OH!Libraries: Spotlight on Ohio library services

I tend to be on the independent side. My family can affirm that "I can do it myself..." has been my battle-cry since I was a toddler. That may be why I check out my own groceries at Kroger, never mind pumping my own gas, and absolutely love self check-out at the library.

No waiting in line for this person. Pick my reserves off the shelf, type in my library card number (no fishing in the wallet for me), a quick scan and I'm out the door. If I need help (and I'm willing to admit it) it is always close by. Mostly I say, "No thanks. I can do it myself."

Library Hotline reported that Columbus Metropolitan Library is experiencing higher circulation since they expanded self-check. I don't know about that. I'm just grateful they let me do it.

I'm a lunch-time library surfer.

Browsing the Web catalog links me to much more material than I can find on the shelf at a library branch. It also shows me book covers and offers multiple formats in one place. I can browse by title, author or subject. I can also take a call number, if I know one, and browse all the items in any format that would be next to one another on the shelf, if all the items in the system were in and were on one shelf in one building. I can do it when I want wherever I am.

Do I miss browsing the actual shelves? Not really. I can do that if I want to, too. Sometimes I go to the brick-and-mortor library because sitting among the shelves is a great stress reducer. Besides, I can always find a librarian if I need one.

I recently visited the Clark County Public Library to do some training. It was a neat place. But what really caught my attention were the nifty covers they had installed over the fluorescent light fixtures in their technology and technical services area. They looked like skylights, with views of a bright blue sky with fluffy clouds.

Now, CCPL's cataloging and IT staff have real windows, but even with real daylight these covers altered the ambience of the room. They would definitely make great accessories for windowless offices (like those at OPLIN, he hints, hoping Carol Roddy is reading).

I was reminded the other day of another way in which Ohio Public Libraries simply deliver the goods. A letter to the editor complained--at length-- about a Web site supported in part by public money that lured visitors to indexes on the Web but required that they send a check--snail mail-- in order to receive print copy of a record. You have to wonder why they can't just deliver da goods.

A number of my favorite digital library projects leapt to mind. Preble County Public Library for example, has a searchable index of obituaries, vital records, court records, court and military records and other primary source material associated with the county that delivers the actual record. Grandview Heights Public Library manages a searchable index of Grandview High School yearbooks from 1915 to 2000 that delivers that actual page on which the reference is found.

The micro-historian in me is delighted with the wealth in local collections that can be made available directly to Ohio residents--and the World--by our public libraries. (OK, the ugly truth is out, Roddy is a genealogist. ) The public manager in me is more sober. The costs and the policy issues associated with digitizing any given set of records can be prohibitive. We do our humble best, and our best can be pretty darned good.

The new Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library website went live March 7, and as far as I know, this is the first Ohio library to offer an XML RSS feed of news from its site. (If I'm wrong, please post a comment to correct me!) And they offer not just one news feed, but two: library news and today's events.

Why is this cool? Because an increasingly popular way to gather news around the web is by using an RSS aggregator program. You choose your individual news sources (Wired, NPR, Astronomy Picture of the Day) and your aggregator program collects the information for you. This puts library news where growing numbers of our users want to find it.

If you're going to create yet another library acronym, you might as well have fun with it. So I am a fan of MOLDI, the Mid-Ohio Library Digital Initiative. Nine central Ohio libraries have joined together to share a catalog of digital titles (text and audio) from OverDrive.

What's the big deal? It's not like OverDrive ebook collections are new (off the top of my head, CLEVNET, Wright Memorial, Youngstown, Cuyahoga County, and SEO all use OverDrive). The difference here is that the MOLDI partners do not share a single integrated library system, but are divided between three different systems. In the old days (last month), I had to search every single catalog separately to see whether a title was available in the format I prefer. MOLDI is a sign that those tedious barriers are breaking down.

Now the big question: will the MP3 player I bought last year play the Charles de Lint title I just checked out?