Rain, solar panels and lighting

I love the day after a rain in Southern California - the air is clean, crisp and clear. Here in Huntington Beach, the Central Park looks freshly washed and the birds are out chirping and foraging for worms in the soft earth. Lovely.

What does this have to do with the Library, you may ask? Well, the weather and the rain got me thinking about our solar panels and that leads me to all of our recent improvements in the library's physical plant.

Our solar panels are working and there is a new portal for the City which will allow us to view the production of the panels. Along with the solar panels, the Central Library has been undergoing a series of efficiency projects, to make all our systems more efficient, effective and green. Right now, our lighting is being retrofitted, improving the overall quality of our light while becoming more efficient and saving energy.

We have had a series of other improvements, and another project is coming up which should help us with our cooling and heating of the building. The City's Energy Projects Manager, Aaron Klemm has done amazing work for us, helping us improve our building systems to save us all time, energy and money over the long term.

We can feel good about our library here in Huntington Beach - not only is the Central Library a beautiful place, in a beautiful setting, but it is also a smart building that minimizes its impact on the environment.

HB Reads Event with Temple Grandin

This week, Temple Grandin, the author and Autism advocate, will be here in Huntington Beach, for our HB Reads program.

I am really looking forward to the visit - Temple's story is inspirational for anyone who has been touched by Autism or other related disabilities. Her work with animals is also inspirational - her research into animal behavior is fascinating and illuminating. I first heard Temple speak on NPR, talking about one of her books on animals. She spoke of her own autism, and how she relates to animals. Her talk made me check out her books, and learn more about her own story.

I am looking forward to hearing more, this week.

More Ebook talk...

I was checking the Internet on the question of Ebooks - with Random House raising their prices (by as much as 300% in some cases), there has been a lot of discussion about the eBook market, publishers, etc.

It was nice to see the topic show up on a Tech blog - TechCrunch, one of my favorite technology blogs, had a great overview of what is going on. My favorite part of the article was in the last paragraph - a nice statement about the continuing value of libraries in our fast changing technology driven world.

Help Restore Funding for California Public Libraries!

Last year, the California State Budget had all of $15.2 million for the support of California Public Libraries. The money supported cooperation, Literacy programs and provided some basic operational support for public libraries. When the Trigger bill was "pulled" in December, all of this funding went away. Support for Public Libraries was the only program in the State Budget to be zeroed out.

The State is once again working on the budget, for the next fiscal year. The Governor's proposed budget includes NO support for Public Libraries. We need to change this.

If you care about your library, and the quality of life in California, please take a moment to call, e-mail, write or fax your representatives and the Governor. We need more voices being heard in Sacramento, and every voice matters. The California Library Association has good information about who to contact and how, on their website.

Let Sacramento know that you value your Library - ask your Senator or Assembly Member to restore $15 million for Public Libraries!

More on EBooks, Publishers and Libraries...

The news on EBooks for libraries just doesn't get better -

We don't have access to Penguin titles now, along with lots of other publishers. The American Library Association has had discussions with the "Big 6" publishing houses, and the publishers are concerned about "friction" - the idea that library patrons can check out an EBook easily, with minimal inconvenience concerns them. It sounds like the publishers think that easy library checkouts will reduce their opportunity to sell books. And then just to make things more interesting, the cost of our Random House titles through our vendor, Overdrive, just jumped through the ROOF - titles that used to cost $10 - $25 are now coming in at $45, $50, even as high as $90 for one copy.

What is a library to do? There are a couple of alternatives in development - Baker & Taylor has a new service, but it doesn't provide for Kindle checkouts. 3M is developing their "Cloud Library" which looks really good too, but it is still in beta testing and so far I'm not hearing good news about pricing... Things are still so much up in the air, with everyone trying to figure out how to get the most dollars for EBooks, that I am worried about the Library model. I know that our community wants us to have EBooks - our current Overdrive collection is stretched to the limit, with sometimes as many as 22 holds per title. But with all these limitations, we simply can't meet demand.

If you are a reader, and you want to be able to read titles on your EReader, through your library, contact the publishers and let them know how you feel.

Publishers and eBook lending

On February 9, 2012, Penguin Publishing announced that they were ending their contract with Overdrive, our Library eBook vendor. No new titles published by Penguin will be available for libraries to purchase or license. Access to eBooks already in our collection will continue for EPUB titles, but anything previously available in Kindle format will no longer be available.

This is just the latest publisher to cut off library lending for their titles. Hachette, Macmillian, Simon & Schuster and Brilliance Audio do not sell or license to libraries either. The American Library Association has spoken with representatives of the publishing industry about eBooks and eBook lending, but progress has been limited.

So if you don't find something in our eBook collection, we may not be able to get it for you.

This is incredibly disappointing for libraries and library patrons.

Internet Lab upgrade underway...

We are installing new PC Reservation software in our Internet labs at the Central Library this week. Parts of the Adult lab are down through Thursday, but the good news is that we will be able to offer PRINTING again! Yay!

We went through an awful 3 months where our printing went down due to a virus attack and ongoing problems with our printing software interface. I know how frustrated our library patrons were - we had this weird work around that we cobbled together where you had to save things to a flash drive, go to the Children's department, etc..

I know it was driving everyone crazy - our staff, members of the public, everyone. I know how much I hated the situation, so I can only imagine how awful it was for people who depend on our system and computers.

I am so EXCITED that we are able to get this fixed - the change took us a while, but I know that the changes we are making ARE GOOD ONES. Printing will be easier, it will be cheaper and it will be better. (Prints and copies will be 15 cents for BW, 50 cents for color) Time management on the computers will be easier, for everyone, and the new software is much more flexible and robust, so we should have greater stability in our lab. ALL GOOD.

I just want to say thank you to everyone for their patience - the wait is almost over. Just a few more days...