RIA's and Libraries

Rich Internet Applications
Few libraries are doing this, many should.  We could use it for maps.  Google gears might be a good tool for us.
Data processed both on client and server side
Asynchronous data exchange.
Similarity to desktop applications (keyboard shortcuts, drag/drop, etc)
Richer experience for user (Connected, alive, interactive, responsive.)  Deeper level of interaction, quick.

History
Broadmoor (2002) is the earliest example of a RIA.  3 columns on 1 page.
AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML, 2005)  Google Maps is an early example.  Updates information based on portion person is accessing.  May be easy for libraries to do.  But takes more time to test/debugsince there's no community voice/framework.  No standards.
Flex 2 (2006) MXML -- Action 3 (like Java) is compiled into SWF then displayed using Flash Player.  Easy code (for code-writers.)  Bad for mobile devices.  Flash is not working with Apple.
Silverlight (2007) Windows Presentation Foundation hosted in browser--mix of XAML & JavaScript.  Lots of code.
JavaFX (2008) Learning curve is high.  Very complicated.  But very quick.
Adobe Air --does all this easier and well.  Note: this presentation is from an Adobe programmer, who claims to have an LIS, love libraries, and not be selling her product.  But here it it.  And it got a real sell.
Google Gears -- Local data store; Synch with server; Worker pool.  In beta.

Additonally
HTML5 -- Next major revision of HTML.  New structural elements.  Audio & video.  New form controls.  Drag & drop.  Session storage, local storage.  Offline application caching.  Canvas (draw directly in browser window.)  Very exciting.  The Internet is bscoming more usable.

Bottom Line
Users don't care what platform you use, as long as it works for you.  Note: Apple can't use flash.  No iPad or iPhones.
No matter the platform: design, usability, and accessibility is crucial.

Nancy Pearl vs. Mary McDonagh Murphy!

Nancy Pearl interviews documentarian MM Murphy, who's making a documentary about To Kill a Mockingbird.

Harper Lee did not expect this book to be successful.  But we've all been assigned this in school and it is amazingly a book even that dubious honor couldn't have ruined.

We were treated to previews of great clips of the classic film--actually now makes it necessary for, I think, every audience member (there are hundreds) to watch (and read) this again.  Incredible interview clips for what seems like a heartfelt documentary made by someone who truly loves the book--everybody from Wally Lamb to James Patterson to Scott Turow to Anna Quindlen reading passages and talking about influence and even the suspense of the book (the Boo Radley question, hadn't really thought of this before...)  Authors also are terrified that a writer of this quality only published one novel.

She couldn't talk to Nell (Harper) Lee, but Murphy spoke with the aforementioned authors as well as one of the famously reclusive Lee's sisters, Miss Alice.  A 98-year old who is still working, she's one of the first female attorneys to practice in Alabama.  Alice said that Capote, their neighbor, and Harper's close friend and colleague couldn't cope with Mockingbird's success.  Sad, because she helped him research and interview In Cold Blood.  Many suggest Capote's moth to a publicity flame was a warning that scared Lee away from further success.

Holy cow!  There's Tom Brokaw, who Murphy worked with. Roseanne Cash calls the book a parenting manual...But there's Oprah talking!  Hokey smokes.  This documentary is a big deal.  I wonder if our library could haggle a preview of this film at our celebration of the book.

Mary Murphy's website.
On the book's 50'th anniversary.

Attending (and presenting @) ALA!

I was very flattered and excited when Rebecca Vnuk asked me to be on a top-notch panel from RUSA (Reference and User Services Association) Innovative Collection Centered Programs: Beyond the Book Group.  Sunday, June 27th, 10:30-12:00; the program guide says it is in Renaissance East.

Here's who's on the panel & what they're doing:  
Kaite Mediatore Stover, Kansas City Public Library, will be moderating.  David Wright, Seattle Public Library, "Storytime for Grown-ups."  Vivienne Beckett, Scenic Regional Library, Union, MO, "Trivia Night at the Library."  Michelle Boisvenue-Fox, Kent District Library, Grand Rapids, MI, "Winter Reading Club; Book Club Bingo; Book Club Mixer."  Cynthia Dudenhoffer, Smiley Memorial Library, Central Methodist University, Fayette, MO, "Twilight Comparative Literature Camp."

Quite a talented group of folks.  As a film history teacher, who presents weekly and a librarian heavily involved in programming, presenting sometimes 3 times a week, I probably have no reason to be nervous.  But I am...stress being the body's natural reaction to the new, right?

Anyway, I will be talking about the amazing fun I have throwing a readers' party every quarter at the Oak Park Public Library.  It's called Oak Park Readers, has been running strong for three years now, and it has its own Goodreads page.  I know bloggers aren't supposed to talk about their links.  They're supposed to plant, so others may dig...walk away, whistling casually.  But thanks to hard work from some great colleagues as well as this writer, the pages burst with content...like the hundreds of books we've talked about, dozens of photos, a couple videos, etc.  One can join the group and have the Oak Park Readers experience virtually.

As a book cart drill team world champion "Warrior Librarian," I suppose I have nothing to worry about, my might naturally pulling me through.

I am really looking forward to this.  This is a program I would definitely attend even if I weren't presenting.  One remaining question on etiquette:  I wonder how to take notes incognito, while on a panel...

Ray Bradbury: "Library is the Real School"

In this article, Ray Bradbury, perhaps our finest literary science fiction writer, says: "I’m completely library educated. I’ve never been to college. I went down to the library when I was in grade school in Waukegan, and in high school in Los Angeles, and spent long days every summer in the library."

Bradbury continues, "with the library, it’s like catnip, I suppose: you begin to run in circles because there’s so much to look at and read. And it’s far more fun than going to school, simply because you make up your own list and you don’t have to listen to anyone. When I would see some of the books my kids were forced to bring home and read by some of their teachers, and were graded on—well, what if you don’t like those books?
       I am a librarian. I discovered me in the library. I went to find me in the library. Before I fell in love with libraries, I was just a six-year-old boy. The library fueled all of my curiosities, from dinosaurs to ancient Egypt. When I graduated from high school in 1938, I began going to the library three nights a week. I did this every week for almost ten years and finally, in 1947, around the time I got married, I figured I was done. So I graduated from the library when I was twenty-seven. I discovered that the library is the real school."

Librarians: The Earth's Mightiest Super-heroes!

Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo
Neil Gaiman, Chris Ware, Carrie Fisher, Alex Ross and countless others from young hotshots like Jimmy Cheung to the old guard like Colleen Doran (whose table I worked at Ithacon around 20 years ago, but that's another story) were among the guests of honor here.  I didn't get to meet any of them, though. Apparently C2E2 is a controversial corporate upstart to the established Chicago Comicon nee Wizard World.  Here's what I learned while I was there.

As a graphic novel selector, I just had to attend C2E2, a spin-off of the New York Comicon and I certainly wasn't disappointed.  I was only there for a few hours and, as well as picking up some ideas for the collection, I saw a wide and fascinating tapestry of human interests.  For a change, though, librarians stood out as the most normal people in the crowd.

I saw work by artists like this guy but also got to shake hands with none other than Playboy cartoonist Doug Sneyd who made me giggle when I was a young boy sneaking a peak at my dad's magazines.  Speaking of laughs, I wondered what the Windy City Jedi group was.  I saw they would be performing later, but as a professional relegated to a few pre-convention hours, I was only able to stop by the exhibition floor booth to say "hey" as they set up.  Apparently, they're stationed out of Rolling Meadows, IL and probably eager to do battle for Carrie Fisher, who would be signing autographs later.

But all in all, as a people-watcher, I had a ball; these are creative individuals who clearly seek and love attention.  I saw a young lady with the crowd-stopping combo of dominatrix boots and  a wee Captain America shirt.  Another was getting a bustier fitting.  There were a lot of funny hats.  A few utility kilts.  Several potbellies, mustaches, and clever t-shirts were on display.  On the way out of an excellent presentation (details below), a young lady in a snug-fitting Batgirl costume chatted with another person, perfectly natural--as if she had just bumped into an old friend at the mall.  On the way out of McCormick Place I saw another young lady attaching the pieces to her Stormtrooper outfit in the bright open air near the Lake Shore Trail.  Really, the wide tapestry in so many ways...

The exhibitors were all pretty interesting; a lot of the long, white boxes I remember thumbing through for that old issue of The Avengers.  Speaking of Marvel, they floored me with their supermodel greeters in slinky black cocktail dresses who approached all geeks with a come-hither smile.  Conversely, the only booth of indy comics was the wonderful Quimby's/Chicago Comics, which took up about a tenth of Marvel's real estate, looking like a lemonade stand by comparison.  The people I saw seem to spend a lot more time reading than exercising.  Serving the broken-down masses, a foot specialist and chiropractor's booth were there to aggressively offer their help in picking up the pieces.

Here's the great presentation I attended:

Graphic Novels 101 by John Shableski
2010 is a big year for graphic novels due to:

• Disney buying Marvel for $4 billion.
• James Patterson creating a comic, mostly for a son who has trouble reading, Evanovich, Meyer, and Captain Underpants follow his lead.
• The Texas Library Association introduces the Maverick Award--the first formal recognition for the format, part of the Texas Young Adult Round Table.  I wonder if he hadn't heard of the Eisner award? I guess it's more formal than YALSA, according to what he says...

Also, some more pre-history...

50,000 years ago Cave Paintings in Lasceaux, France.

1000 AD, Monks draw satirical bunnies

1817 Martin Luther draws satirical cartoon vs. the Pope as money changer.

Colonial Era. Ben Franklin communicates through pictures and words (i.e. “Join or Die.”)

Late 1800s Literacy in America. Mark Twain publishes The Innocents Abroad
--The first writer to use American dialect.  Rails connect both coasts.  US education system formalizes, we are at 97% literacy (among whites, anyway.)

1870's Thomas Nast uses panels.  Almost killed for cartoons on Boss Tweed.  Also helped popularize Saint Nick and Uncle Sam.

1895 Yellow Journalism and New Kind of Literacy. “Yellow Kid” character wore a t-shirt that featured social commentary

1920-1930 Comic Books and Superheroes. Comic strips and comic books took off; Dick Tracy emerged.

1938 Action Comics. Birth of Superman.

Late 1940's The Cold War, Sputnik, Horror, Scifi, UFO's, HUAC hearings, Hollywood Blacklisting, Manga, and the Library Bill of Rights. Sci-fi and horror comics gain momemtum while superhero comics become not as popular. Manga emerges with elements of Disney and western influence.

1948, the Library Bill of Rights was written.  Superheroes begin to fade--ghouls, werewolves, vampires take over.  Comic burnings all over the place (check out my hometown in the picture to the right as well as the blurb here) as Judith Crist's Collier's article Horror in the Nursery takes hold.

1950s The Seduction of the Innocent and the CCA. Dr. Federic Werham, publishes this book in 1954, his place as the era's Dr. Phil is cemented.  Wertham is credited for the comic book industry’s decline (at 10 cents each, they were selling $53 million/year!)  In a remarkably unscientific study, he blamed comics as a contributing factor to juvenile delinquency. The industry countered with the Comics Code Authority in 1957. DC and Marvel Comics wrote the code which advocated for less violence and gore. Self serving because they were promoting their comics (i.e. superheroes rather than vampire storylines).

1960 Mad Gets Even. Stan Lee (a conflicted novelist creates many comics filled with conflicted superheroes like Spiderman and the X-Men ) started in comics when he was just 19. Mad Magazine was created. Other comic emerge outside of the Marvel stable and go underground. These alternative comics are sold at head shops.

1980s Great expectations. The industry rebounds with critically acclaimed Watchmen, Sandman, Maus, The Dark Knight Returns.

1990s A Collectors Paradise, Bone, Emerging Voices and the Arrival of Manga. More of an industry for collectors emerged where limited edition runs of comics with sophisticated artwork and high glossy paper dominated the landscape. Superman got killed. Manga got traction with the Internet with Pokemon and Naruto helping.

2000s New Age and the Library Market. Not quite a mature industry. Comic book industry is evolving with support from libraries, popular culture. It’s finding a new audience. Web comics become popular.  Increased support from major academic institutions, major literacy organizations like NCTE and IRA.
--Also increased volume of reports, papers, articles & websites:
Graphic Novels in the classroom (500,000)
Teaching with Graphic Novels (3.3 million)
Graphic Novels in Education (5.3 million)
Graphic Novels for Reluctant Readers (319,000)
Graphic Novels for autistic/spectrum disorders (64,000)

At John Shableski's hometown library (Williamsport, Penn) graphic novels circulate at 7 to 1 over bestsellers. This was after they were moved to better sections and marketed properly. Patrons seek graphic novels out for a variety of reasons.  Libraries are headed in this direction for sure with manga leveling off and normalizing in terms of quality and popularity and the mainstreaming of both independent and mainstream comics.

Hope for the 
Art Form:


Garage Band Effect ~
Kids create their own books 
without inhibitions.. 

Hey! I've Seen That Cover Before, Haven't I?

You sort of have. The Reusable Cover Art site displays books whose covers use the same painting, photograph, or art of some kind. Kind of hypnotizing...

Do You Want to be a Librarian?

Full enjoyment to the librarian, radiated to the public: