It is all about balance

With shelf space being a "fixed" quantity, pushing collections into the long tail requires balance. By lengthening the tail in each library that would require shortening the head. There is only so much physical space, so the more that libraries play into the niche's, the less they can provide for the masses. But is a niche in one library a part of the mass in another? The best way for libraries to effectively represent the entire tail is the use of consortium's and inter library loans. Page 148 of Anderson's book says it all about the balance between heads and tails:

" If you just have the products at the Head, you find that very quickly your customers want more and you can't offer it. If you just have the products at the Tail, you find that customers have no idea where to start. They're unable to get traction in the marketplace because everything you're offering is unfamiliar to them. The importance of offering the stuff at both the Head and the Tail is that you can start in the world that customers already know: familiar products that tap into and define a space."

Libraries have to work hard at balancing the head and tail as well as locating for their patron's things they cannot immediately provide. Then they can tap into both the Head and the Tail.

The pop-in

So it was pretty cool to pop a little mp3 in my blog - I can see how this could enhance the whole blogging experience. There are some things that just are better communicated with sound...imagine blogging about your new favorite musical artist.... now imagine blogging about said artist AND including an mp3 podcast of them. Or how about those bragger blog's where people talk about all the wonderful things their kids do...and including the trumpet solo or soliloquy from the school play. I can definitely see where an occasional podcast popped into a blog would be an enhancement.

Where I see a problem is if you are a text based blogger who learns a new trick and includes podcasts in every blog - that would get tiresome and not serve the purpose of the blog. People are not always in a situation where they can listen (think cube farm at work and no headset...) when what they are expecting to do is read.

So podcasts in blogs are kinda like pop-in's from people - no big deal that you didn't know ahead of time for the occasional pop-in...but really quite annoying when it becomes habitual!

I hate Halloween

I know, I know how can you hate Halloween? Well let me tell you a little story...

click player to hear more....





click link if you prefer....

Halloween Story

Make It, Get It Out There, and Help Me Find It

Where do libraries and librarians fit into the "Make It, Get It Out There, and Help Me Find It" equation?

Make It --> Libraries provide the tools and training to assist patrons to become new producers. Workshops on how to publish, how to use new technologies, etc have been part and parcel of the public library domain for a long time. They have also lead by example. The number of libraries that are creating content on the web grows everyday.

Get It Out There --> Looking at the aggregator aspect of providing materials for public use - isn't that really what a library is? One big aggregator providing content to the marketplace? By sharing resources with others, libraries are able to provide inventory on demand, no matter how small the niche market.

Help Me Find It --> According to Anderson new tastemakers are "people whose opinions are respected" (pg. 107) and a librarian is typically used as a filter of information because their opinion is respected. They are also reaching out beyond just their own opinion by providing methods for other patrons to share their views. The use of surveys, book reviews, and book lists of frequent library visitors are providing community based recommendations as well.

When looking at these three forces, you can see that libraries and librarians have always been a part of the Long Tail.

Drank some more of the Google Kool-Aid

So I checked out the Google Analytics and the nerd in me was pretty impressed! I couldn't believe how much info you could actually get to - now I just need a reason to care! (I do understand that I would care if I hosted a website or blog read by more than just my classmates who *have* to - but I don't, so really there is not a lot of relevancy for me today on this. I will care some other time though....)

What I did learn is that Steve has trained us all pretty well and the Firefox visits beat the IE visits 70% to 30% - apparently you can only drink so much Kool-Aid from the big guys before you have to try the Delaware Punch. (does anybody else remember Delaware Punch? OMG it was good!)

Also there are alot of people on T1's - so I am guessing that several people might be doing some blog reading at their "day job"!! T1's beat out DSL, but only by a hair. And I am so sorry to the 2 people who accessed via dial up...life must be very painful over dial up.

Online and loving it

Here I sit in my third semester at Rutgers in the SCILS program. In that time I have changed my commute from the living room to the basement, upgraded my backpack from a stack on the floor to real shelves, and learned more than I ever thought possible without setting foot on a college campus. I am an online student who fits school in with all the other things that make up a life and I never have to drive to New Brunswick to do it. It has been odd to adjust to not seeing people but it hasn't impeded my ability to get to know my cohort. Of course I could trip right over them in the street - but that is a whole 'nother story! When I talk to non-students about the program the typical reaction is "wow - you can do that? how does that work?" and I always answer the same way...if I wasn't able to get my degree online I couldn't be going to school right now, so no matter the potential issues it is worth it!

Here is a picture of the building that I travel to for classes....



If you want to take a look at some more of my classrooms, my backpack, and what keeps me going go here --> my SCILS life

If you want to check out what my classmates SCILS life looks like try here --> my classmates

So go ahead - take that online class, it won't hurt you (much).

Heads or Tails?

When thinking about the long tail vis-a-vis (that's a fancy word for in relation to - for you "Fancy Nancy" fans out there) the library I am pondering the space versus potential use continuum. In order for libraries to serve their communities they need to provide a balance between "head-y" things and "tail-y" things.

Everyone that walks in the door is equally capable of asking for the latest James Patterson novel or a book published in Mexico about the Mexican Army and specifically General Miguel Lamego. So the trick is in the balance, because while there may be more people looking for "The Dangerous Days of Daniel X", they can readily find it if you happen to be out. Whereas the user looking for the book on Miguel Lamego probably doesn't have anywhere else to turn. The library can prove its ultimate usefulness in being able to provide materials (either in house or via ILL) that are clearly the tail end of the spectrum.