Vennesla Library and Cultural Center

Beautiful new library or airport from Norway.

Vennesla library and cultural center', a multi-level public facility in Vennesla, Norway. serving as
a spatial connector between an existing community house, learning center, and a public square,
the design is a direct result of the synergetic coupling of structures, manifesting as a series of gradually shifting ribs that provide structure in addition to furniture and storage for technical devices.focusing on creating an inviting public domain, the library brings the city life into and through the building.
a large glass facade serves as an open interface between the interior and the city's main square,
while an urban loggia provides sheltered outdoor seating for visitors. in order to reduce the energy needs
of all three buildings, two long facades of the existing structures were used to minimize on total surface of
the exterior walls. all new walls, floors and roof have been equipped with high-standard energy solutions.

I like the synergy of different public spaces connected together.  The cold, cloudy climate makes this place a perfect refuge.  I could take a nap right now. 

Source designboom 

2012 Global Hackerspace Cupcake Challenge

                                     Cupcake received

Lately I've thought that maybe hackerspaces have a future in libraries.  Certain large hardware in libraries are going to become irrelevant as computing becomes more mobile.  So why don't we have a room full of 3D printers and mechanically minded patrons.  This has already happened in  the Allen County library in Fort Wayne, Indiana and at the Fayetteville Free Library in upstate New York as reported in December by NPR.
Coincidentally, this weekend is the Global Hackerspace Cupcake Challenge.

Hackerspaces worldwide are challenged to bake, decorate and package a single cupcake and send it to another hackerspace. The receiving hackerspace will then open and judge on various topics including decoration, condition and taste.

Even if you don't have a local Hackerspace available or you don't know how to bake, I'm sure that you can show solidarity by going to one of those horribly cute little cupcake boutiques that are sprouting about all over a gentrified inner-city near you and eat a cupcake without a measure of decorum.

           Public Libraries, 3D Printing, FabLabs and Hackerspaces

Source Hackerspace | Flux

Publishers Continue to Drop out of the Library Ebook Market

On Thursday Penguin announced that they were ending their cooperation with the digital library distributor Overdrive.  This brings the count of publishers refusing to work with Overdrive to 5.  This brings the count of publishers who will work with Overdrive to 1, Random House.  And before you go and start singing their praises, Random House has announced that they are raising their prices in March.  This price increase is one factor that caused Penguin to drop out. Here is the ALA's announcement of the Penguin's reasoning

A key issue that arose in each meeting is the degree to which “friction” may decline in the ebook lending transaction as compared to lending print books. From the publisher viewpoint, this friction provides some measure of security. Borrowing a print book from a library involves a nontrivial amount of personal work that often involves two trips—one to pick up the book and one to return it. The online availability of e-books alters this friction calculation, and publishers are concerned that the ready download-ability of library ebooks could have an adverse effect on sales.

 Another factor in Penguin's decision was its displeasure with Overdrive's third party affiliations, especially with Amazon.
Our friends over at  the Digital Shift have reported that Penguin is negotiating to allow the content that  is already in libraries' catalog to continue to be accessed but there will be no more new content.
So what does all this mean for libraries?  It means that they will be losing patrons who want to access digital media.  They're going to point their Kindle Fires at Amazon (as if you could point those things at anything else) and buy their ebooks for competition killing low prices or rent them for even cheaper.
Cue tumbleweeds in library.

The Librarian in Black has created a nice poster which can be downloaded to show your displeasure with publishing houses to your patrons.

Source paidContent.org, The Digital Shift, Librarian in Black

Publishers vs. Libraries: An E-Book Tug of War

New York Times (Dec 24, 2011)-LAST year, Christmas was the biggest single day for e-book sales by HarperCollins. And indications are that this year’s Christmas Day total will be even higher, given the extremely strong sales of e-readers like the Kindle and the Nook. Amazon announced on Dec. 15 that it had sold one million of its Kindles in each of the three previous weeks.
But we can also guess that the number of visitors to the e-book sections of public libraries’ Web sites is about to set a record, too.
And that is a source of great worry for publishers. In their eyes, borrowing an e-book from a library has been too easy. Worried that people will click to borrow an e-book from a library rather than click to buy it, almost all major publishers in the United States now block libraries’ access to the e-book form of either all of their titles or their most recently published ones.
Borrowing a printed book from the library imposes an inconvenience upon its patrons. “You have to walk or drive to the library, then walk or drive back to return it,” says Maja Thomas, a senior vice president of the Hachettte Book Group, in charge of its digital division.
And print copies don’t last forever; eventually, the ones that are much in demand will have to be replaced. “Selling one copy that could be lent out an infinite number of times with no friction is not a sustainable business model for us,” Ms. Thomas says. Hachette stopped making its e-books available to libraries in 2009.

The Library Phantom Returns and Re-returns

Who is going around Edinburgh making intricate and beautiful paper sculptures out of famous novels and leaving them anonymously in libraries and museums?  Susan Boyle and Craig Ferguson (the only two Scots I could think of that haven't died a horrible death) have denied involvement. National Public Radio and This is Central Station have some scribblings and pics of the mysterious artwork left by this talented book ninja.