Digital Materials: Good or Bad?

OK, I'm going to be a librarian for a minute, so bear with me. I belong to a librarian mailing list from which I've gotten information on a number of interesting library issues, from libraries' role in regards to homeless patrons, to library issues in the UK and other parts of the world, to library ethics. A thread of emails today about digital library materials caught my eye and I feel compelled to add to the conversation about this issue here. The discussion began with the misconception of the public at large how much (or rather, little) reliable information (from journals, books, articles, etc.) is available freely online. It segued into the worrying trend of some libraries to clear out vast areas of the physical collection to make room for "makerspaces" and relying more heavily--or in a few cases, completely--on the library's digital collection. Perhaps this works for some libraries, but this is not a move I would advocate in general and here's why.

Ownership versus subscription is one of the biggest reasons I hold back. What patrons don't realize is that libraries most often don't actually "own" the digital materials in their collection the same way that they own a book on the shelf. The library subscribes through a vendor(s) to the list of digital materials that show up on a patron's search results. That list is not set in stone. The actual titles are not purchased, access to them is granted through subscription. If the library chooses to end its subscription to that vendor, the materials are no longer accessible. If a book ceases to be offered through the vendor, it will often be removed from the subscription. My district works with a single vendor for all of our elementary library collections. We were approached at the end of the last school year to see and possibly purchase digital books through one of its services. Getting the books would require only a one-time purchase (rather than a subscription). One of my first questions was "do we actually own the books?" followed quickly by "what happens if the book is no longer offered?" The response was that yes indeed our libraries would own the books and would continue to have access to them no matter what, even if it is no longer available for purchase. This is the exception to the trend, and until more vendors--particularly the big ones--follow suit, I would never replace any part of my collection with an all-digital collection.

There is no expiration on a book. Yes, the information in the book may no longer be valid or reliable after a period of time (think of all the books that still list Pluto as a planet--poor Pluto). But it won't suddenly disappear from the shelf because a subscription ran out. It will remain on the shelf and in the collection until the library decides to remove it. With digital materials, many have expiration dates by virtue of being included in a subscription. When the subscription expires, POOF the book or article or journal is gone without so much as a "by your leave." If the subscription is renewed, the expiration is pushed back, but it is never not there. Digital materials expire, and so to rely largely or solely on such materials for a significant part of the collection seems silly and potentially dangerous. What if the library loses funding and can't afford its subscriptions? There goes the digital collection. At least with physical materials, if the library loses funding the books are still on the shelves. They were already purchased outright. Funding is always a major concern within libraries, so having a collection that is mostly or completely digital is borrowing trouble since there is never a 100% guarantee that all services and materials can and will be fully funded.

Digital formats change. Think of how much they have changed in the last 5, 10, 15 years. When formats change, it isn't always possible to transfer digital information to the new format, and it is lost when the equipment for old formats breaks down and can no longer be used. Books don't have that problem. They have outlasted every digital format change since the birth of computers. Stop and think about that for a moment. Even with their physical limitations, print materials have lasted decades, even centuries. With digital materials, there is a built-in obsolescence that can be incredibly problematic in the long-term. With subscription services, a lot of the hassle is mitigated, but things can still be "lost in translation" after an upgrade.

Information can be removed without the library's control. This is something I bet most people don't think about. How can stuff be removed when the library is paying for it? The same way that Netflix can add and remove content without your, the subscriber's, control. Libraries are often not paying for individual titles, journals, etc. It might be that they choose a publisher they want titles from, or a subject area, or an age group. The vendor is the one that chooses which titles to include, which new ones to add, and which old ones to take out. Libraries are put some control of their collection into the hands of vendors. That's not always a totally bad thing. It saves time for the big libraries that don't have the resources to choose every title individually. But it does mean that libraries don't have complete control of their collections' management. There's a level of trust placed in the vendor that it will choose things that patrons want or need and take away things that they don't. Again, not always a bad thing, but the vendor may (and does) make choices on materials that libraries would not. Having a mostly or completely digital collection will essentially limit the choices libraries can make about their own collection.

Now, this isn't to say that digital materials are all bad. There are a lot of pros that digital materials bring to the table, the first and foremost of which is accessibility. Digital materials can be accessed from anywhere, as long as the person is a patron of the library. Digital materials cross devices, so for the most part they can be accessed from a tablet or smart phone, just as they can from a computer. Having materials for patrons that they can access without having to step foot in the library is a huge selling point. Libraries want to connect people with information, and digital materials help them do that in a way that is extremely convenient for their patrons. You also can't lose digital materials the way you can a magazine, book, or DVD. This is good for the libraries as it cuts down on the need to replace items and spend time processing the replacement and trying to recover lost fees from the patron. Additionally, digital materials have the ability to be interactive in a way that physical materials cannot. With a physical book, what you get is what's printed on the page. Sometimes, the book includes links to websites that have more information or resources. With a digital book, you might find that it includes videos, interactive maps, slideshows, and pop-ups with extra information that you can access right from the book itself. You aren't limited to what can be printed or what can fit on the page. And lastly, many digital materials have features that can help ESL readers, or features like audio for the text to help those with special needs. Unfortunately, printed books haven't become advanced enough to read themselves to you.

In a school library setting like the one I work in, I think a balance of physical and digital materials is important and would be most beneficial to students. Teachers are beginning to use more digital materials in the classroom. At my school, students watch videos, play education games, and use Google docs for both solo work and collaboration with their groups and classes. They are using digital resources in the classroom, and they will use digital resources out in the world at large. But books aren't going away anytime soon, either. So a collection that can teach them how to read, use, analyze, and refer to both print and digital sources would be the best support for their education. Digital materials have a lot to offer libraries and their patrons, but relying solely on them would not, in my opinion, allow a collection to reach its highest potential.

Back to school already?

Being in education and working for a school district means that I do indeed get that coveted break over the summer. As an aside, and as pretty much any teacher will tell you, by the time summer comes around you need that time off; yes, we love our kiddos (the students), but we love our sanity too. Anyway, as I was saying, I do get the summer off and I don't go back to work until next week. Sadly, my mind is taking the impending revival of my work routine as permission to go into overdrive and think about work. Especially at night. When I'm trying to sleep. Sound familiar?

My mom's first question to me would be "what are you worried about?" She's not asking flippantly, she's seriously asking me to consider what my worries are for the coming year since worries tend to be what the women in my family are really, REALLY good at holding on to with a vice-like grip. So I'm going to consider it. What am I worried about?

The first thing is not a worry, more like the feeling of standing at the starting line of a race waiting for the signal to go off so I can start racing down the track. It's more a feeling of expectation or anticipation. I've had some ideas pop into my head over the summer (which I had the foresight to write down so I don't forget) and I'm anxious to put them into play. There's new displays I want to try and new library activities I want to have. There's more titles I want to add to my purchase list. There's school-wide book talks that I want to implement. There's materials for the teachers that I need to hand out. There's a new library schedule to put together. I'm already mentally starting my beginning-of-the-year to-do list, despite my best intentions and despite my firm conviction to stop dwelling and thinking until I actually go back to work and can put thought into action. It's no use. My overactive brain won't listen. Most of my nighttime conversations with myself are littered with "So how about this?" My hope is that getting back in my routine and actually working out some of these ideas will make this overall feeling of sitting-on-the-edge-of-my-seat-ready-to-jump-up go away.

One worry I do actually have is how to incorporate everything I want to do in the library and with the students into this school year. How will I have time for it all? There were some activities I planned last year that I never ended up having time for. Another worry is over my class schedule. I have to change it this year in order to run the library the way it deserves (and to keep my sanity level healthy), but I know any changes are hard for the teachers. Will I be able to schedule all the classes for library time with little to no drama? A third, and this is big, is worry over being able to maintain my workout routine after returning to work. I think I will be exercising in the afternoon (I have too much going on in the mornings), but will I still have enough energy to keep it up? I can't let myself slip. My doctor is pleased with my progress in this area, but as he and I both concede there's still a long ways to go.

And despite this being my third year as librarian at this school, I still have some nervous jitters. No idea why. Do other school librarians and teachers feel this way at the beginning of the year too? I feel like I'm starting work at a new location where I don't know anyone and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. Neither is true. I know the staff, and in fact have built a good rapport with a number of them. I know what I'm supposed to do, otherwise how could I be mentally writing my to-do list?

You know what? I'm starting to think that I'm seriously overthinking things.

Pathfinders, Away!

Back in the tail end of my high school years and into the majority of my time in college, I played Dungeons and Dragons. Here's video that describes tongue-in-cheek what D&D is like.



It's really not like that, honest (except it kinda is). But it does give you an idea about how the game is played. It's called a tabletop role-playing game because you play it--wait for it--on a tabletop. The game has a storyteller/narrator (known as the Dungeon Master) who explains what you see and what happens as a result of your actions; he or she also makes calls on what actions can be made and what combat enemies do. There's no "win" or "lose," except I guess you'd lose if everyone's character dies. For me, it's an interesting experiment in character development.

Anyway, I mention that because now, well over 30 and still as much of a nerd as I was in college, I'm playing Pathfinders. It's a game system that's very similar in play and context to D&D. My group includes a couple of colleagues and their friends (one of whom is our very talented Dungeon Master). It's hard for me to create a character and not want to flesh out their personal history, who they are, and their motivation. As I said, an interesting experiment in character development. I've been inspired enough by the game and the fun I've been having to write out my character's background and start a journal of her perspective of the game events. If you want to see what I've done, you can take a look at the Pathfinders Journal tab at the top of the page. New entries will be added as we progress through the game.

Anyone who recognizes the Final Fantasy characters in the video and is interested should check out 8-Bit Theater. You're welcome.

The Bachelor, But Better

Find more Kiera Cass books.

Kiera Cass is an author I discovered about a year or so ago. I was cycling through my Amazon book recommendations (a great way I've discovered books in the past) and happened to come across a book titled The Selection. I read through the book description and it sounded like a fun read, so I bought it and it's sequel The Elite on pure gut instinct. As it turns out, I was not sorry.

I bought the books along with several others, so I didn't get to them right away. When I did, I. Couldn't. Put. Them. Down. I blazed through them, bought the third one, titled The One, and blazed through that. Here's a basic premise of the series. It's like the reality show, The Bachelor, but--as I tell those I recommend the book to--it's so much better than that. Let me explain. It does have a few things in common with the reality show: there's a number of girls all competing for the hand and heart of a boy, they go on "dates" with him, and slowly the group is whittled down until only one, The One, remains. The book series has a few big differences. The One will also be Queen, as the boy is Prince Maxon who is looking not only for a bride but someone to help him lead his country (so the stakes are a bit higher). The girls form true friendships, not the catty, back-stabbing alliances that seem to be promoted by the producers of all reality shows. Don't get me wrong, the girls don't all like each other, but we do get to see a bunch of the characters form deep, meaningful relationships with each other. In my opinion, this is far more satisfying. Lastly, and this is a huge difference, the characters are actually 3-dimensional. Partly this is due to the fact that these are books and we don't have to rely solely on dialogue and what we see people do in order to learn about them. We get to see their motivation, learn a little about their true selves, and actually understand them. One of the girls is quite the manipulator, but rather than leave it at that, the author allows you to start to see the reasons for her actions and in the end become very sympathetic towards her. I rather think that reality shows are more like:

Girl: "So what's my motivation?"
Producer: "Your character's a conniving bitch."
Girl: "Ok...and?"
Producer: "No, that's all."

After all, it's all about ratings, not about character development.

I think that it's also fair to mention that woven into the first three books is a secondary plot about a monarchy in trouble, a building rebellion, and a prince that really wants to do the right thing. One little tidbit I enjoyed was the extremely complicated relationship that Maxon has with his father. Not all families are prefect, not even royal ones. All of this an interesting nuance to the main plot and adds definite danger to a rather benign process of the Selection.

There are a total of five books in the series. I mention the first three above. Book four is called The Heir and begins the story of Prince Maxon and his wife's (I won't say who!) daughter, Eadlyn. Now it's her turn to hold a Selection, just as her father did, to find herself a husband and the future Prince Consort. The Crown--pictured at the top of this post--finishes Eadlyn's story and her Selection. Just as with the first three books, I could not put Heir and Crown down. In fact, I started The Crown at about 7:00 at night and had to finish it before I could go to sleep that night. The books are fun. They have characters you really come to love, sometimes despite your best intentions. And they remind us of the gut-wrenching, flying, scary, exciting sensation of what it's like to "be young and in love."

If you haven't figured it out already, I definitely recommend this series!