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I understand the theoretical need to have libraries stored on small devices. However, with the push of wireless technology (phones, not 802.11 networks), a single repository that serves the data to wireless enabled devices, to me, seems the most logical choice. Already, I can download songs to my phone. Why not text on a device a little larger? I think back to the guy who spent all his time focusing on getting as much reflection and light out of a candle as possible, to make as much light as he could. He never saw the switch flip. Putting libraries on a storage device is a great start, but at what point do we get tired of the manufacturing costs. >From: Roy Tennant <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Code for Libraries <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] iPods as a library >Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 11:28:45 -0700 >MIME-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v618) >Received: from pickering.cc.nd.edu ([129.74.250.225]) by >mc4-f39.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6824); Tue, 20 Jul 2004 >11:32:26 -0700 >Received: from hazard (hazard.cc.nd.edu [129.74.250.229])by >pickering.cc.nd.edu (Switch-3.1.6a/Switch-3.1.0) with ESMTP id >i6KDjiwS017807;Tue, 20 Jul 2004 13:28:38 -0500 (EST) >Received: from LISTSERV.ND.EDU by LISTSERV.ND.EDU (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release > 1.8d) with spool id 9069163 for [log in to unmask]; Tue, 20 >Jul 2004 13:28:38 -0500 >Received: from pickering.cc.nd.edu (pickering.cc.nd.edu [129.74.250.225]) >by hazard.cc.nd.edu (Switch-3.1.4/Switch-3.1.0) with ESMTP id > i6KISbqi000105 for <[log in to unmask]>; Tue, 20 Jul 2004 > 13:28:37 -0500 (EST) >Received: from ylpvm43.prodigy.net (ylpvm43-ext.prodigy.net >[207.115.57.74]) by pickering.cc.nd.edu >(Switch-3.1.6a/Switch-3.1.0) with ESMTP id i6KISYkF019790 for ><[log in to unmask]>; Tue, 20 Jul 2004 13:28:35 -0500 (EST) >Received: from [10.0.1.2] (63-203-207-40.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net >[63.203.207.40] (may be forged)) by ylpvm43.prodigy.net (8.12.10 >outbound/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i6KISZj2022447 for ><[log in to unmask]>; Tue, 20 Jul 2004 14:28:36 -0400 >X-Message-Info: JGTYoYF78jG0zSeI/LHjyL8aMoPUNG3H >References: ><[log in to unmask]> >X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.618) >X-ND-MTA-Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 13:28:59 -0500 (EST) >X-ND-Virus-Scan: engine v4.3.20; dat v4379 >Approved-By: Roy Tennant <[log in to unmask]> >Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]> >In-Reply-To: ><[log in to unmask]> >Return-Path: [log in to unmask] >X-OriginalArrivalTime: 20 Jul 2004 18:32:26.0788 (UTC) >FILETIME=[E8295640:01C46E87] > >And I think most all of our users would agree. One of the lessons we >_should have_ learned from Google is that it doesn't matter if you have >a huge pile of stuff, most of which is crap, if the good stuff is >mostly what people see in the first few results screens. Librarians >tend to be way too focused on creating a good pile of stuff and not >focused enough on the tools to allow users to get to the good stuff >from an undifferentiated pile. >Roy > >On Jul 20, 2004, at 10:58 AM, Hickey,Thom wrote: > >>I'm afraid that if I had to choose between a few thousand (or even a >>few >>hundred-thousand) well-managed items and 'everything', I'd take >>'everything'. >> >>--Th >> >> >>-----Original Message----- >>From: William Wueppelmann [mailto:[log in to unmask]] >>Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 1:46 PM >>To: [log in to unmask] >>Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] iPods as a library >> >>Eric Lease Morgan wrote: >> >>>This, taken to a its logical conclusion, seems to say that libraries >>>are about providing access to information to the people who can't get >>>access any other way. This group of people will be getting smaller and >>>smaller. I imagine a time when the entire content of a library can be >>>stored on a thing the size and shape of a sugar cube. To read the >>>content of the cube you will drop it into a device, and the device >>>will >>>facilitate access. As the amount of content on cube increases the less >>>important access will be come and the more important services against >>>the content will become. This, in my opinion, is an opportunity for >>>librarianship. It is where librarianship can grow and fill a niche. >> >>I recall seeing some documentary where a physicist argued that you >>could >>fit the entire content of the Encyclopedia Britannica (text only, no >>formatting or pictures) on to an area equal to the head of a pin, but >>that would be about the theoretical maximum storage density possible, >>and you would need a powerful electron microscope to read it. If that >>is >>true, I think that means you could fit the text equivalent of 10,000 >>Britannicas on an area roughly the size of a compact disc. Of course, >>by >>storing data in layers in a three dimensional container, you could get >>even more but, as impressive as that kind of storage density is, it >>seems doubtful that we could store the entire content of a large modern >>library on such a small device, never mind all of the material that a >>future library might have. Not only can we expect libraries to have >>more >>text, images, and sound in the future, but also exotic storage-gobbling >>stuff like ultra-high definition three-dimensional video, digital >>images >>with microscopic levels of detail, a set of 1:1 scale maps of Earth, >>and >>other things that I am sure no one will be able to live without once >>they are possible. >> >>At any rate, history has shown that we have the impressive ability to >>come up with new storage needs just as quickly as new storage >>technology >>can be developed. Despite higher and higher storage densities, it >>certainly seems that the physical space devoted to digital data storage >>is going up, not down. I have every confidence that we will continue to >>rely on buildings rather than pockets for our primary data storage >>needs. >> >>I think that libraries have always been about access services and not >>just storage. In order to access something, you have to have it in the >>first place, but that isn't enough. Libraries are valuable not just >>because they contain information but because the information is >>selected, cataloged, and sorted. A big pile containing every book ever >>published isn't nearly as useful as a few thousand items, selected for >>relevance, cataloged, classified according to some relevant theme, and >>serviced by people and/or systems with the ability to identify and >>retrieve the most relevant materials for a particular need. We already >>have an example of what an enormous repository of information with no >>selection policy, no central management, and only primitive mediated >>access looks like, and it seems to underscore the enormous value of >>organization and mediation. >> >> >>-- >>William Wueppelmann >>http://www.canadiana.org/ >> >>** NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: [log in to unmask] ** >>** Please update your address book. ** >> _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/