Technology brings with it a high body count. It's killed the video store, put compact discs on life support, and all but ended film cameras. Technology has been chipping away at independent bookshops for years, and recently dealt a mortal blow to the world of chain bookstores. Depending on how you look at it, it's either a great time to be a library or a terrifying one. With a mandate to serve the community with the best content in the most accessible way possible, libraries are fighting to adapt to the new climate, stay current and continue to offer their members what they want.
The Ann Arbor District Library has approximately 100,000 members, 60,000 of which used the library's services this past year. From a technological standpoint, the library's goal is to provide content that their members want in a convenient way, according to AADL Associate Director of IT and Production Eli Neiburger. "We want users to recoup their investment in the library in a hassle-free way that fits into their modern lifestyle."
Ypsilanti District Library Technology Manager Scott Ostby is trying to achieve a similar goal with the YDL for its 65,000+ cardholders (as of 2009). "Our library system serves 82% of the district," says Ostby, pointing to the importance of keeping the library up to date on technologies that patrons are using in their everyday lives.
The struggle to remain up to date and relevant is nothing new for libraries. Ann Arbor's library system has made it a goal to keep pace with technology for decades. Its most recent project is a partnership with digital music publisher
Magnatune to offer over 1,000 albums and 13,000 tracks for streaming or downloading to AADL members. The project, which
costs $10,000 a year for licensing, is the first and only partnership of its kind and has led to Magnatune attending this year's American Library Association Trade Show.
"We've had fantastic feedback from our members," says Neiburger. "It's hassle-free, unlike a lot of similar programs, and our collection is so diverse that there's something for everyone."
Patrons stream or download individual tracks or whole albums across a wide range of artists from world music, electronica, punk and hip hop. Neiburger says he's received specific praise about Magnatune's collection of early and choral music, an example of the library serving a unique community with its content. Tracks are constantly being added and there are no due dates on downloads.
The AADL supports the Magnatune project with a blog entry each time a new wave of tracks is added to guide listeners to popular offerings. The AADL also incorporates a ratings system to give members a chance to find tracks that other members have enjoyed. There's also a social media component which combines Twitter and Facebook with Magnatune, allowing patrons to tweet or like certain tracks which then get published on their social streams for friends and followers to see. Neiburger points to a high volume of clicks on these social posts.
The only drawback of Magnatune is the lack of big-name artists. You won't find any Rock and Roll Hall of Famers in this catalogue.
"We've got a lot of up and coming artists but not the big names," says Neiburger. "It's all about licensing fees."
Licensing fees and copyright laws test libraries at every turn. Many copyright laws governing libraries can't handle the current state of technology and many publishers and vendors are working on old models that don't make sense in a digital world. Libraries are more at odds than ever with the people that can get them the content they need.
"Big publishing houses see libraries as a threat," says Neiburger. "Libraries are a big part of getting books in front of people's eyes but the marketing value of libraries is being cast aside by publishers. To them, one borrow is one less purchase."
The one area where this battle is becoming most apparent is e-books. The AADL and YDL have agreements in place with digital distributor
OverDrive to provide e-books to their members, paying between $8,000 and $10,000 per year for the service. The AADL offers around 9,000 titles (18,000 copies) with around 13,000 checkouts per year, while the YDL offers close to 6,000 e-book and e-audio book titles including more than 15,000
Project Gutenberg titles which mostly include public domain titles. The YDL only went live with OverDrive a few months ago but they've already seen a decent amount of action on the digital side.
Unlike Magnatune, licensing agreements with OverDrive are a bit more restrictive. "
HarperCollins has set their titles in OverDrive to expire after 26 checkouts," says Neiburger, "so we only offer 15 of these titles in the collection." Neiburger goes on to explain that most OverDrive content can only be used by one user at a time, so patrons have to wait their turn to use a digital item just as they would a physical copy.
"That's basically a non-starter for us," says Neiburger who says the AADL offers these restrictive downloads to those patrons with compatible readers but that it's not a long term solution to e-books. "It's a challenging time for the publishing industry and libraries are holding the short end of the stick," he adds.
Both library systems have done a good job of keeping up with emerging video technologies, stocking their libraries with DVDs and building catalogs of Blu-ray titles. The AADL began adding Blu-ray titles to its collection two or three years ago and has had triple-digit growth yearly in the number of titles available. The YDL Blu-ray catalogue is a little thinner but Ostby says additional titles are always on order.
The next logical step in video lending is streaming, but once again licensing and copyright law come into play.
"We'd love to stream video. We have the infrastructure," says Neiburger, "but the issue is rights. We're not likely to get far talking to a studio or to Netflix. We stream our own video but we're not invited to those parties."
With powerful outside entities controlling content, libraries are turning to generating their own content or focusing on improving the user experience. The AADL's website is one of the most user friendly in its class and since 2005 has launched a number of smaller side sites like
AXIS for teens or an upcoming comics site to cater to its constituents.
The AADL has produced its
own podcast for years, created by library staff and usually released in conjunction with an event at the library. They're also in the midst of recording a second podcast in conjunction with the comics site called
Comics are Great.
One area of evolution that bears mention is the move away from the Dewey Decimal System towards a more user-friendly bookstore approach.
"The Dewey Decimal System is for the convenience of librarians and it's outlived its usefulness," says Neiburger. "The AADL and YDL have started the revolution on a small scale by arranging their DVD collections by subject like you'd see at a video store -- a small step but an important one towards bettering the user experience."
"In our strategic plan over the next three years there's an initiative to make the user experience a lot easier," says Ostby, "but we're not sure what approach we're going to take. Some libraries are moving towards a bookstore feel but I'm not sure if we'll be one of them."
Neiburger points out that the AADL website lists books by genre and also points to the AADL's strategic plan which looks at a patron-focused classification system for books.
"The fact that our website sorts by genre is kind of a big step. Doing that with books is a much longer term project," says Neiburger.
Richard Retyi is a former assistant director for athletic media relations and social media director at the University of Michigan and currently works as a brand channel manager at Big Fuel, a marketing and communications firm in Detroit.All photos by Doug Coombe
Photos
Eli Neiburger running the Ann Arbor District Library's Kid Zone at Top of the Park
Eli at the Kid Zone with Kid Art
Scott Ostby at the Ypsilanti District Library on Whittaker Road
Scott in the Story Room at the Whittaker Road branch
Microfiche at the downtown Ann Arbor branch
Old phone books at the downtown Ann Arbor branch
Microfilm at the Whittaker Road Ypsilanti branch
Archaeological Atlas of Michigan at the Whittaker Road Ypsilanti branch
Browsing the catalog at the downtown Ann Arbor branch
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