Digipalooza 7/25/08
Today was the first full day of sessions. It started promptly (as usual) with a welcome by Steve Potash, CEO of Overdrive. He announced the format of MP3, and teased us about the upcoming introduction of the Sony Reader partnership. We then saw an introductory video of the Digital Bookmobile.
SESSION 1: Overdrive Digital Formats. The speakers were:
Lisa Coreno from Overdrive:
She talked about the (now) two formats for audiobooks offered by Overdrive – WMA & MP3. By the way, audio books are the most popular media form offered. Lisa also introduced the latest version of the Overdrive Media Console (version 3.0). It includes a “burn wizard” for ease of burning cds.
Presently, Washington, D.C., Hamilton Public Library in Ontario, King County Public Library System in Washington & Boston Public Library are live with MP3 offerings. Systems with representatives at Digipalooza will get priority when it comes to bringing up the rest of the Overdrive world.
Megan Greer from Overdrive:
Megan’s presentation was about E-books. She discussed the two formats offered – Adobe Digital Editions & Mobipocket. The total Overdrive e-book circulation last year was 750,000.
Susan Broman, Adult Services Coordinator, County of Los Angeles Public Library.
NOTE: At this point, while I was typing this online on my blog, the WiFi crashed & I lost all my notes on this presenter’s talk. Steve Potash will email her presentation to me so I can include it in a later posting. It was from this point on that I got smart & took notes in Word, later to be copied & pasted in my blog.
Danielle Phillips, Maricopa County Library District (AZ):
Danielle is the media selector for her county library system. Her presentation focused on their usageand buying habits. They make heavy use of Standing Order plans & the Holds Manager.
SESSION 2 - Collection Development. The speakers were:
Karen Potash, Overdrive:
Karen’s first suggestion is to set up a Collection Development Profile which is customized show the needs of your patrons & community. Her tips include use of the Marketplace lists; stocking up on the most popular titles. She recommends using keyword searches in the genre field to for selection, as well as using the awards field. View the traffic report to see where patrons are clicking in from to access your Overdrive site.
Cindy Orr, Collections Manager (retired), Cleveland Public Library:
Cindy’s presentation involved an overview of the Digital Selection Calendar used by the Cleveland Public Library. It’s broken down by monthly and then weekly collection development & purchasing tasks. It helps keep a large library ordering for itself on target with their budget.
Michael Santangelo, Electronic Resources Specialist,Brooklyn Public Library:
Michael uses a paradigm which includes collection development & promotion. He mentioned that for selection purposes he not only uses what is covered by traditional sources of review material, but he also checks pop culture sources, web sites, blogs & rss feeds. He suggests getting library staff involved in the selection process since they have direct user experience. You can involve them by allowing them to create lists and suggestion forms. Have them work with user surveys and make them aware of your library’s Overdrive circulation statistics. To promote this service to your patrons, use multiple access points on your web site.
Ruth Ann Copley, Davidson County Public Library System – North Carolina Digital Library, (NC)
Ruth’s consortium decided not to use Maximum Access, since the members felt it was too costly. They did have Net library, but Overdrive’s statistics were much better. They have their individual member libraries do their own purchasing. They developed a circulating “position” of “Holds Patrol” to make sure that additional titles are added in order to maintain a 7:1 holds ratio.
Sarah Redman, Capital Area District Library (MI):
There are 26 libraries in Sarah’s consortium. Two people (one of whom is Sarah herself) do the ordering from member library recommendations. The do not use a committee approach.
In between sessions 1 & 2 there were ½ hour breaks during which time I was able to visit with the exhibitors (Overdrive partners), network & eat. After the second session was over the program broke for lunch.
Since I’m writing this after having been to a ball game (our evening’s entertainment courtesy of Overdrive – & the Indians won over the Twins), the time is fast approaching midnight. Although I don’t plan to turn into a pumpkin, I am slowly losing my ability to type. I will continue with the first day’s program & upload my photos tomorrow.
