While US library closures are not as staggering as Britain’s, we’re still losing them. The American Library Association’s State of America’s Libraries Report 2015 found “the number of states reporting library branch closures [was] only five this year. As in previous years, the number of closures in each state was between one and five libraries.”[3]

For many students, the public library is the only place they can go to access homework and research resources. The most recent Census numbers found that only 74.4 percent of US households have Internet access.[4] I spend much of my reference desk time from 3 p.m. on helping elementary students pull up homework assignments and search electronic encyclopedias and databases for their school work while their parents sit and look for jobs or access emails. It’s not just that librarians stand at the ready to help patrons access information, it’s that we have the tools and equipment needed to access much of that information, and not every household does.

My library branch is within walking distance to an elementary school, middle school, and a high school, and many of the older kids come straight to the library from school. Most of these kids come for a dedicated place to study—whether alone or with their classmates for group projects.

Bellamacina echoes a sentiment undoubtedly held by millions of library supporters across the United States: “It seems impossible to imagine education without libraries,” she wrote. “The library is not an idea, it is not an archetype, it is not endowment. Libraries are rooms. Rooms of hope, rooms of concentration, rooms of dream and study. They remain the last public spaces reserved for free and equal learning.”[5]

References:

[1] David Stone, “library funding cut by £50m,” press release by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy [website], December 9, 2015.

[2] Greta Bellamacina, “We can’t lose public libraries – they’re as crucial for students as ever,” Washington Post, February 5, 2016.

[3] American Library Association, Ed. Kathy S. Rosa, “The State of America’s Libraries 2015: A Report from the American Library Association,” American Libraries Magazine, April 2015, accessed March 24, 2016.

[4] Thom File and Camille Ryan, “Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2013,” American Community Survey Reports, ACS-28 (U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, 2014), 2.

[5] American Library Association, Ed. Kathy S. Rosa, “The State of America’s Libraries 2015: A Report from the American Library Association,” American Libraries Magazine, April 2015, accessed March 24, 2016.

The post We Can’t Lose Our Public Libraries—in Britain or America first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

A local organization known as Save Our Libraries has been formed with help from supporters of the Douglas County Library Foundation for the purpose of finding ways for the libraries to stay open. The proposal also includes a leadership plan in the form of a five-person board to help the libraries as they plan for the future. Many Douglas County citizens are very supportive of the libraries and do not want them to close. The League of Women Voters of Umpqua Valley also supports the proposal.

Save Our Libraries has proposed an alternative plan that would likely help the Douglas County Library System generate the revenue it needs to operate at an optimal capacity. This plan involves using citizens’ property taxes to finance the library (rather than relying on the county budget). This proposal would include a “special district tax” of $0.44 per every $1,000.00 of property values.[4] Oregon has a property tax cap of $10 per $1,000 of assessed property value; as a result, “any sum of taxes greater than $10 would compress all the taxes to fit under the cap,”[5] an issue that seems to warrant additional research.

If a house has an assessed value of $150,000 and is taxed at a rate of $0.50 for every $1,000.00 of the assessed value, then the homeowner would pay about $75 a year in special district taxes.[6] That said, compression estimates are not set in stone because each tax lot’s value can change over time based upon factors such as property improvements, changes to market values, and mortgage foreclosure rates.[7] Another effect of a special district tax is that the tax caps could lead to a city losing money that would have otherwise gone to its operating budget.[8]

If the special district tax proposal gets enough public support, then voters will decide to approve or deny the proposal in November. The property tax revenue would allow the library to have a stable budget; however, citizens are also concerned that this measure may lead to possible tax increases.[9]

In this situation, it makes sense to do a cost-benefit analysis. If a library closes, then it means the people in the community will no longer have its resources, which is arguably a serious community deficit because libraries benefit people of all ages and serve a wide variety of purposes in people’s lives.[10] In addition, if someone cannot afford a book, a library makes it possible for them to read it. Through reading, a person learns new things and develops more ideas; in addition, public libraries and schools often have collaborative relationships to encourage young readers to use libraries to help them learn research skills and read more books.

If a library closes, so does access to these resources, which is a huge loss to a community; however, as long as the citizens and municipalities develop plans to fund the libraries and get enough public support to accomplish these objectives, the closings can be prevented so that the libraries’ futures can be secured.

References:

[1] Susan Morgan, “County safety net is not so safe anymore,” Umpqua Post, January 7, 2015.

[2] Troy Brynelson, “Future of public libraries could be in hands of voters,” NRToday, February 27, 2016.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Douglas County Assessor’s Office, “Assessment & Tax Information,” Douglas County Assessor’s Office [website], accessed March 24, 2016.

[8] Troy Brynelson, “Future of public libraries could be in hands of voters,” NRToday, February 27, 2016.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

Resources:

Oregon Library Association

Oregon Community Foundation

Douglas County Libraries Face Uncertain Future

2015 Oregon Public Library Needs Assessment

Save Our Libraries

League of Women Voters of Umpqua Valley Save Our Libraries

Keep Our Libraries Open

The post Public Library Property Taxing Districts As a Strategy for Keeping Libraries Open first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Times have changed. E-books, something many of us never thought were possible, are now commonplace, and many checkouts from the library never even involve a visit to the stacks.

Not everyone has access to them though, especially families who are poor and cannot afford to pay for content, even if they have a smartphone or computer. Checking out e-books from libraries is one option, but at the end of February, the White House released a new app: Open eBooks.

Getting started with the app is easy. Educators can sign up at openebooks.net and receive codes for their students. The students can then use those codes to download the app to a smartphone or tablet, and then they will have access to the e-book collection.

“Clearly, the Open eBooks program can provide another digital gateway for millions of children to develop a love of reading,” says Sari Feldman, President of the American Library Association, “and what smarter investment in our future could we make than getting books in front of kids?”

The White House has been slow to adapt, but is rapidly catching up in the digital realm. Some developments include the first Chief Data Scientist in US history leading the white house into the world of big data, as well as the Department of Education launching an initiative called #GoOpen and encouraging educators and their districts to use openly licensed educational resources (OERs).

Open eBooks is different from those programs in that it deals primarily with copyrighted material. It does, however, follow a similar pattern from the White House: gather data and make sure it is publically available, use OERs to enhance education, and make e-books free to those who cannot afford them.

The app involves partnerships with ten major publishers, who provide the texts, with the Digital Public Library of America, First Book, The New York Public Library, digital books distributor Baker & Taylor and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

What do you think? How will Open eBooks affect libraries and classrooms? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below.

The post Open eBooks: A Digital Gateway first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Outernet is a satellite-based alternative to the Internet, a service common in the first world but virtually nonexistent in many places. According to Thane Richard, publisher and COO at Outernet, up to 80% of the world’s population is without access to unfettered internet. This includes people in China whose Internet is highly censored, people who live in areas with access to mobile Internet but who cannot afford the data plan to receive it, and people who live in remote areas that the Internet has not yet reached.

On the other hand, the Outernet broadcast can be accessed by anyone with a satellite dish and an Outernet receiver. The signal is sent to seven satellites, providing global coverage. Outernet can broadcast up to 1 GB of data per day globally, and up to 100 GB per day over Africa and Europe.

What users receive from Outernet is more like a radio broadcast than like the Internet you’re reading this post on right now. Instead of being able to access everything ever written at any time, Outernet sends out bins of data on a regular basis, like a song on the radio. These bins are full of files including documents, songs, podcasts, photos, and videos. The files can be accessed as they are received via a user’s device, queued up to access later, or permanently stored to the receiver. An example of the feed you would see on your device is available here.

Outernet receivers can be built at home with a Raspberry Pi or purchased from Outernet. Outernet is currently selling a basic receiver called Lighthouse as well as a do-it-yourself kit. To access the information broadcast and stored on the devices, which act as Wi-Fi hotspots, a user must also have a Wi-Fi-enabled device with a browser to view the feed.

A recent Indiegogo campaign raised funds for a receiver called Lantern, which will have a built-in antenna for limited mobile data access in addition to satellite access. It will then charge the mobile devices needed to access the data.

Outernet has its roots in the library world. It was founded in early 2014 by CEO Syed Karim, who holds an MS in Information Science, and the operating system the receivers run on is called Librarian. Outernet even bills itself as “Humanity’s Public Library”, offering information to users exactly at their point of need.

With that billing, Outernet takes its collection development seriously. Outernet employees work to develop a core collection of files, including news in multiple languages, textbooks, high-quality Wikipedia articles, and videos from creators like Khan Academy. The majority of the rest of the broadcast content is decided on by the public, who can request certain types of information and also vote on the best files that fit that request. A recent edit-a-thon held live in Uganda and Guatemala and remotely online added thirty bins of content in four different languages.

Some of the content is sponsored by various companies or by individuals to provide funding for Outernet’s work. This sponsored content is currently less than and will not exceed 25% of the broadcast, according to Richard.

Anyone who wants to sponsor content can upload files, including Twitter feeds, at uplink.outernet.is. To add content for free, check out the submission rules at https://wiki.outernet.is/wiki/Edit_Outernet. To donate to the Outernet project, visit donate.outernet.is.

Sources

Outernet Blog. Accessed August 14, 2015.

Outernet Wiki. Accessed August 14, 2015.

Richard, Thane. E-mail interview by author. August 6, 2015.

The post Outernet: “Humanity’s Public Library” first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

We are all aware of the vital role libraries play in bridging the digital divide. For people who do not otherwise have access to computers or the Internet, libraries are a place where they can search and apply for jobs, stay connected with friends, and access government services. Email’s central role in all of these activities means that libraries frequently assist new online users in setting up email accounts. Many libraries prefer Gmail for this task because of Gmail’s high spam-filtering capabilities, an important consideration for new online users who may not be familiar with Internet security and fraud threats. However, libraries face a significant challenge in helping users take this essential first step to online participation because of Gmail’s email account verification process.

Since libraries set up so many email accounts, Gmail’s system interprets the multiple account requests coming from these servers as potential spam accounts. Therefore, Gmail will not allow the more typical “Captcha” verification, and instead users must verify the account (and their human status) via a code that is sent by text message to a mobile phone. This presents a significant barrier for anyone who does not have a mobile phone. Gmail does offer an alternative landline verification option, but this is not a solution for those who do not have computers at home, or the necessary skills to create an email account on their own. While staff can usually work around these situations by supplying their own mobile phone numbers, this is only a short-term fix since the Gmail system will accept a single phone number a limited number of times. More importantly, it does not address the underlying issue of inequitable access to the online arena.

This is a widespread problem, frequently mentioned in the Google help forums and in other online help forums, but the consensus seems to be that “this is just the way it is.” Google is backed by billions of dollars and the most brilliant minds in the world – surely, it can do better than this. Moreover, if Google truly wants to stand behind its “Don’t be evil” slogan, it must do better than this. Please ask Google to create a reliable account creation alternative for libraries and other computer literacy organizations by signing this petition.

The post Barriers to Gmail For Those Without Mobile Phones first appeared on Public Libraries Online.