I want Karl Lagerfeld's library

I wonder if he needs a librarian?

http://thehairpin.com/2011/01/karl-lagerfelds-library/

Resolution number 1

I finally got time to blog a bit, although it's not my big post about resolutions that I will get round to eventually!

One of my main resolutions this year though is to do my chartership with Cilip. Part of this involves documenting every work-related event I attend, so to avoid bombarding you with library-themed posts and to try and compartmentalise my life just a little (and isn't that what librarians are good at?) I've started a new blog over at wordpress.

If you're interested in library-related stuff, check it out at librarianoftomorrow.wordpress.com.

SLA Europe: Free v Fee, the Future of News

Attended a really interesting panel discussion on the future of newspaper content hosted by SLA Europe last night. There's a debate going on at the moment as to whether news outlets should charge for online content or continue to provide it for free, now that advertising revenue has dropped so dramatically. The Murdoch clan are all for charging, while Alan Rusbridger prefers to focus on the journalistic changes that need to occur to avoid newspapers becoming obsolete.

Andrew Hughes from the Newspaper Licensing Agency and Jeremy Lawson from Dow Jones represented the traditional news industry, while Larry Rafsky, CEO of Acquire Media, stood up for web aggregators and solicitor Laurence Kaye gave the legal perspective. The evening was ably moderated by Don Roll, of Alacra (thanks for picking my question!).

Although the panel didn't achieve a consensus (and with such opposing views from Larry and Andrew it was unlikely), everyone made some good points. What I took from the discussion is that with web technology developing so fast, newspapers (and copyright law) are playing catch-up. Business models for online content are untested and it's only once papers begin to charge that we will see whether such a model is successful. What is certainly true is that unless newspapers come up with a new approach they will struggle financially in the future market.

Below are my notes from the evening; Neil Infield at the British Library has blogged his notes here, and you can join the discussion on LiveWire.

Andrew Hughes, NLA

• NLA is working towards a licensing agreement for B2B paid-for web content
• web content is often unique - NLA study found 31.5% of online content hadn't appeared in print, and 38% of print content never makes it to the web

Laurie Kaye

• "It takes time to change the law, business models, cultures..."
• media is global so may eventually have a global legal framework, but have to begin by working within existing national copyright laws
• "copyright provides the framework for a creator to decide how their content is made available" - whether free, fee or a hybrid model
• B2B copyright is much more clearcut than personal
• need an "effects-based" approach to copyright - look at the commercial effect of republishing in the real world, and base law on that
• different tyes of intermediary require different approaches - individuals providing links between the user and the content vs people taking the content and republishing it
• "fair use" - there are about 30 exceptions for research, private study, reporting etc. Google argues fair use because they only reprint snippets of articles but it's for commercial gain so may not be
  
• there's a lack of infrastructure to police online content at the moment

Larry Rafsky, Acquire Media

• "there's no going back once you taste freedom...this toothpaste is not going back in the tube" - newspaper content is already free online, can't reverse it
• different definitions of free - difference between content that is written professionally and provided free but where the writer will be paid (what aggregators are interested in), free content written by non-professionals (user-generated, personal blogs etc) and professional content that is "gifted" (given away with no interest in payment)
  
• bad definitions - content that is free to some but not others, and content that shouldn't be free but is made so illegally
• Acquire always links to the publisher and gives sparse summaries so users have to follow the link to read the article (Google provides enough info that the reader has no need to click through)
• there is no difference between a user accessing content directly and getting it through a proxy, as long as the content provider gets the same emolument
• the web is run by links - RSS feeds, librarian recommendations, email links to friends - so "site cite" (what a web aggregator does) is not protectable

Jeremy Lawson, Dow Jones

• Dow Jones are supporting publishers and their right to decide how content is used and what the rights covering it are

Did papers start to dig their own grave when they suggested they might charge for content?

Larry Rafsky - whether papers charge depends on their existing market and where they can make money (need to analyse all models), so there's no right answer
Andrew Hughes - papers started digging their own grave when they gave content away - "free is a four-letter word"
Jeremy Lawson - papers who will have to change their business model from free to fee have an awful lot of work to do to make it viable

Do web aggregators really pose a serious threat to revenue when some argue they are increasing traffic to sites by posting links?

Laurie Kaye - linking is part of the way the web operates, but there is some potential commercial bad effects from aggregators
Andrew Hughes - "Russian doll" situation - yes, aggregators increase traffic but that doesn't necessarily lead to an increase in revenue; the NLA isn't asking to license links to friends, only those who charge and benefit financially from linking; newspapers need to assert their rights over the investment they are putting into editorial content; less than a tenth of 1% of newspaper web traffic comes from aggregators, most comes from Google
Larry Rafsky - as 85% of news traffic comes from Google, why not charge Google if you want to charge aggregators?

Is Kindle the future of newspapers?

Larry Rafsky - papers will be web-only in the future, and paper will become a novelty item like candles now, special editions and gift items; advances in flexiscreens by Microsoft will mean the death of newsprint by 2030
Andrew Hughes - no, the future lies in providing streamlined content to individual users (Liverpool fans just want sports news about Liverpool), not in recreating replicas of the print edition online

With web advances, do you foresee the death of newsprint?

Andrew Hughes - no but there will be trouble sustaining the pagination
Jeremy Lawson - print medium will become a much smaller fish in a much bigger pond but won't become irrelevant

What can the industry do to help users distinguish what is fair use and free to access and what isn't?

Laurie Kaye - we're still working through what is commercial or non-commercial but the law will reach that point
Andrew Hughes - we need to make it easier for users and businesses to know what they can and can't do
Larry Rafsky - you need to add value to content, beyond what Google provides, to make B2B paid-for content viable

Library Show, Birmingham

Excuse the bad quality picture, shamefully it's the only one I managed to snap at the show today - it's a fine balance showing enough interest in a product to get the best freebies without getting trapped in a pointless conversation, and taking photos of stands would definitely have strayed over the line.

Anyway, more later on Dame Lynne Brindley of the British Library and the digital future, digitising papers and the excellent freebies, now I'm heading home to the tube strike... Definitely taking a taxi, can't walk home after spending the day in heels!

People in Ireland are lovely...

...except the ones that nick your handbag. But before I get onto that, this is the current holder of tackiest souvenir prize - I nearly bought it for Peter but I thought it was too tacky even for him!

Back to the bag. We dropped into the Linen Hall library to see if we could get any more family info. We found a map showing the street great gran was born on, which used to back onto the railway tracks in Belfast but was bulldozed years ago, and a directory that listed the household heads at the time.

Just before the library closed I popped over to copy the pages, and foolishly left my bag in the corner out of view behind the stacks - in my defence there was only me and the librarian left, and libraries are usually such civilised places (!). When I got back two minutes later it had vanished. Luckily I had my wallet with me, but my camera and my passport were in the bag.

The librarians were helpful but kept pointing out the signs that said not to leave your belongings unattended, just to rub in how dumb I'd been. I rang the police for a crime number (they said they'd send someone round to check the CCTV, which would never happen at home!) and I was just starting to plan what to do with my extended holiday, while I waited for a new passport, when Mark texted. Someone had called him and said they had my passport and bag; news to him, I hadn't got round to telling him I'd lost it. Some kind bus driver had found my bag and instead of chucking it in the lost property cupboard like they do in London had thought to ring the contact number in my passport. Cue a quick dash to the bus office to collect it before they closed for the weekend.

I don't get to stay an extra week, and some idiot is laughing at my holiday snaps as we speak, but at least I have a good excuse to buy a new camera. Who'd have thought the library was a hotbed of crime? Proves it's the quiet ones you have to watch.

Not about death!

Nice to see Michelle Obama getting into her role as first lady by reading an excellent Eric Carle book to some schoolchildren.

My favourite animals are the rather surreal purple cat and blue horse, no doubt thrown in to confuse parents with no imagination.

Flickr as global photo archive

Just came across this Flickr initiative, The Commons, on their site. I remember there was a bit of buzz when it launched last year, then I forgot all about it.

In partnership with institutions like the Brooklyn Museum, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian and the Imperial War Museum, Flickr hosts their photographic collections (where copyright has expired); any Flickr member can tag or comment them, adding their own level of metadata and context in the process.

There are some truly impressive shots - these penguins are sooo funny - and, even taking into account the predictably juvenile comments of some users, it's a vital resource for saving our historical photos for future generations.

Ooh, and happy fifth birthday Flickr! You rule.

Logan goes to Oxfam

We had a jaunt to Crouch End at the weekend, they've got a comics section in the Oxfam bookshop there. Logan helped himself to a book from the children's shelves then wandered the entire shop until he found somewhere suitable to read, wedged against the revolving shelves by the front door.

Check out the reins that are cunningly disguised as a backpack, too - quite cool, but still don't stop him wandering into the road if you're not careful. And you feel a bit like you're walking a dog.

We are the champions, da da da da da

This blog seems to be taking a library turn, now the inauguration of he-who-shall-not-be-named is out of the way. Not necessarily a bad thing but I'll try to mix it up a bit (probably next time Logan does something vaguely amusing).

Anyhoo, last week was the annual SLA pub quiz. AUKML's team, the imaginatively titled Team Gav, came third last year so I was feeling the pressure of being the newbie. You know when you wonder whether you'll have anything to contribute other than, "Shall I get the beers in?"

We had a shocking TV themes round (I got Bargain Hunt, to my eternal shame - come on, what else am I meant to do while Logan's throwing his dinner at the walls?), and with two rounds to go we were trailing the Oliver Postgate Appreciation Society (I kid you not) by eleven points. Fortunately we aced the lyrics round so we knew we were in with a shot (I'm rubbish at remembering song titles but ask me to sing When I'm 64 or anything from Mary Poppins and I'm there).

Faced with a list of 20 cocktails and tasked to identify the ten vodka-based ones (where was Linda when we needed her?), our nerve faltered. What we needed was strong leadership; luckily Gav was there with a steady hand and a do or die attitude. "Sod it," he said (I might have made that up) so we gambled on the ten we hadn't eliminated and, remarkably, it paid off! When the final scores were revealed we had triumphed by one point. Bottles of Sue Hill champagne (and some delicious pizza) all round. Hurrah!

Library blog of the month

Free Range Librarian is written by Karen G Schneider, a prolific writer who deals with the technical side of librarianship and has long been involved with the American Library Association.

She's currently blogging her sister's inauguration day experiences (I will get away from Obama at some point this month, I promise!) but she's also written on the need for caution when jumping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon, and how to run a good tech-based discussion panel.

Obama hearts librarians

My colleague Holly just sent me a link to a speech Obama gave to the ALA a few years ago, extolling librarians as the "guardians of truth and knowledge". Laura Bush may have gone back to the ranch (and she wasn't always popular with our creed anyway) but it seems librarians still have a champion in the White House.