Before Harry

Not that it needs any advertising, but J.K. Rowling's "Fantastic beasts and where to find them : the original screenplay" has been released.

 
The plot:
In New York, Newt Scamander, a young activist wizard from England, is on a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Inside his expanding leather suitcase hides a wide array of diverse, magical creatures that exist among us, ranging from tiny, twig-like ones, to majestic and humongous ones. 
Set in the 1920s (years before Harry's birth), times are troubled since the already fragile equilibrium of secrecy between the unseen world of wizards and the ordinary or "No-Maj" (American for Muggle) people that the MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America) struggles to maintain, is at risk. 
Meanwhile, the voices against wizardry keep growing with daily protests led by anti-magic crusader - Mary Lou Barebone and fuelled by the increasing disasters ascribed to the terrorising dark wizard - Gellert Grindelwald.
 At the same time, by a twist of fate, Newt's precious suitcase will be switched with the identical one of an aspiring No-Maj baker, Jacob Kowalski, while demoted Auror, Tina Goldstein, arrests Newt for being an unregistered wizard.
To make matters worse, with the suitcase in the wrong hands, several creatures manage to escape to unknown directions. Before long, this situation will catch Senior Auror Percival Graves' attention who will target both Tina and Newt amid panic caused by an invisible, devastating and utterly unpredictable menace that still wreaks havoc in New York's 5th Avenue. Is there a hidden agenda behind Graves' intentions and ultimately, what will happen to the remaining magical creatures still loose in the streets? 
How can you fit that storyline into just 290 pages of script and illustrations?
Find out by borrowing either the real physical book, or the ebook. 

Vendors

How opportune that Thing 22 is eResources and vendor apps, just at a time when we’re reviewing database vendors.

Some electronic resources (eg. databases, eBooks, eMagazines, etc.) are accessible via apps provided by the vendors. This Thing is designed to think about the experience when using vendor apps to access content, knowing that the experience can be variable depending on the device you have, the connectivity in your area and the compatibility of the app. 
It refers to a number of applications, including – Zinio, Mango Languages, EBSCO Host, Axis 360, 3M Cloud Library and OverDrive, just to mention half a dozen.

The Thinking Points are:

• What information do the vendors collect from your clients via the app? – That varies and is dependent of things like their authentication protocols, and whether you are merely searching or actually borrowing.

• What use statistics do you get from vendor apps? – That definitely varies from vendor to vendor, some are just brief raw searches or visits, others show trends, turnovers, and allow some level of interaction to generate particular statistical queries.

• Are clients who use the app easily able to move to other library resources? – Another variable, often the vendor’s app and site are separate, but products like eResource Central aim to bring them all together under one discovery layer, just hurry on the day it all happens.

• How do you evaluate vendor apps before offering them to your clients? – By playing, but also trying to think of all the ways people want to access and look/listen to the resources.

• Which vendor apps could your staff use (e.g. library management system)? – that would be BookMyne

• In what ways does offering core services via apps change the way that the library reaches people? - it is the whole self-service 24/7, and it also changes the way in which people interact with staff.

'Read' by listening

Thing 21 is Voice interaction and recording, and it covers a few different aspects and opportunities to create content for library collections and exhibitions by recording voice (eg. oral histories, local stories and literacy activities). 

• I saw/listened to a wonderful application of this technology, when Ballarat Library staff used an ipad to record reminiscences at the Heritage Festival, then made a video of short snippets - different memories of the trams.

  

  The last of the Ballarat trams, 1971

• Using assistive translation software technology to communicate with library patrons who read/speak other languages, be it text-to-speech or speech-to-text.

• And the big one audio-books, specifically eAudio, but taking it a step further - choosing a text-to-speech option on eBooks, or switching seamlessly between an eBook and an audio-book.

You know things are transiting when the 'Wall Street Journal' thinks "The digital revolution may have dealt a heavy blow to print, but it is boosting literacy in other unexpected ways by fueling the explosive growth of audio books".

As commuters around the country, and around the world, retreat into their own world on their phone, tablet or other device, it has led to a proliferation of audio entertainment, and a take up of eBooks and eAudios by non-traditional users.

The 'e' of books n' things

Thing 16 eBooks and eBook apps is related to the previous Thing 15.
It covers some of the challenges faced by libraries providing ebooks 
There is the device dilemma - tablets versus readers for eBooks ; the difficulties of proprietary material ; why libraries don't have all the latest bestsellers in the eBook collection ; patrons with El-cheap-o devices that don't access app sources like Google Play or iTunes ; and well-meaning family who gift elderly parents with eReaders without explaining their use.
We still have a few DRM controlled eAudio titles, and it isn't that obvious they have restricted rights when you're browsing, luckily they are being fazed out.
In the Explore I checked out the LibraryBox 2.0 - a Kickstart Project it is a "combination of a router (a variety of hardware will work), USB drive, and software that, when combined, give you a small, low powered webserver. The webserver acts like a captive portal, and delivers files that are stored on the USB drive". The portable digital file distribution system is designed to share digital information in areas of limited or no connectivity (that can be us).

 In the Thinking Points it was how to display and promote ; the different devices, vendor selections, and file formats of eBooks.

It is vital that the eAudios & eBooks are viewed as part of the larger collection, so hurry on eRC (eResource Central) integration - providing our eContent in the general catalogue, so it can be searched alongside the traditional physical collection - you're looking for a copy of "Brave new world" and don't care if it is in large print, CD or ebook format, you just want it NOW.

Also thinking about the born digital local content and historic content converted to digital.

Into this

This is one story which passed me by and I’ve only just discovered it – ‘Into the wild’ Jon Krakauer’s retelling of Chris McCandless’ tale.
 

I enjoyed Jon’s storytelling style in ‘Into thin air’, and have to admit it was the same with ‘Into the wild’ (do you see a theme here?). I was reading the library’s ebook version and I found it hard to put down, I’d get a few minutes and start reading, was at the hairdressers and peering at it via the small phone screen – and this was despite already knowing the ending! It wasn’t enough though, after reading the book I had to check out the film. Sean Penn directed the movie version which is based on Jon's book and told in a series of flashbacks.

It is based on the true story of Christopher McCandless played by Emile Hirsch.The film is beautifully shot, and I liked the concept of utilising the words from Chris' postcards on the screen.

The Plot: When he graduated in May 1990, Christopher had rejected the trappings of his conventional life – cutting up his credit cards and ID, donating his college fund savings ($24,000) to Oxfam, and instead he sets out to experience life in the wilderness – without telling anyone, in fact masquerading his activities.

Chris’ old yellow Datsun is caught in a flash flood, so he just abandons it. He burns his last money, begins hitchhiking, and assumes the name: Alexander Supertramp. As Alex he encounters different people who take him in (and listen to his philosophy on life). But he keeps moving on, captivated with the idea of going north to Alaska.

In April 1992, Chris arrives in a remote area of the Denali National Park in Alaska, and sets up camp in an abandoned bus used by hunters. At first, he is content with the isolation, the beauty of nature, and the thrill of living off the land.

Months later, he encounters difficulties, life becomes harder and he becomes less discerning. As his supply of rice (his staple) begins to run out, he realises that the nature he wants to experience is also harsh and uncaring and unrelenting, and he decides to return to civilisation, his family and friends. But, the stream he had crossed before the Spring melt is now a torrent and uncrossable (at least from where he is standing).

Seemly doomed, he returns to the bus, now as a prisoner no longer in control of his fate and reliant on help from the outside. Forced to gather and eat roots& berries, he apparently confuses two similar plants and suffers from an inability to digest food and wastes away. He writes a farewell to the world and crawls into his sleeping bag to die. Two weeks later, his body is found by groups of moose hunters.

When the events happened it caused a flood of comments which polarised people who considered him a free spirit, and those who considered him an unprepared innocent abroad. Similarities have since been drawn with Timothy Treadwell who was killed by a bear in 2003.

But concentrating on Jon’s telling of the story, some is supposition on what caused Chris to eat the seeds, what truly motivated him etc. There is also a chapter on Jon’s experiences climbing the Devil’s Thumb illustrating the parallels between his early life and Chris’. Jon investigated the story, he spoke with Chris' family and the people he had met on his travels.

In the resulting book, Jon seeks to examine and explain the obsession which leads some people to explore the outer limits of self, leave civilisation behind and seek enlightenment through solitude and contact with nature.

I have to admit amongst a whole host of thoughts I was left wondering, would it have ended differently if Chris had not found the bus refuge, would his experience have been curtailed if he wasn't cocooned by the added physical security provided by the bus' living conditions, and headed home sooner?? We'll never know.

Doomsday decomposition

I’ve borrowed eBooks, I’ve downloaded freebie eBooks, now the time had come to actually purchase an eBook.

But, which one, there are more than a couple out there competing for my attention, what criteria should my potential initial purchase possess?

In the end, the book I chose was one I’ve had for years, and now is the time to cut it loose and replace it with the new upgraded model.

My  copy with its broken spine & the contents stapled together

According to the iTunes Store, it’s title is “Mutant 59”, but my old paperback copy is “Mutant 59: the plastic eater” by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, the guys who invented the Cybermen for “Doctor Who” (the still epic "Tomb of the Cybermen" series). Gerry was one of the script writers for many of the Doctor Who episodes (the old and best series).

“Mutant 59” is a chilling story of what can happen when scientific research, done in the name of progress, backfires to spread terror throughout the world.

It was the premise that awed me, and has stayed with me, like other similar apocalyptic/disaster speculative sci-fi novels – “The Andromeda strain” and Patrick Tilley’s “Fadeout”. A premise that may be more realistic now, than back in 1971 when it was written, what with our increased pollution, reliance on electronics, and utter dependence on the humble plastic.
It begins innocently enough, motivated by ecological issues to produce eco-friendly products, a manufactured microbe that consumes plastic, is accidentally released, and as the strain evolves it begins to wreak havoc through the London Underground as electrical wires stripped of their plastic coating are no longer insulated ... at first it is bizarre incidents and unconnected accidents that develop into a major crisis. A jet explodes and falls out of the sky, a nuclear submarine vanishes, and infrastructure starts to collapse.

Our hero has to analyse and contain the infection before the expanding devastation causes a world-wide catastrophe. 
It is a frightening (and realistic) scenario when things we take for granted are suddenly out of our control and begin to disintegrate before our eyes.

So, I’m off to purchase the eBook edition before some parasitic plastic muncher can destroy my iPad.