From Web Sites to Widgets

How can libraries cash in on the widget craze? A colleague of mine recently suggested an answer: using widgets to provide specific services offered by public libraries.

It’s time to start thinking less about complex web sites and focus more on widget applications that allow libraries to highlight particular services that our users want. For example, I’ve downloaded applications for Google Maps and ESPN to my BlackBerry, and I use these constantly. One benefit is that since I’m opening a smaller application and not the entire web site, the load time is quicker and I spend less time getting the information I want. Making it easier to locate information – sounds like a responsibility of librarians, right?

Here are some services offered by public libraries that could potentially be utilized by a widget:

• Online catalog (search for materials, locate where they’re checked in, place holds)
• Account login (view holds, fines, blocks; edit personal information) Events calendar (upcoming programs)
• Readers Advisory (searchable lists by topic)
• Electronic databases (newspaper, magazine, journal articles)
• Ask a Librarian (chat reference)
• Homework Help (for kids and teens)

Web sites may become the middle person that we increasingly find ourselves trying to eliminate. If we can make it easier for users to locate information, why not do it?

Is Your Library USB-ready?

There was an article in The New York Times on Monday, “In Some Schools, iPods Are Required Listening” that I think gives a good indication of where libraries should be going. My experiences with circulating equipment have not been pleasant. We currently have a stack of broken laptops in my library that were loaned out to patrons at one point. So given the budgets of public libraries I don’t think we’re ready to circulate iPods. But I do think that patrons should be able to use their own peripherals (mp3 players, digital cameras, and handheld video games devices) to interact with the computers in public libraries.

“How do I download music?”

“How do I email the photos on my camera?”

I’ve heard these question countless times. My response is usually “you don’t”, followed by some sort of embarrassed expression. Part of the problem is software. Maybe public libraries need to look at generic Open Source software that would allow patrons to utilize their devices on public computers, regardless of model, manufacturer, etc. I don’t know what the answer is, but I think we certainly need to be asking the question.

It’s fair to say that the computers in our public libraries are currently USB-functional. Many patrons are now entering libraries flash drive in hand. I’ve seen teenagers in the library viewing files on the PCs that they saved to their Playstation Portable (PSP). But there are still problems with using other devices, so I would argue that we need to become more USB-ready.

Today libraries are a place to use public computers, but tomorrow we may be a place to use other technologies. And if we’re not, then people will probably find somewhere else to go.