Thing 22 : Audiobooks

Our library is one of the libraries in Maryland that subscribe to OverDrive. To access this digital library, all I need is a valid library card.


There are 2 ways to search the OverDrive collections. I can go to Maryland Digital eLibrary Consortium website, or I can search for downloadable audio or video titles in my library's online catalog, each downloadable title includes a link to the OverDrive page.


The OverDrive collection, which is quite small, is a supplement to our library's electronic resources. Navigating the site is easy, it is not as chaotic as some of the digital library sites I have seen. I can search by genre, title, author, release date and popularity. It seems our library already owns many of the popular audio books that are listed in OverDrive.


The capability to download digital content from OverDrive to a MP3 player is a big plus. In the past several years, we have witnessed how MP3 technology has dramatically changed the music industry, many of our customers are used to this format and have been regularly downloading music to their mobile multimedia devices. To entice customers to use our electronic resources, the MP3 capability is a must because that's what our customers would expect from a digital library.


At the end of this discovery exercise, out of curiosity, I decided to download the movie "8 1/2" from OverDrive to my computer. I quit in the middle of the downloading process, partly because it took too long, mainly because I realized this movie deserved a screen bigger than my 17" monitor, I should and will get a DVD copy of this title from my local library instead.


In this digital age, my library still matters.

Thing 20: "I AM big, it's the PICTURES that got small"--Sunset Boulevard

If Norma Desmond had lived a few decades later, she could have reinvented herself in the universe of YouTube She could have been the 80-year-old British pensioner and widower, geriatric1927, whose series "Telling it all", is one of the most subscribed videos in the short history of the site. In this series, he talks about himself and the world around him, and one of his episodes has actually reached over 2 million viewers so far.

The same movie quote can also be used to describe the phenomenon of YouTube. It is a small screen that shines brighter than any social networking sites. Even though it has more popular videos than quality videos, it is still a land of many possibilities, it's social impact has been widely recognized, and libraries should capitalize this opportunity.


YouTube, with 100 million views worldwide everyday, is a place where library can gain high visibility. From what I have seen in YouTube and Yahoo video, many libraries have already used this social networking tool to conduct virtual library tour, to promote library programs, to share information, and to create training manuals. Picture is worth a thousand words, messages in this visual format can really travel far.


Free flow of information, A+ Partners in Education are two of the many causes that our library always champions, one of YouTube's nonprofit programs, "Broadcast your cause", is a place where I think we can reach out and make a powerful statement.


I found the following video in YouTube after I had read about the World Digital Library Project in the newspaper. The project is initiated by the Library of Congress, and people who are involved know where to go to broadcast their message.