digital natives." I know very few of the students at Eastern University who clamor for the latest paper edition of a magazine or journal. When doing their research the students (and by the way the faculty) are online searching WilsonWeb, Proquest and EBSCOhost. If we tell them that they can access an e-book from eBrary or NetLibrary at home or in the dorm they are very happy.

I have seen an evolution in the culture of our students over the last 12 years as a librarian. I expect that this trend will continue. Students today are used to reading and writing on some sort of mobile device. Whether they use a netbook, iPod or some other device, the youngsters are very used to this new form.

I think the iPad (dreadful name) is just another step along the way. With it's color display it's a flashier than the Kindle or Sony Reader. With Apple's marketing skill it should do well, despite the geeks disappointment that this was not the ultimate slate computer. (I think we will see that next year.)

Change is happening. It's an unprecedented change akin to the culture change of going from oral tradition to the written word. Whether I personally like curling up with a paper book or not doesn't matter, change is happening..

Funny we are not having this conversation about paper ledgers over electronic spreadsheets, nor are we having this discussion of paper letter writing over e-mail or the use of a word processor. Do any of us really memorize telephone numbers anymore? Our cell phone's memory does that for us.

I guess some people still prefer the use of pen on paper, but they are a shrinking minority. Life is becoming digital and we can't stop it.

So, I say, bring on the e-books, it's time to get in-line with the times and stop killing trees.

Name Change

2010-01-29T12:59:00.000-08:00

I've changed the blogs name. Don't want to limit myself in the ways I can expound and share my vast wisdom (right!).

I've been thinking alot about the revolution that's going on, right this moment! Libraries are caught in the midst of a battle between the old technologies of information delivery and the newest trends. So with this in mind I've decided to expand our reach to the Great Beyond.

What will the library become? Especially important for me (since I am the center of my own universe) is what will become of the academic library?

So let's talk.

iPod Application

2010-01-29T12:27:00.000-08:00

I have been enjoying my new iPod Touch (the 8gb model). Specifically for Second Life I have enjoyed using Touch Lite. It's a $2.99 app from Pocket Metaverse. It allows you to chat, im, view your inventory, upload photos, search SL and interact with your groups. There is a map to show your in-world location and within the chat tool a wheel tool that lets you move around a bit. Most of the standard features of SL are available, although without the 3-D interface.

For basic communication with friends and other contacts in SL it is more than adequate. If you have an iPod and you want to stay in the thick of things in SL try this little app.

Distributive Libraries and the Future

2009-12-05T01:44:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about the future.

As I am thinking about this "future stuff" it seems to me that the library as space is becoming less relevant. Over time the physical resources of the library will continue to shrink dramatically. This has already happened with periodicals. There are a few hundred titles still kept in paper form in the library, tens of thousands are electronic, accessible from anywhere. the books are quickly headed in the same direction.

This is a good thing. Our patrons have more resources at their fingertips than ever. Bad thing for the librarians is that the patrons don't have to walk in the door.

We are more powerful because we have become part of a "distributive system", we share our resources with many other libraries. But we want to be more than distribution centers.

What does this have to do with Virtual Social Worlds (VSW) ? Much!

VSWs are part of the future for library services. The virtual worlds will not be in the form we think of them today. They will have to become much easier to use, portable and mobile. They will also have to become much more real to life. Maybe a combination of real and virtual realities combined on the screen.

Reality is that librarians need to think about ways to move their services outside of the physical structure of the library, we have to become mobile. We also need to sharpen our skills as information specialists.

I think we are moving into an interesting era for libraries.

Korea University

2009-03-02T04:49:00.000-08:00

Today I had the privilege of sitting in on a Second Life training class at Korea University. It was a simple introduction class to the environment. Met some very friendly people. Korea University is investing a lot of money into SL and they appear to have an aggressive strategy to recruit other schools from around the globe to partner with them.

This may be a great opportunity for international collaboration.

Also, most interesting is that Korea University is surrounded my many of islands hosting international schools of higher education. From the map I was able to see Edinburgh University, Bowling Green University, the National University of Singapore, University of Sunderland - Singapore, Ohio State Unversity Medicine, the Marlboro College Graduate Center, Beijing Normal University, Santa Clara University, Ohio University.

I'm impressed by the time and money spent by institutions of higher education. It appears that the future of this environment for higher education is bright.

What is everyone doing? It's a big question. Is this just a fad or is there something here that many universities have yet to see.

If you read this and you are currently working and teaching in Second Life, let me know so I can share with others. Maybe together we can figure out the best practices for our Second Life schools.

The End is Near

2008-09-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

Sadly, all things come to an end. With this note I am announcing the end of VBI World in Activeworlds Education Universe. Barring a miracle the world will cease operations in November. The decision was made during the summer that Second Life offers a more active venue for the services that we hoped to provide in VBI. There are more Eastern University students active in SL then there ever was in AW.

It was a good ten years. VBI was demonstrated at conferences and meetings across the country. We even made a trip to the Library of Congress with our little virtual world. Hopefully VBI inspired others to build their own site.

We are now building the Virtual Learning Commons (VLC) and the VLC for Nurses in Second Life. We have rented space on the New Media Consortium's' Teaching 10 Island,http://slurl.com/secondlife/Teaching%2010/42/30/24 .

We invite you to come and join us. We want, especially, to invite rl nurses, medical librarians, and other healthcare workers to join us and be part of the VLC for Nurses.

Look for our groups and help keep the spirit of VBI alive!

Learning Commons for Nurses
Nurses @ Eastern University
Eastern University Librarians
Eastern University Students
Eastern Virtual Librarians Group

I'm open to suggestions concerning VBI. If you have an idea about saving the world let me know.
But, we're happy with the success we've had and will move on to the new adventure.

The Church in Second Life

2008-06-22T05:02:00.000-07:00

SL continues to amaze me. I wonder how much real life can be transferred over in this virtual realm. I have seen people experimenting and exploring the different nuances of their personalities in so many ways.

This morning I spent time exploring various Christian sites. Many religious traditions are represented in world. I am a Presbyterian Christian and the Christian faith is the one I find the most familiar. However, I found that the Catholic Christians present the most compelling presence in SL. This may be because the Catholic Church presents the most visual appealing representations of the tradition. Forgive me, my friends, but protestants tend to be bland.

Today, I enjoyed a quiet time in the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes,
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ghloogums/26/218/23 . It is a charming and respectfully designed place. It is what one would expect from a quiet place of prayer.

Nearby there are several churches where a visitor can go to pray. Yes, you can kneel at an alter and begin an automated session where a prayer rolls on your screen. I thought it was a wonderful expression of faith.

Catholic Now is a center for Catholic life in SL. There are classes and meetings. There is even a catechism class for new members of the faith. Its a very pleasent place to visit and learn, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Oro/84/216/28 .

Your Life Work

2008-02-12T06:50:00.000-08:00

This short film from the Internet Archive is dated. However, I think it does show the importance of the librarian's role. In the end the real world is where we do most of our work. Enjoy!

Project Min

2008-02-06T07:36:00.000-08:00

A graduate BSN student, Mi Young Lim, and I wrote in 2005 an outline for an AW role-playing game. Mi Young is originally from Korea and understood the difficulties in transitioning from Korean to American hospital culture. We thought that a game which would allow for the foreign nurse to experience cultural differences from the safety of a computer screen would be highly beneficial. Games can create a realistic experience for the player. But, a game can also soften the embarrassment one feels when faced with cultural differences.

Misunderstanding what we were trying to do, we were told that this would take over a million dollars to develop. The people who said this had little concept of what was possible in a virtual social world. I think it would have been fairly easy to develop our concept all we needed was time, a little money and real people! We were not trying to build World of Warcraft for Nurses.

Having spent time in SL and experiencing the multi-cultural nature of this virtual world, I am more convinced that SL lends itself readily to the creation of role-playing games like the one we proposed. These could make acculturation an easier transition. Looking at the proliferation of language tutors and courses in SL the acculturation process may be one step away. Yes it would only be a game, but a game can teach so much.

I offer below our first basic outline of Project Min. Hopefully it will spark others to thing of ways to use vr for education.

The images included came from a mock up we created in AW.

The Virtual Learning Commons for Foreign Nurses

(THE MIN PROJECT)

The concept behind the Virtual Learning Commons for Foreign Nurses is to provide the foreign nurse wishing to study or work in America with as realistic an experience of this country’s culture and life as possible before endeavoring to come to America. The VLCFN will work from a virtual 3-D environment to provide this experience across the Internet to the student sitting in the safety of their home, dorm or library. During the process the nurse will be tested, evaluated and their progress assessed through assignments, quizzes, and social interactions with characters in the virtual world.

The core of the VLCFN will be the environment of the Virtual Hospital. Here the nurse will interact with virtual patients, patient family members, other healthcare workers, nurses and doctors (role-played by real people on-line). In this simulated environment they can experience the life and culture of an American hospital.

The nurse will not only be evaluated on their social interactions, but also on their time management abilities and their medical knowledge. The student will need to negotiate through a wide series of challenges. They would need to understand and demonstrate their ability to live and work in an American hospital.

We have envisioned a role playing course which would take the foreign nurse through a variety of virtual locations and cultural experiences in and out of the hospital. The character in this role play can be any international student but for an example we will name her Min. She arrives in America or Canada to work as a nurse. She may choose to attend a university or she may strike out completely on her own. The important things that Min must demonstrate is her ability to understand how American’s “do things.”

As part of the role play she must write of her experiences in a journal. This writing can be things about her dreams, curiosities about the new culture and the challenges with her everyday life. The journal will be evaluated by instructors to help guide the student’s growth in adapting to their new culture.

Her 30 to 60 days in the Virtual America can be a series of role playing exercises which we have outlined below:

1. Personal Life (Series No.1)

Min's biography
Min's dream to become an American nurse
Receiving an American education
A first visit to an American hospital
Making an American friend
Talking, eating, and relaxing with Americans
Life in a multi-cultural society

2. Finding a Job in a new Culture (Series No. 2)

making a resume and cover letter
applying for a job
by phone
via the internet
in person
the interview process
accepting the job offer
negotiating salary and benefits

3. The American Hospital or Nursing Home: Dealing with the Professions’ Life and Culture
(Series No. 3)

Hospital Culture and Life
etiquette of an American hospital
psychological sense of time
greeting people
manners, politeness, rudeness
clothes to wear
social life
American doctors
calling the doctor
the correct way of reporting to the doctor
what to do if the doctor is wrong
Other healthcare providers
dealing with fellow nurses (American and internationals)
dealing with the pharmacy, nutritionists, cleaning crew, administration
delegating to subordinates (nursing assistants, orderlies)
responding to unexpected incidents
handling disagreements
handling a personal error
socializing on the job
The patients
social interaction with American patients

African-Americans

Latinos

Whites

Other Asians

dealing with family members
the difficult patient
emergency situations

4. Nursing in an American Hospital (Practical aspects, the science of nursing) (Series No. 4)

evaluating medical situations
prioritizing
knowing medications
physical assessment
understanding treatment plans
dealing with the work load
dealing with an unfair schedule
dealing with other's bodies (washing, touching, examining)
transferring patients
pre- and post- operation care
pain control
precaution / preventive
Dealing with high risk infectious diseases (HIV, hepatitis B)
wound care
applying nursing equipment
indwelling cath.
drainage cath.
peripherial IV
central lines
blood transfusion

The Virtual Learning Commons will contain everything that the foreign nurse would need to prepare them for life, study and work in America. The nurse would have access to on-line journals, books and indexes to help them prepare for their profession.

While the current course concept focuses on nurses, the concept can be used for a variety of foreign professionals wanting to live and work in the United States. While learning English is important for any foreign student wanting to work in this country, the nuances of culture can take many years to grasp. VLCFN or any possible professional virtual environment would be a first step in evaluating the possible success of individuals coming to America.

SL International

2008-01-11T11:29:00.000-08:00

I am amazed by the international scope of Second Life.

While spending much time in AW’s Entertainment Universe over the years I have met and made friends with many individuals outside the USA. But, there is nothing in AW, in that compares with the international presence found in Second Life.

In Second Life I have run into people from Germany, Korea, France, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and others. It is fascinating to listen to them voice chat in their native language or see them type in non-English characters.

Yes, you can do some of this in Activeworlds.com. There the users are just not using the technology.

That’s the point!

Why? It is the difference in the two social models found in AW and SL. AW allows you to do two basic things with your avatar; chat or build. The options that you have in SL are far greater. From designing your avatar, earning money, to role playing in a fully functional gaming environment there is more to do than chatting and building.

SL is a more attractive social place. This is simply because you can do more things together.

While AW may, in my opinion, be a better environment in a technological sense for distance education and distance reference, seeing that it has integrated into its browser Internet Explorer. SL may have the advantage in its flexibility and appeal as a social environment. SL is a little closer to real life.

You have to weigh a lot of things when looking to invest in a virtual environment. While cost, as mentioned in an earlier note, is important. If you are looking to extend your outreach for distance education and distance reference the social appeal must be a factor.

From what I have seen the number of universities, from all over the globe, is far greater in SL than in AW. Publicity aside something there must be drawing people in a way that AW never has.

For now, I won't make a decision on which universe is best for our VBI project's needs. We have 10 years of experience in AW and it has served us well.

Enough rambling! I'm going back to SL Korea and earn some Linden Dollars, I saw a nice jacket I want to buy. Also, I'll have some virtual kimchi while chatting with my friends.

Activeworlds not Second Life? The Choice is in the Budget.

2007-11-30T07:48:00.000-08:00

I was asked why with all the interest in Second Life did we (Warner Memorial Library, Eastern University) still maintain a presence in AWEDU (activeworlds.com) .

While competing products, such as Second Life (http://secondlife.com/), have gained notoriety over the last two years, we feel that AWEDU best meets our needs.

Why?

1. We have had over seven years of experience using and building our VBI project with the AWEDU platform.

2. We have an expertise in the possibilities of the technology. Since the AWEDU browser is a modified version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, it more easily interacts with our Web based database research services, such as EBSCOost, PubMed and OVID, and class management systems, such as Blackboard. Its a good environment for virtual bibliographic instruction.

3. Cost plays the major roll in our decision. In Second Life there are small islands specially priced for education and non-profits. They are $980 for 65,536 square meters (about 16 acres), and the monthly land fees for maintenance are US $150. This would cost the University $2780 annually. WOW!

Our current VBI world with over 200 acres of virtual property costs $620 annually. While there are limitations on simultaneous user, the remedy for this would not exceed the annual fees in Second Life.

Second Life's technology is, in many ways, superior to AW’s. The other day I saw a demonstration of a Nursing Education Simulator (NESIM). (It was awesome. I will describe in a later message.) It is something I dreamed about for our Department of Nursing. I do not think it can be done in AW. I envy that ability.

However, it all comes back to justifying the costs.

We are a small academic library trying to do things that larger libraries are doing. AW meets the budget for now.

Adventures In Second Life Coming Soon

2007-11-26T08:57:00.000-08:00

I finally have my new password. There has been some problems on my side getting to the blog.

Soon I will be writing about my adventures in Second Life.

While I have been away from the blog, I have been working on authenticating our patrons to use the on-line databases available through the Library.

We are migrating our proxy service to Athens. Athens is produced by the UK non-profit EduServ. Athens has been used for many years as the choice for UK institutions to authenticate their users. We and our patrons have fallen "in love" with the service.

Recently, I did a poster presentation at the PALINET 07 Conference in Baltimore concerning Athens.

It is quickly becoming the choice for our patrons in accessing e-resources from th ehome and office. The MyAthens personal accounts allows them to create a favorites list of the resources they most use.

We were the seventh institution in the USA to implement Athens. We are happy.

Now if only all our vendors would become Athens compliant.

Fo more information on Athens, see the website http://www.athensams.net/ .

Take Care,
Mark

Protonmedia

2007-07-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize how long it has been since I wrote to you all. Did you miss me? Probably not. I wanted to bring an interesting company to your attention, Protonmedia. They are packaging virtual 3-d worlds integrated with the latest Web 2.0 tools for businesses. The worlds they produce are packaged as the latest way to train employees in a variety of areas.

They are local to the Philadelphia area. While not as much fun as AW or SL, they intentionally plan not to be. This is no nonsense business. They do an excellent job in creating an educational atmosphere. So there won't be an alien creature plodding down in the middle of your presentation.

I have the download of their vr browser. Its provides an excellent preview of their product. I think it may be worth your time to see an alternative to SL or AW.

Their website is http://www.protonmedia.com/.

Take care!

Web 2.0

2007-03-20T13:46:00.000-07:00

There is an excellent article concerning Web 2.0 that I think is well worth the time to read.
While primarily written with medical librarians in mind, the information can be applied to any library situation.

Article title: The emerging Web 2.0 social software: an enabling suite of sociable technologies in health and health care education 1
Authors: Maged N. Kamel Boulos & Steve Wheeler
Volume 24, Issue 1, Page 2, Cover Date March 2007
Journal Name: Health Information and Libraries Journal
Click here to go to the abstract of this article in Blackwell Synergy:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2007.00701.x

Interesting Articles

2007-03-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

It may be worth your while to check out some very interesting articles found in Blackwell's Synergy.
These take a serious look at virtual communities and online gaming worlds.

Article title: Virtual Community Attraction: Why People Hang Out Online
Authors: Catherine M. Ridings David Gefen
Volume 10, Issue 1, Page 00, Cover Date November 2004
Journal Name: Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Click here to go to the abstract of this article in Blackwell Synergy:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2004.tb00229.x

Article title: Where Everybody Knows Your (Screen) Name: Online Games as "Third Places"
Authors: Constance A. Steinkuehler Dmitri Williams
Volume 11, Issue 4, Page 885, Cover Date July 2006
Journal Name: Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Click here to go to the abstract of this article in Blackwell Synergy:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00300.x

Article title: Procedures for Analyses of Online Communities
Authors: Devan Rosen Joseph Woelfel Dean Krikorian George A. Barnett
Volume 8, Issue 4, Page 0, Cover Date July 2003
Journal Name: Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Click here to go to the abstract of this article in Blackwell Synergy:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2003.tb00219.x

Looks like a game.

2007-02-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

Had a visitor to my office this week, someone wanted him to see what we were doing in Activeworld. He asked if this was real work. “Looks like a game.”

I received an email concerning the blog from two people interested in using virtual social world technology for their school. They said it was difficult for those in authority to take all of this seriously. “Looks like a game.”

Now there are many ways of approaching this problem. However, the best way is to be honest, we are playing games of a sort. Yes, its fun!

What's wrong with fun?

However we are using something fun to address a serious issue. The question is how are we, librarians, to remain relevant in a society that increasingly sees our profession as antiquated? How are we going to service a world where the technology for delivering information has far surpassed our imagination and ability to cope? How will we answer the question, what does a librarian do?

Face it folks, the kids probably can out do us when it comes to finding the relevant materials they need for school and life. Don't tell me they listen in those BI sessions. I've taught hundreds of them. They may take away a few facts; however, when it comes to research they turn to their peers and the Internet. Folks those are pretty fair resources.

Their peer to peer networking (and I am not talking about computers here) with their friends is much faster than anything we can retrieve. I get the feeling that they only turn to us when all else fails.

I hear my colleagues crying "traitor" as I type.

YOU BET I AM A TRAITOR! The winning side is with the young kids! The way they operate makes excellent sense. They know how to retrieve and organize information (look at facebook or myspace) in ways we can not imagine.

They know how to cooperate with each other, over the Net. They know how to get what they need, site licenses and copyright are not boundaries to them (this is another issue).

So what am I saying? Am I just rambling here? I hope not.

Probably I am. But, I feel passionate about this, whatever this is.

My growing apprehension is that we, information professionals, better begin to immerse ourselves into their world. No matter how often we discuss Web 2.0 or Library 2.0 in conferences. We better begin to play games. Get involved with their world.

I have a friend (one of my few), who says "Don't think, just do." Doesn't sound professional or scholarly, but it’s correct. We want to organize and control. Too late guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, my solution is this, sign up for Second Life, make some friends in MySpace, and use Windows Live Messenger to chat with people. No! No! No! Don't schedule virtual reference desk time!!! Just do it! Make all this part of your natural existence. Immerse yourself. Believe it or not, YOU HAVE THE TIME!!!!

Great experience the other day, I arrived in my office and received a notice on my Windows Messenger that someone wanted to chat. I logged on and had a live video session with one of the students from her family's home in Korea. No, this is not scheduled reference desk time, its real time, and its real life. I was able to assist her!

I run several IMs on my PC! I can monitor the virtual world with a similar tool! My email is always open (though its the older grad students and professors who contact me that way). My phone rarely rings.

I have student friends in facebook and all the other similar sites. I routinely check all! I like doing it.

It’s not really "my job.” It’s what I do.

Its time to play games! Its time to have fun! It’s time for us to take part in our patron’s world.

Yeah, I know the boss thinks you’re just playing games.

Cy World

2007-02-06T12:36:00.000-08:00

Sadly, Cyworld USA has closed down it's operations. It's still very much alive overseas though.

I have a very short blog today. A product out of South Korea is taking the world by storm and challenging My Space, is CyWorld. Take a look at this interesting social space, http://us.cyworld.com/main/index.php .

Aside from the usual web space for sharing personal info, there is a 2-D representation of a personal living space. Members can create their own personal avatar and place it within a home of its own. It can even speak, within a text bubble, to other members and friends in the community.

CyWorld has sites all over the world and in various languages. The company makes a profit off those who would accessorize their living quarters. There's lots of cool stuff to purchase.

Wouldn't this be great for a university to offer their students and alumni? Its a vision I've been working on. A virtual community for an academic setting. Its would be something to attract students and hold alumni.

It's not a bad place for networking. A university could sponsor a networking world for all their recent grads. It could be a place to guide alumni and promote the university in the greater RL world.

Memories

2007-01-29T09:01:00.000-08:00

I received a posting from a friend in the UK. She was my next door neighbor in the original virtual 3-D library world Librarea. Librarea was the concept of Jack Colbert a librarian from Georgia. Jack put a lot of time, money and effort into a great pioneering project. Whenever I speak of the success of Eastern University's VBI World, I refer to my early introduction to the technology through Jack.

Librarea used many innovations. First was Libby the Librarea bot, she giggled when ever the mouse touched. But, she also was a fine directional bot and could answer elementary reference questions. There was also a web-based bot that would tell where to find certain subject material, based upon the Dewey subject headings.

I wish that Librarea was still around. Jack, Taco Guy, Akuna were all pioneers and envisioned the future of the technology. While Second Life is grabbing headlines, and rightfully so, there were earlier projects that should not be forgotten. Librarea was one with which I am happy to have participated.

When Librarea shut down it was a very sad day. Activeworlds entertainment was not as appealing to me afterwards; it didn't seem as friendly a place. For the time that Librarea existed I was able to share with librarians from many corners of the world a vision of what our profession's future might be.

Hats off to Jack and Librarea!!

Resources

2007-01-15T07:53:00.000-08:00

An excellent resource for everyone interested in virtual worlds is Terra Nova (http://terranova.blogs.com). The site describes itself best, "Terra Nova is a blog about virtual worlds and their implications. Virtual Worlds include synthetics worlds, MMOs, MMORPGs, Social Worlds, MUDs, MOOs, and MUSHes. Terra Nova authors include scholars, practitioners and writers. "

The list of Terra Nova's contributing authors, active authors, and publications is impressive. The is also lists of publications and a research rolodex links that connects the reader to many fascinating sites. The site can open the reader to the depth of the virtual world phenomena.

Another site worth the time and effort to read is Betsy Book's Virtual World Review (http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/ ). The site offers a "basic guide to persistent online 2D and 3D virtual worlds that emphasize social interaction (MMOSGs). " Excellent reading for everyone interested in this technology. Unfortunately the site is no longer updated. Book has moved on to work with Makena Technologies the owner of the virtual social world There.

More to come!

Brave New World?

2007-01-12T10:21:00.000-08:00

I was just having a discussion with a colleague concerning on-line communities and virtual worlds. I had come across a service called Kaneva, a combination MySpace and Second Life. It's a very active on-line community. However, our discussion focused on the idea that there is a fundamental paradigm shift occurring in our society. More and more people are living a larger portion of their lives within these on-line communities. Since I deal so much with "virtual life" between managing on-line databases, distance reference and VBI World (in activeworlds.com's education universe) I have had the privlege to see more and more of this shift occurring, probably far more than the average librarian.

It's fascinating! My job has allowed me to have relationships with people from all over the world. It's not unusual for me to get an email on an IM from Africa or Hong Kong, regarding access to one of our library's resources or a reference question. Eastern University is an international school. I have had the opportunity to share part of my business and personal life with the faculty and students that I will never meet in person.

However, 3-D virtual worlds take the socialization offered via email, listservs discussion groups to a new level. Services such as Activeworlds, Second Life and There offer something more. The virtual environments are places. The avatars that we use are representations of real people.

You might say that's obvious. However I feel that the psychological (and I am no psychologist) and sociological ramifications are huge. In the real world we associate people with places and appearances. We are doing the same sort of thing in 3-D virtual worlds, especially in those services which offer highly customizable environments and avatars.

Much of this has been discussed in Shirley Turkle's Life on the Screen. On her website (http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/www/) there is a poignant passage from her book:

RL is just one more window, and it's usually not my best one." These are the words of a college student who considers the worlds he inhabits through his computer as real as RL--real life. He's talking about the time he spends "being" four different characters in three different MUDs--multi-user domains--as well as the time he spends doing his homework on the computer. As he sees it, he splits his mind and "turns on one part" and then another as he cycles from window to window on his screen. The computer and the Internet allow him to explore different aspects of himself. As another user puts it, "You are who you pretend to be." (http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/www/Life-on-the-Screen.html)

As 3-D virtual world representations, whether social or strictly gaming worlds, become more realistic will "RL --real life" change? How will this affect our society? How will this affect the way we deal with our patrons? Shouldn't we seriously begin to look at this as a fundamental paradigm shift and begin to the ask hard questions concerning the way people use the services that we deliver?

What character will we choose to be? We make the choice by our choice of services. Will the character we choose, pretend that change is not really happening?

Introduction to Virtual Worlds Blog

2006-12-12T10:40:00.000-08:00

This site exists for those interested in virtual social worlds. I am a librarian and my primary interest is in using this technology for a library setting. I manage a virtual world called VBI (Virtual Bibliographic Instruction). It has existed since 1999 and serves the community at Eastern University, St. Davids, PA.

One question that I am asked is “Why do this?”

My first answer is that its fun. Virtual worlds have been around a long time. Most of today’s patrons have been exposed to the idea of a virtual reality through video gaming systems or through MMORPGs (Massively, Multi-player, On-line, Roll Playing Games).

The second thing I do is tell people to look at the numbers. The World of Warcraft, a pay for use MMORPG claims to have over 7 million users. The free to use Korean game, Maple Story, claims over 43 million users worldwide. The social world Second Life claims over 1.9 million residents. As I am writing there are over 14,000 people logged on and socializing in Second Life.

I could go on with these large numbers.

The point is we librarians provide a service. We should provide that service where we find our patrons. Our patrons are spending more and more time on the Internet. The numbers indicate that they are spending more and more time in virtual reality.

Most of the students I meet, at the least, know about Second Life, Maple Story or World of Warcraft. Many have played online or socialized in a virtual social world.

We librarians need to know where are patrons are. We need to know the technologies that they use, if we are to remain relevant.

Virtual worlds are but one technology that today’s patrons are using. It is one in which I am deeply involved. I hope together we can investigate using this technology and learn more about our profession and our patrons.

Check out the VBI Project at url http://eastern.edu/library/www/services/chat/vbiproject.shtml . Come and visit us. Your constructive comments will be appreciated.