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The Starbucks team worked with the library to create a unique space. This isn’t just another coffee shop stuck into a library, but the design honors the rich history and legacy of the library itself, so library patrons don’t just get a cup of coffee, they get an experience.
Today, Oculus Rift, the company that pioneered Virtual Reality (VR), launched a pilot program that provides 100 Virtual Reality kits to libraries in California. These kits include Oculus headsets, hand controls, and computers needed to run the software. The program includes several software titles as well, designed to aid in education. The program is a […]
Without physical staff, some questions are raised: Who monitors the cameras? Who responds to such emergencies? What will the blind spots in the cameras be (like restrooms), and how will they be dealt with? The prevention of theft is a significant concern as well. Certainly a card system and cameras help, but cards and pins can be stolen and hacked, and identities can be hidden from cameras.
History buffs get excited whenever a state or local agency announces the digitization of a huge collection of newspapers, birth and death records, and other archives. We all want the Holy Grail: convenient online access from home that lets us drill down and find information from genealogy records to crime reports.
Just last month, seventeen libraries in the St. Louis area were victims of a ransomware attack. The cyberattack disabled the library computer system, and the attackers demanded a ransom to bring them back online. What can you do to protect yourself? There are a number of simple steps you can take to protect your library.
American Graphics Institute, located in Woburn, Massachusetts has a wicked program for libraries. In this case, wicked is a good thing.
Libraries have a lot of uses for big data. It can reveal useful information for librarians, archivists, researchers, publishers, and authors. What does this set of mobile analytics data tell us about users and their behavior?
Thanks to a partnership between the Chicago Public Library and the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), mixed income housing developments will house small libraries.
The same things that make libraries a good place to study also make them a place where individuals feel they can get away with drug use.
Kindle Reading Fund: Amazon Donating E-books and KindlesOne of America’s top business leaders, Jeff Bezos developed the concept of predictive analytics and has centered Amazon around the customer. When offering insights to today’s business leaders, Bezos says the Kindle and the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud were invented because of his obsession to give his customers what they want. And one thing customers want is to feel like at least some of the profits from their purchases go to good causes, and Amazon is making some clear efforts to find its feet as a prominent corporate benefactor. On August 24th, 2016 they announced the Kindle Reading Fund, The Seattle Times reported that the program will initially donate thousands of devices to developing countries through the non-profit Worldreader.
Much has been said about the battle between publishers and libraries. Libraries objected to high prices, especially for e-books, and publishers moaned about decreasing profits. Discussions center around ownership models and digital preservation, but one variable is missing in all of these equations: the author.
It’s not just the number of patrons who walk through the doors or the number of books borrowed that matters. The library is about cultivating a love for reading, encouraging new readers, and converting nonreaders into readers. How is that done?
The Pokémon GO sensation has skyrocketed in a short period of time, going from a much anticipated game release to a global sensation. It illustrates a couple of things: first, that augmented reality is the future of gaming, and second, that people are ready for that future.
Change has become the norm for libraries as it has with many other businesses who wish to remain competitive. The rise in popularity of the e-book and digital libraries, the transformation to digital centers featuring computer and Wi-Fi access, and libraries as community meeting centers has challenged what used to be the norm, and replaced it with an ever evolving one instead. Here are five emerging technology trends that will benefit both staff and patrons.
“Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem. Translated: More things should not be used than are necessary.”
—Occam’s Razor
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