Month: March 2013

Library Services – or, What Makes A Library Valuable?

An Attempt to Bring Together a Variety of Recent Issues

I know the hoopla about Terry Deary is old news already, but I keep thinking about it, circling back around to it.

Despite my powerful and vociferous reaction to his statements about the value of public libraries, there’s something about this situation that still isn’t resolved in my mind. And I think I know what it is.

Terry Deary is absolutely, 100% wrong about the “concept behind libraries”. Which begs an essential question:

How did a well-educated, literate man come to view public libraries so wrongly in the first place?
Continue reading “Library Services – or, What Makes A Library Valuable?”

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Ebook Lending for Kindles & Patron Privacy

Back in November, I wrote about some serious concerns I have regarding library-based social sharing platforms and patron privacy. More recently, I find myself harboring similar concerns about ebook lending for Kindles.

I’ve never actually checked out an ebook from my library. So the other week, when I was asked to help a patron check out an ebook for her Kindle, I was taken aback when we reached the step where she was required to sign in to Amazon using her personal Amazon ID. This step raises an important question:

What happens to the record of this transaction in Amazon’s database?
Continue reading “Ebook Lending for Kindles & Patron Privacy”