Walt at Random

Time to update Three new things walked into a bar…, as promised.

Marketplace impact

1. There are Blu-ray players in some 10.5 million homes. Publishers expect to sell about 100 million Blu-ray discs this year. For popular new releases, Blu-ray now represents roughly 10% of sales–and, overall, it’s up to roughly 8%. That already makes it a billion-dollar business (take your choice: either players or discs). Since disc prices are dropping and store-brand player prices are already below $200, those numbers seem likely to continue increasing rapidly.
2. There are apparently between 700 thousand and a million people using FriendFeed, although that number–like most online numbers, particularly for social media sites that can be used without actually joining–are heavily suspect. Let’s say 700,000 for now. Revenue from those users, to be sure, is zero.
3. Nobody knows how many Kindles have been sold, but most estimates range around half a million. Amazon is no more likely to release revenue numbers for Kindle-specific ebooks than they are to release actual Kindle figures–but the best estimate I’ve seen for total ebook sales (including everything) is around $16 million for Q1 2009, let’s say $50 million for 2008 total–which is, to be sure, an enormous improvement over previous years.

So by my calculations, Blu-ray is used by about ten times as many people as Friendfeed, which is used by maybe twice as many people as Kindle. Blu-ray is at or nearing mass-market status. Neither one is anywhere near that level.

“Success” and game-changer

Here is the perception issue, and I’d say most gurus and people measuring heat would rank the three in exactly the reverse order–that is, Kindle’s hottest and most successful, Friendfeed’s a distant second, and Blu-ray is a boring failure. Readers here paint a slightly more complex picture.

It’s interesting that GeekChic assumes FriendFeed has the most users (and Steve L. gets the numbers roughly right without checking them). I find Mike’s response most typical of digital gurus, including snide universalisms: “(Who would knowingly purchase a CD today?)” Well, 68% of music sales in the U.S. in 2008 were still physical, as were 80% worldwide (and 90% in Europe)–so apparently two out of three buyers still “knowingly purchase” CDs. I’ll counter Mike’s prediction: I think Blu-ray will do just fine for quite a few years–at the very least until it’s feasible for most Americans to download Blu-ray quality video. Even then, there are still tens of millions of us who actually like to own some of our entertainment… I’d also question Mike’s assurance that we’re headed for “basic changes in how we purchase and read books”–but I think that, here again, Mike falls into the “digital conquers all” category, which certainly puts him in good company. I happen to disagree.

One footnote on the inevitable triumph of new technologies: Vinyl LP sales were the highest in 2008 that they’ve been since 1991. Admittedly, that’s just under two million albums, but it’s an interesting figure nonetheless–and two million albums represents a respectable small business.

Libraries going out of their way…

Every library is different. I’d bet there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of U.S. public libraries already circulating Blu-ray discs (I could be wrong). I’d guess a fair number of libraries will have patron requests for Blu-ray discs this year. I doubt that there are many libraries actually circulating Blu-ray players; that’s not usually the job of a public library.

Which makes it all the odder that a few public libraries are buying Kindles and circulating them–but who am I to argue with well-informed local decisions?

What’s new and improved at the Library Leadership Network?

Articles

• Librarians as salespeople? combines insights from Steven Bell, Meredith Farkas and a number of commenters on the need for all librarians to sell their libraries.
• Ebook notes now begins with a new commentary from Mark Lindner, discussing issues related to the iPod Touch as an ereader.
• Older material from Ebook notes and Kindle and ebook reader notes now appears in Backnotes:Ebooks and readers. You’ll see more Backnotes in the future, providing recent history that no longer fits in primary LLN articles.

Leader’s Digest

Look for new items later today!

Quick take

This week’s Quick take discusses library disaster teams–why you need them and how they help.

Here’s a simple check on your perceptions. Which of the following do you consider to be successful–either currently or as some form of inevitable game-changer in the near future?

• Blu-ray Disc
• FriendFeed
• Kindle

Now, let’s put it another way: Which of these has greater actual marketplace impact–that is, which is actually used by the most people?

Based on what I’ve seen from The Punditry, the answers to the first question seem to be dramatically different from those for the second. I wonder why that is?

For now, your comments and responses are invited (here or, ahem, on FriendFeed). In a few days, I’ll come back with answers to the second question. Not sure whether I’ll offer an opinion on the first…

An even better question!

Which of these do you believe public libraries should be going out of their way to introduce to patrons–e.g., for the two hardware items, buying devices? Why?

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“Answers to the second question” and some other comments appear here.

An odd topic for me? Well, yes, given that I don’t work in a library and have never spent much time on the public-workstation theme.

But ALA Publishing sent me a copy of the April 2009 Library Technology Reports (v. 45:3), “Open Source Public Workstations in Libraries,” by John Houser–who, until recently, was Senior Technology Consultant at PALINET and handled the technology side of what’s now the Library Leadership Network.

Here’s the abstract:

In a time where an economic downturn and concerns about climate change are influencing decisions, many libraries are looking for ways to save money and to reduce their impact on the environment. This report provides detailed information about the operating systems, software, and approaches used by three libraries and one academic institution that have implemented open source public workstations. It explains how open source operating systems and applications, when installed on appropriate hardware, can decrease power utilization while providing a reliable and satisfying customer experience. It will help library decision makers who want to find out about alternatives to Microsoft Windows–based PCs running Microsoft Office, not only as a means of  cutting costs or reducing a carbon footprint, but also as a means of providing a better experience for library customers.

I suspect it’s worth buying if you’re in a library that has public workstations (if your library doesn’t subscribe to LTR, you can buy the issue for $43). Houser suggests reasons for considering open source solutions for public workstations, describes current open source products that may be suited for such workstations and offers several case studies, considering two of them in detail.

In some ways, I’m a skeptical audience for this report. I question the assumption that older/underpowered computers (inappropriate for XP or Vista but fine for Linux) necessarily use less power than contemporary computers–and Houser’s clearly uneasy with that particular argument.

For that matter, while I think the concept of open source software is great–the Library Leadership Network runs on open source software (MediaWiki), my blog runs on open source software (WordPress), and my primary browser is open source software (Firefox)–I’m also a happy Vista user who has no interest in trading Office2007 for OpenOffice.

But the reasons I prefer Office2007 and Vista at home probably don’t apply to public workstations. For such workstations, a set of open-source tools should be entirely workable and indeed more than is needed–and there’s no getting around the cost savings. Let’s be honest here: If and when I buy a netbook as a travel computer, there’s a very strong chance I’ll buy a Linux system.

Houser writes clearly and knows his stuff. If there’s a major problem with this report, it’s a problem shared by other recent LTR issues: It’s on the short side, with a total of 34 text pages. On the other hand, that also makes it a quick read and easy reference. All in all, a good introduction to one interesting approach (or, really, three related interesting approaches) to providing public library workstation support.

I planned to write a short note based on an article in the March 2009 National Geographic Traveler–but as I was thinking about it, walking back from lunch, I passed a house being “remodeled” nearby. (The scare quotes? It appears to be one of those remodels that’s essentially a teardown, but leaving one wall intact so that it only needs remodeling permits.)

There were three signs in front of the house from three contractors–and I found two of them odd.

• Another house painted by Acme Painters
• Another roof from Acme Roofers

What’s wrong with those? (OK, the companies aren’t named Acme, and no roadrunners were harmed in the making of this remodel, but…)

Maybe nothing–but I don’t want my paint job or roof to be “just another job.” I want it to be dealt with as an individual project requiring individual care. For some reason, “Another x” is a little too reminiscent of the old Golden Arches “Over x billion served,” which sure didn’t sell me on being one of a billion Big Mac consumers.

The local roofing company with the best reputation (as far as I know), one that we’ve used at two different locations, does not use signs saying “another roof” or “another house.” They use a simple sign identifying the company–and do really good, really clean, really individualized work.

But that’s just another example, and maybe not a good one.

The National Geographic Traveler item

The story is “Montreal in Play,” part of a four-story section on “The Magic of the City.”

It’s supposed to make Montreal irresistible. We haven’t been to Montreal, but fully intend to go some day–at least as part of a New England/Canada cruise, possibly independently. And I’m sure we’ll enjoy Montreal. But I’ll admit that, after reading the story, I was considerably less enthusiastic about going to Montreal than before–until I realized that you couldn’t blame the city for Adam Sachs’ glorification of it.

The lede may even give a clue: “Take a fun-loving citizenry, edgy galleries, a merry-go-round of festivals, and that little thing called Cirque du Soleil, and you can’t not have a good time in Montreal.”

OK, so “can’t not have a good time in Montreal” is one of those awful phrases that starts things out badly. (I hadn’t thought about it before, but based on that mix, you “can’t not have a good time” in Las Vegas either, and I’m guessing some would gainsay that certainty.) But that’s not all. The comments from locals sound a bit like the worst of self-satisfied San Franciscans combined with the worst of self-satisfied Francophiles.

I mean, what can you do with Adam Gollner’s statement: “The allure of Montreal is that it’s the only place in the Western world where you can still be a bohemian.” Really? Isn’t that a little, oh, I don’t know, chauvinistic and absurd? A bit later, Gollner feels the need to put down Louisiana.

There seems to be a lot of this, um, charm among the locals, A newspaper columnist says Montreal defines itself in opposition to Toronto and calls the latter city “Cleveland with Medicare.” We’re told “This is a city where you can do pretty much what you like” but that you absolutely must be a hockey fanatic. Dennis Trudeau says “It’s hard to go anywhere else in Canada after Montreal. Now when I got o other cities I find something missing.” (He also puts down anglophones–you know, it’s all part of that Montreal acceptance and joie de vivre.)

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Adam Sachs intended to make Montreal sound like a city full of smug, self-satisfied, chauvinistic drunks busily putting down everywhere else. But I don’t think so. I think he intended to write a piece on the charm of the city. And maybe for some people he succeeded.

I’m sure we’ll enjoy Montreal. But it will be in spite of this article, not because of it.

Why #1631?

No good reason. I’ve probably written about unintentional meanings before, and they abound. And probably always will.

Dave Pattern has more fun with blogs and library data than anyone else I know–and he shares the results.

You’ve probably heard of HotStuff 2.0 before, and Pattern’s remarkable Hot or Not list. (I included a chart of this blog’s heat on my 4th anniversary post. My “heat” continues to bounce like a SuperBall in the Grand Canyon, but I’m not tracking it over time.)

Now Pattern’s got another one–”the emotional content of librar* blogs.”

What a concept! (Thanks to Peter Murray–DLTJ, that is–for noting this. For some reason, HS2.0 disappeared from my blogroll. It’s back now.)

So what does this say? The little red x and most of the blogs are to the right of center, indicating positivity…and, by and large, they’re roughly midway vertically (some a little above, some a little below), indicating a moderate amount of emotional strength. Not quite “meh” but hardly “Wow!”

Sounds about right. (You can also find a blog cloud for recent posts on the HotStuff 2.0 page for this blog.)

And, just for fun, the “Word of the Day” for today–April 21, 2009–is “walt.” (OK, only two of the four highlighted posts have anything to do with me, and one of those two is pretty indirect. The others relate to slightly, just slightly more prominent Walts: Whitman and Kelly. No Disney today?)

The cosmic significance of all this? Right up there with the phrase generators that Pattern has previously unleashed upon the world…specifically, The Library 2.0 Idea Generator and The Library 2.0 Equation Generator. Go to Pattern’s blog, “Self-plagiarism is style” (the quotes are part of the name, which is loads of laughs when sorting a spreadsheet full of blog names) for more.

Oh…and your little dog Toto, too.

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PS (added 4/23/09): Never one to miss a bet, Pattern has now provided the ultimate justification for Twitter.

What’s new and improved at the Library Leadership Network?

Articles

• Privacy and confidentiality, no longer a “starter article,” now includes two major commentaries–and more discussion of the issues on the talk page. What’s your take?
• There’s a new commentary in Qualities of successful managers.
• A new section in Women and leadership offers brief notes from a long, thoughtful review of a major book on this topic.
• Library labs–innovation platforms combines Eric Schnell’s commentary on the new OSU Library Labs and brief notes on some other examples of library labs.

Leader’s Digest

New items include:

• Assumptions leaders should question–three big assumptions about top management that may not be true.
• How to show your customers you’re listening–Six suggestions that apply equally well to listening to your patrons, or for that matter listening to your colleagues.
• Supply-chain management–How some companies have improved how they produce items and manage their supply chains.

Quick take

This week’s Quick take offers more insights into library approval ratings.

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And that’s this week’s post from LLN Highlights, the best way to keep up with what’s new on the Library Leadership Network.

…among people with poor reading skills that I might be in some way related to a certain pseudonymous blogger who operates at The World’s Worst Blog/Comment Platform (aka LJ/SLJ), this post should end that suspicion.

Unless you also think I’m a masochist.

I put together two articles on unconferences and library camps for what’s now the Library Leadership Network: “Unconferences and library camps” (synthesized from a lot of different sources and combining my text with segments of posts from people involved in these things) and “Unconference and library camp practices” (which summarizes actual practices at most pre-2009 examples and includes an entirely original tabular summary).

Both required a fair amount of effort. Both are, I believe, real contributions to the field. Both have been reasonably well read–the first particularly so within the last couple of months. (If all goes well, I’ll update the second article in July to incorporate experiences from the first half of 2009.)

I’ve never been to an unconference or library camp. But I think they’re worthwhile alternative forms of conferencing, worth considering. That’s why I developed the articles (as part of LLN’s broader set of conference-related articles).

I see no need to respond to the post noted at the start of this post. It falls in the same category as most of that blogger’s work since becoming an LJ writer. (”Intellectually lazy trollbait” would be one way of putting it.)

On the other hand, it’s probably worth reminding “my two readers” (a near-universal formulation for non-A-list bloggers showing how ‘umble we all are: I dunno how many of the >900 subscribers to this blog actually read it, or how many of the >1,300 sessions/day are people rather than spiders, but I ain’t quite that humble): If you’re not already reading Library Leadership Network (and participating!), you should be. As the new name may emphasize, it’s not limited to any region; it’s free, it continues to develop, and it’s for anyone who’s any sort of library leader now or in the future.

It’s been almost exactly two weeks since I wrote “LTB–and a lot more.”

That post noted some of the reasons I’ve done very little contemplative or really new writing in the last six weeks or so–and am likely not to do very much of it for the next month (or so). That’s not entirely true: I did a future edition of “disContent” that I’m quite pleased with and I’ve been generating (and editing, and organizing) content for the Library Leadership Network. But the longer essays–whether contemplative or synthetic (that is, synthesizing from various posts)–weren’t happening.

During those two weeks, I did put out an issue of Cites & Insights. That issue should be a real bargain: It has the most important sections of two $29.50 books about library blogs, all yours for $0. It also has some notes on readership over the first two million words of C&I. So far, I can’t say that the issue has either aroused any obvious interest or even achieved the usual first-half-week level of downloads and readership, but these things (can) take time.

The title

The inspiration for this post is John Scalzi’s post “I Got Nothing” at his blog Whatever. Inspiration, that is–not parallel. Scalzi’s post concerns the fact that he has only one book in the publishing pipeline, with no other books under contract. For Scalzi, a successful and award-winning science fiction writer, this could be cause for concern–but, as he notes, it’s also an occasion to try new things…with no books he has to work on.

The situation here is not parallel. I’m not suggesting that I’m remotely in Scalzi’s league as a writer. I’m also not suggesting that anywhere near as many people would care (his posts get lots of comments, generally quite interesting ones–and he posts fairly regularly. For example, this post, which went up five hours ago as I write this, already has 35 comments–and doubtless more when any of you go to it).

But Scalzi’s post, and title, did encourage me to look at my own situation…and wonder.

Maybe it’s not just moving?

Yes, moving is disruptive–and when it’s from one house you’ve lived in for 11 years to another 30 miles away, when incidents add to the confusion (thanks to a misstep just as we started looking for the first time at the house we believe we’re buying, my wife’s hobbling around with a hairline fracture–since then and for the next month or so: as she says, she fell for the house), when you’re dealing with a truly strange real estate “market,” and when you factor in California’s, and especially Santa Clara County’s, increasingly extensive paper trail…well, it’s really disruptive for a very long time.

[An aside: Supposedly, local realtors are "going paperless"--but I'd say there's at least twice the paperwork there was 11 years ago, including incredibly detailed disclosure forms. We've spent hours just initialing and signing form after form after form...and, if I didn't have an all-in-one printer so we could print out "faxed" PDFs, sign them, scan them back in and attach them to email, I don't see how we could get through this at all--we'd be driving out to Livermore twice a day. I know our buying agent and selling agent will each give us a CD at close of escrow with copies of all the paperwork--but meanwhile, I'd swear we have more than half a ream of paper for the purchase transaction, and almost that much for the sale.]

But…well, I can’t honestly say that move-related stuff is occupying all my afternoons and evenings. Even as we start packing toward the actual move, deciding on a mover, contacting utilities (and, later, the post office, bank, magazines, credit card companies, IRS, etc., etc., etc.), all that stuff should take less than half the time I’d normally devote to writing-related work.

Work that, other than some column-related effort, isn’t really happening. If I sit down to start on an essay, even one that grows by bits & pieces (e.g., Trends & Quick Takes), I find myself checking FriendFeed, checking email, then going off for a nap…and reading a magazine or exercising or going for a walk.

Which makes me wonder whether the move isn’t a convenient catchall for something else…

In recent years, I’ve said I’d keep on writing as long as (a) people want to read what I have to say and (b) I find it interesting & worthwhile to do so.

Right now, I’m a little uneasy on both counts. With luck, this too shall pass…

No quick decisions

Once again, I’m not doing anything (including not doing anything, if that makes sense) in any great hurry.

As to “the four projects,” no decision yet–although I guess the second possibility (library blogs) is dead in the water, along with sales for the books. (Short-term lesson in Andersonomics: Giving away the meat of the two library blog books has, to date, resulted in zero, count them, 0 sales of either book. But, you know, T-shirts at my author’s reading concerts are doing just fine…)

Unless there’s a sudden change in attitude, there’s a good chance the June C&I will consist of a reformatted version of the first 121 pages of The Liblog Landscape 2007-2008, which would probably yield a slightly large but not immense issue (I’m guessing 32 to 42 pages, depending on how I handle figures)–in other words, everything except the individual blog profiles. That book’s completely flatlined at this point as well, with no sales in at least three weeks (50 total to date), so we’ll see what giving (most of) it away does for sales or at least readership.

After that–we shall see. I’ve got lots of material ready to work on. (I’d still like to carry forward the Liblog Landscape study another year–I’m just not sure I can justify the effort on any basis, including “the good of the profession.”) The creative juices could start flowing again most any time…

Or the sense could grow that I’ve become an “old mind” that people are tired of hearing from, that my style of thinking and writing doesn’t have much place in Today’s Library Field and that I should just let it go.

Right now, I got nothin’.

Cites & Insights 9:6, May 2009, is now available.

The 28-page issue is PDF as usual, although HTML separates are available for most essays (from the links below).

This issue includes:

Bibs & Blather

Two million and counting: Notes on the first two million words of C&I, including the most widely-read issues (or, rather, “what I know about readership except for the first two years”) and most widely-read essays since 2004. Also a note on one “why” for the two major essays–the other “why” being life changes getting in the way of original essays.

Public Library Blogs

Most of the first 65 pages of Public Library Blogs: 252 Examples, excluding some overall lists of included blogs and the individual blog profiles. If the gurus of Andersonomics are right, this free access to most of the overall text will inspire lots of you to go buy the print book… If not, at least the study will get a lot more readership.

Academic Library Blogs

Most of the first 62 pages of Academic Library Blogs: 231 Examples, excluding individual blog profiles and one section that’s an exact duplicate of the same section in Public Library Blogs. What I said above, but more so.

My Back Pages

Three brief commentaries.

1. “It’s just a glitch” is a convenient way to avoid responsibility for a stupid decision.

As a systems analyst/programmer for five decades, I know how easy it is to blame the computer (which means blaming the programmers) for bad decisions that had nothing to do with the computer or software failure. (And when one arm of a corporation sends out email explicitly defending a policy that the corporation later calls “a glitch,” well, some glitches are harder to swallow than others.)

2. Sometimes it really is a glitch.

Systems analysts and programmers are human too. While, as far as I can remember, my former place of work never engaged in glitch-washing (that is, blaming computers/programmers for decision failures), I do remember cases–usually very minor–where those of us on the system development side didn’t prepare for every possibility. Glitches do happen…but see the parenthetical sentence in above.

Some of the new and updated items at the Library Leadership Network (LLN):

New and updated articles:

• Brands now includes notes on Tropicana’s recent marketing folly.
• The new normal combines assertions from two different sources that the very nature of normality has been redefined.
• There’s a new commentary on “Soliciting high-quality employee ideas” in Staff feedback and involvement.
• “Quiet rule breaking” may be beneficial–a new discussion in Problematic communication and behavior.
• A new Policy article on Privacy and confidentiality, likely to be expanded soon, begins with notes from a post questioning the extent to which libraries protect patron confidentiality.
• Technology trends includes a trio of trends from The Economist.

You’ll also find new lists of the 25 LLN articles most frequently read between March 9, 2009 and April 8, 2009–and the 25 most widely read since the founding of the network, excluding the current “hot” items, in What’s hot at LLN?

Leader’s Digest

Recent posts in Leader’s Digest:

• Tapping creativity - Some simple suggestions for breaking through creative blocks.
• Deficit thinking: the problem with problems - Issues with focusing on problems rather than seeking new opportunities.

Quick take

This week’s Quick take offers two perspectives on library ratings.

Judith Krug died over the weekend. Krug headed up ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) for decades–since 1967.

Jessamyn West offers a brief post that says it as well or better than I could.

I was slightly acquainted with Krug, and had the chance to chat with her at one or two state library conferences. She was as charming and interesting in person as she was relentless in pushing for the freedom to read and intellectual freedom.

Krug was one of the good ones. She’ll be missed. The work will continue.

Stones–milestones, that is

• This appears to be the 1,000th post in this blog. Not “post #1000″–for various reasons, if I was still using post numbers, it would be higher than that. The celebration of this milestone–which, if I was still blogging at the frequency I originally anticipated, would be about six years away–will be muted.
• Cites & Insights reached a milestone this year–twice. The milestone? Two million words. How twice? The raw word count, including the masthead, “Inside this issue,” and repeated material from previous issues, passed two million words in the January 2009 issue. The refined word count–excluding repeated material longer than (roughly) a paragraph and excluding mastheads, banners and “Inside this issue”–passed two million words in April 2009. (The publication also passed 2,500 pages in January 2009. Word and page counts exclude annual indices and the phantom COAP issue.) You’ll see more about that, overall readership, and the most widely-read essays for the period 2004-2009 in the May issue. (Yes, there will be a May issue, probably in a week or so, despite the continuing upheaval. Most of the issue will be “free books”–in one sense at least.)

Bones

The “bones” of houses, in this case–that is, structural integrity, pest control, proper maintenance. We’ve learned a few things about appreciation for “good bones” and about just how local today’s odd real estate market really is.

(The distinction here is between remodeling and obvious visual “improvements” vs. things like cracks in the eaves, termite damage, apparent standing water…the kinds of things a good home inspector and pest inspector will find.)

Our house has great bones–we’ve always kept it in good shape, even though the kitchen still has the original (1950s) tile. That was critical for two of the offers we got, including the one we accepted. We finally asked why they’d chosen ours over the one nearby that’s roughly the same price but freshly remodeled. The answer boiled down to bones–turns out the remodeled house showed significant problems in the inspection. (And, as is frequently the case, the owners planned to remodel anyway, so remodeling wasn’t a big selling point.)

The house we’re buying–and yes, we did get the house–also has great bones. We spent two hours yesterday walking through it with a home inspector (the right kind of inspector: all the company does is inspections, no repairs, and he’s not a moonlighting realtor), noting a variety of tiny things to be resolved and a couple of slightly-larger repairs, but also noting that the important stuff was all great. He was as enthusiastic about the house as I’ve ever seen an inspector be–”this house is in great shape” is a literal quote. (I think he was also pleased, because he’s been inspecting a lot of bank-owned properties, which tend not to be in great repair.) And I suspect the bones were one reason this house also had four offers.

If you’d like a moral here, there is one:

• Pay attention to household maintenance first. Keep your house in great condition. Remodeling and the like can come a little later.

The broader story, though, is the truly peculiar and local state of real estate at this point. The Experts continue to say California’s in trouble, especially since there are probably more foreclosures coming–and, they tell us, foreclosures drag down the whole market.

It depends. From what we’ve seen in these transactions–and in the fact that both of the other houses up for sale in this neighborhood sold as rapidly as ours did [the remodeled one is off the market for now] and that the agents we talk to say multiple offers are now becoming normal again in nearby towns–it’s more complicated. I suspect the “foreclosure market” is largely separate from the traditional home-buying market.

What feels good: The sellers in Livermore are happy with our offer (yes, we paid more than asking, but they’d priced it fairly)–and we’re delighted with the house. The buyers in Mountain View are delighted with the house–and we’re happy with their offer. Two win:win transactions–that’s how business and real estate should work, but win:win seems to have been in short supply recently.

Broader implications? I’m not sure there are any. I do know this: Broad statements about The Real-Estate Market or even The California Real-Estate Market are too broad to be very useful. Even broad statements about the Mountain View or Livermore markets may be too broad. Local, local, local…

Footnote

I haven’t written anything about the Darien statement, and not much of anything about the latest Taiga list. Nor do I intend to at this point. Once things become more peaceful and after there’s been enough time for various folks to digest and respond, I might do a “preserving the zeitgeist” piece or I might not. If I do, I’m likely to be more observer than participant.

Readers of ONLINE magazine may feel that I’ve already responded, though, since my March/April 2009 “Crawford at Large” column, “Futurism and Libraries,” includes a section entitled “The library” fallacy, with “The library” in quotes. That column was written long before the Darien statement–but I’ll stand by my unease with the whole notion of “the library” either as Platonic ideal or useful universalism. (I’ve already gone on record as finding “one big library” more unfortunate than useful.) I’m not strong on universalisms in general. Beyond that, I’m just not taking part in this discussion at the moment.

What’s new at the Library Leadership Network, LLN?

New name

Lyrasis brings you the Library Leadership Network–a new name for PALINET Leadership Network, emphasizing that the network is for all library leaders and would-be leaders.

You don’t need to change a thing. Your bookmark will still work, this blog will still work. You’ll still see “PLN” at various places in LLN for quite some time.

New and improved content

• DMCA, DRM and free expression adds another major article to LLN’s copyright policy cluster.
• Influential books on librarianship is the April 2009 LLN Challenge, beginning with varied suggestions from five library leaders. What books influenced you most?
• Leader’s Digest March 2009 is in place; the full items will be here until they’re all distributed elsewhere.
• You’ll find new content in Innovation notes, Women and leadership, Teamwork checklists and Speaking up, keeping quiet and listening.

New on Leader’s Digest

• Decoding resistance to change - Thinking of resistance as feedback, and how to use it.
• Becoming resilient in times of adversity - Steps you can take to stay flexible, optimistic and open to learning.

Quick take

This week’s Quick take offers Jamie LaRue’s thoughs on generations and the public sector.