“Access” over “Ownership”

Good Day and thanks for dropping by.

I think enough time has been spent on discussing the theory and debate behind technology and virtual libraries, and the conversation needs to turn for the moment into how to move forward.

Accepting technology in libraries is a must; so much so that to refuse is to miss an evolutionary step. This same holds true for school libraries, but how do you make such a transition, and still be meaningful and useful in your school or district?

As has already been talked about, Libraries serve both various social and practical purposes, and these attributes need to also be available (to a certain extent) in a virtual domain. In my opinion, there are 3 key facets to libraries that must be maintained regardless of medium: Access, Safety, Socializing.

Each of these ideas will form their own blog post, but for today, let’s just focus on Access

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At the heart of any collection or library, is the fact that what you have gathered must be of use to people. This may be self-evident, but far too often it is easy to far into the trap of just providing ‘stuff’ without providing the RIGHT ‘stuff’.

But what does that mean in a digital world for libraries?

I stumbled upon an interesting article on CNN that I think speaks to something profound. In an interview with Spotify (Unfortunately not available in Canada yet) founder Daniel Ek, he states “What Spotify is saying is, ownership (of music) is great, but access is the future”.

Ownership is great, but access is the future.

What a profound idea!!

What could this mean for virtual library services, that would no longer be limited to actual serials and catalogues that can be stored in a building? Rather, the entire literary world could truly be at your finger-tips digitally. No more waiting about owning copies of books or resources, rather get an e-copy, or partner with other libraries to increase your footprint and selection and provide ACCESS.

Or for schools! Resources, textbooks, connections with anything would be right there, no wait times, no ordering and 6-12 weeks later it’s there. Instant connectivity; instant resources; instant learning!

Think for a moment of the implications of this. No more outdated texts, no more lost books, graffiti, damaged and destroyed volumes. Whether its kids stories or high school Physics, everything would be right there, just waiting to be accessed.

Of course there will still be issues of licensing, royalties, copyrights, etc. but the concept of libraries not being limited by the physical collection they can OWN could be transformative. If the library and its patrons/students never own a copy of the book, but rather have it for a specified time, or only a set number of accesses, would any of the above fees even really apply? Things to be worked out and legislated I’m sure. But potentially game changing.

However there are also other issues at play that schools would have to deal with.

Firstly, one of the crucial decisions will be in the format of digital materials that will be offered. As I’m becoming more and more aware of, there is an entire market out there filled with various readers and tablets, and most of them all have formats they simply will not support. Since time and competition hasn’t yet thinned the field down to a standard format, what can libraries possibly do?

This ties in closely to what do schools ‘bet’ on when considering buying hardware? If it isn’t the raging Tablet wars between Apple, Android, Blackberry, and a host of others, then it is Kindle, Adobe, etc. If libraries become increasingly virtual, then there will have to be new ways to access that information, both for students and staff, and that will require expenditures. Nothing gets school boards more nervous than spending large amounts of money on something they aren’t sure about.

So, how can a school and library know which steps are going to be the right one? And if they can’t, how can they avoid simply sitting on the sidelines waiting for winners to appear so they can join the party? Doing so would put libraries at the backend of technology, not exactly desirable, or useful.

BUT if libraries can embrace the concept of ‘access over ownership’ and turn it to their advantage, then surely the benefits will far outweigh the potential pitfalls. Being able to provide such a service to students and schools would give tools to educators that they could only dream of before. In this way, to NOT move forward would almost be negligent.

Ryan