In LISland we've been talking a lot about ebooks: DRM issues, the big 6 publishers not licensing to libraries, Kindle and privacy, Kindle and disappearing books/notes, Android devices, Overdrive offering different things to different libraries.... The big 6 publishers wish there were no such thing as libraries and they really don't want to do business despite the fact that libraries do pay and also increase readership overall.

With that said - that really has nothing to do with ebooks in science and technology research settings! All of that really is public libraries and popular books. My parent institution library did a survey this past year and got lots of responses about not having devices and things like that.... OUR books are nearly all done on the journal model:

• one pdf per chapter (no special device required!)
• unlocked pdfs (no DRM - can be downloaded, printed, marked up)
• searchable on Google
• IP authenticated

The main ones that are not - Safari and Books 24x7 - are just html. Our books are in our catalogs and sometimes are searchable by our discovery services or federated searches. We can buy large collections, too.

The thing is that scholarly publishers rely heavily on the library purchases for things besides textbooks.

Many if not most or all large research institutions with distributed specialty branch libraries and collections are closing the branches and merging the collections into the general collection. While we all lament these actions, I wanted to post some pluses and minuses.

Branch libraries tend to focus on a specific research area. For example, chemistry branches have been quite common. The materials that are purchased for the branch are targeted specifically for the research interests of their users and the librarians from these branches typically specialize in searching that area of the literature – even more than liaison librarians do in general research libraries. Some branch libraries are funded in part from department money or have materials that were purchased or licensed by departmental funds. The branches are in or near the departments they serve. Over time the specialized expertise of the librarians working closely with the department and the tailored purchasing creates a collection that is quite efficient for finding information.

In previous years of poor funding and with the big deal packages, the branch libraries have aligned more closely with the dean of the libraries and the entire library system. Licenses for electronic materials are negotiated campus wide, even if the print copy (or archival print copy) remains in the branch. The librarians in general report to the libraries and not to the departments (although I know of one case where this isn’t true).

Some of the negatives of branch libraries. Every point of service costs money. Even if you just have student staffers in the evening, that’s more staff. There’s also the power and lighting. There’s the courier that has to go to a different location. There’s the space that the department is giving up that could be labs or offices or meeting rooms.

Also, what about all of the interdisciplinary work? If you do chemical physics you go to the physical sciences library, if you do physical chemistry you go to the chemistry library (at one point, a lot would be duplicated, but no one has the money for that anymore!). So there goes some of your serendipity, right? The things that would be housed together are now in two different buildings. If you’re an undergrad you have to hoof it. If you’re faculty you might be able to request something be sent over.

When branch libraries are closed, duplicate materials may be weeded, but the majority of the materials will be merged into the general collection. That might mean that they are spread far and wide. Most of them might go to off-site storage (in the case of one at Maryland, they were like, yeah only about 400 people are interested in this publication so we’ll put it off-site – of course, the entire population of the school was 400 people).

Library-as-place issue surfaces, too. Branch libraries are good places for students in that area to study – more so than going to the general branch because they’re with people who are struggling with the same issues.

At the same time, for research areas where electronic resources are most valued, monographs aren’t all that important, and references to historic documents is rare, it probably does make sense to get rid of the branch.

What happens to the librarian?  She’s moved to the general library, picks up a few more departments, and, unless she works pretty hard at it, loses touch a little with the old department as she learns about the new departments.

If you had to make the choice, would you pay to keep the same electronic access or to keep the branch? (don’t believe you’ll get more money for resources from this, because it’s expensive to close a branch and electronic resources get more and more expensive – this is only to tread water)

I’ve maintained for a long time that ebooks are the wild west and a real mess. That has not changed a bit! If you got a Nook for a gift or have an iPhone, you can be pretty functional pretty quickly. First, I highly recommend checking out this blog: http://www.pigsgourdsandwikis.com/ . It has lots of practical advice.

Now, why would you want to get ebooks from the publib? Mine has Mary Roach’s new book and the HeLa book plus things from Pinker and Tyson and Hawking – so fun science reading. It also has business and self-help books as well as lots of good fiction – all paid for by your tax dollars! No out of pocket costs to you. Typically you’ll need to visit a local branch in person at least once to get a card before you can just check things out online.

There are two big vendors for public libraries: Overdrive and NetLibrary. Overdrive seems to really be the biggest, but I suspect NetLibrary will make a comeback once their new evil empire owners really take control. (academic libraries have many, many, many more choices and I heard that ebrary is going for the publib market, but I’m not sure how that’s going).

For ereader devices like the Nook and the Kobo, you typically transfer library books over using the cable connected to your computer. In my case, I have Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) installed on my computer and authenticated to the same e-mail address as my Nook. When you set up your Nook or your ADE, you would have been asked to register at Adobe.com. You can change either of these, but they have to match.

When you see an ebook on overdrive you want to read, you click to check it out and in my case, we can pick a 7-day, 14-day, or 21-day loan period. I understand that in the ritzy county to the north, they only get 14-day loans. Then you hit the download button and it shows up in ADE. In library view, you’ll see the cover with a little banner across saying 14 days left or whatever (the file will be there after 14 days, but you can’t open it). Then you plug your Nook or Kobo into the usb port and it appears in your ADE ( a little icon picture of the device), and you can drag your new book over and put it on the device. That’s easy.

If you have an iPhone or iPad, you could download the Overdrive app – but it’s gotten pretty poor reviews. Another option is to download the BlueFire app. Following the steps from before, when you hit the download button from your library’s overdrive site, you downloaded an .acsm file. E-mail that file to your iPhone. Open the attachment with BlueFire and voila! You now have the book on your iPhone. This doesn’t allow you to sync between your two readers, so you would have to remember your place.

It’s actually not so hard anymore. Give it a try.

I’m sure some of the other entries to the Carnal Carnival on body odor will examine the origins and meaning of body odor, but that’s not my goal here. Public libraries and libraries for most universities are open to the public. Public libraries have the mission of serving the community. This includes families and children and job seekers, immigrants, and homeless, among other groups. Some of these people can be very stinky – particularly the homeless, although some immigrant groups that don’t do the whole deodorant thing can give them a run for their money on a warm summer day. I’m hoping to pull together some funny stories here, but first, let’s look at some more serious aspects.

There’s an excellent post by Kim Leeder on the group blog In the Library with the Lead Pipe. The author takes a nuanced view of what service means, and how libraries deal with homeless. There’s an ALA policy on services to the poor, but as the author points out, there’s a lot of hypocrisy. We’re supposed to serve these people – they need our services more than other groups – but we have rules against them and we do not always welcome them into our libraries. The problem is balancing the needs of the homeless with those of the rest of the patrons. The presence of homeless can make other patrons feel unsafe and if nothing else, uncomfortable. And the smell can create a nuisance. Also cited in that same post are some local ordinances that ban body odor in libraries. When I worked in the public library, we definitely had some stinky patrons, but unless they did other things like scream or throw things, we didn’t kick them out.

What should libraries do about stinky patrons? What should libraries do about patrons bathing in the bathroom? Referring to services is helpful, but not enough. Particularly because there aren’t always services and the services that exist come with strings.

I asked the Library Society of the World members on friendfeed for stories and got a different problem: library staff. Librarians who have supervised student workers (and sometimes regular adult workers) have had to counsel employees to wash. There are definitely some stinky undergrads so it’s good that they’re getting this advice. Having staff members in public service positions who are offensively stinky is not a great way to be welcoming. (and welcoming is part of the reference guidelines). Of course there are also people who wear WAY too much heavy perfume causing noses to twitch in people without allergies but causing sickness and lost work time in people with chemical sensitivities.