One of the most interesting parts of PLA (IMO) is the vendor exhibitions. It provides a comprehensive experience of all the new and exciting trends in libraries. All the library vendor “big guns” are there with fantastic three dimensional displays presented with twirling gizmos, big screen TVs, massive and well lit towering logos and tons of free junk like sparkly pins, buttons, bags (oh my, the bags) and an endless supply of bookmarks. 3M, Gaylord, SirsiDynix, III, Demco, Techlogic, ProQuest (to name only a tiny handful – there were something like 400 or more altogether) – all striving in a mass competition to have the biggest, baddest, largest, sleekest giant towering display setup possible. It is such a contrast to the daily life in a public library! Whew!
I found a few good nuggets worth mentioning from my vendor stops…
(1) Materials handling systems are evolving in several important ways – (a) the systems are becoming more compact, making them more reasonable for retrofitting into libraries not designed for that purpose (b) they are beginning to listen to libraries who want the material dumped into our own plastic bins rather than being forced to purchase the $4,000 motorized bin that only works with their system (c) many of the companies are moving toward systems that function with barcodes rather than RFID only - a very important move for the industry (d) the competition is growing significantly, which means the options are growing and the prices are dropping (but only a little tiny bit). There were twice as many materials handling vendors this year as there were two years ago.
I found a few good nuggets worth mentioning from my vendor stops…
(1) Materials handling systems are evolving in several important ways – (a) the systems are becoming more compact, making them more reasonable for retrofitting into libraries not designed for that purpose (b) they are beginning to listen to libraries who want the material dumped into our own plastic bins rather than being forced to purchase the $4,000 motorized bin that only works with their system (c) many of the companies are moving toward systems that function with barcodes rather than RFID only - a very important move for the industry (d) the competition is growing significantly, which means the options are growing and the prices are dropping (but only a little tiny bit). There were twice as many materials handling vendors this year as there were two years ago.
(2) Scheduling software has taken a few positive steps forward in the past couple of years. We’ve been keeping an eye on this market for some time, but very little has been developed to meet our needs. The software might be closer now than ever before! There are several players currently. I spent some time with this vendor: http://www.scheduline.com/
(3) My favorite cool gizmo of the entire conference is the “cone of silence” by Interface Electronics. It is a clear, plastic, inverted dish with a very special speaker inside. When a customer stands under it, they can hear, with great clarity and volume, everything being played through the speaker. It can be connected to any device that plays sound (CD listening station, Public PC, Kids PC, etc). When you step just a foot (yet, just one foot) outside of the space under the cone, there is dead silence. No sound escapes at all. Imagine what this could do for listening stations in the AV division? Imagine what this could do in a teen space? Imagine a library with no more ear bud head phone problems! :)
6 comments:
/singing . . . and echoes, in the cone . . . of silence . . .
OK, but seriously - would you be able to attach that cone to the terminal somehow w/o hanging it from above? With the cleristory at Linden, we'd have some REALLY long cables - can you imagine the swinging that would occur with one little bump?
Haha! Yes - I could imagine that! :)
The vendor said there are two alternatives for mounting the cones - either attaching it to ceiling or using an "arm" that hangs it above the terminal, but is actually mounted to the floor.
The "cone of silence" was suspended from a floor-standing fixture in the exhibit hall. Could that work at Linden?
I'm biased though... it's incredibly cool technology. You'll find it at the rear of the exhibit hall. Enter the hall, turn right, and go to the 2nd or 3rd from the last row. It's worth the trip.
I also thought Potomac software for digital signage was pretty cool. It was mentioned a presentation today. You can turn any LCD or plasma flat screen into a sign you can program like a PPT slide show. Check out Potomac here.
I agree with Dave - the digital signage technology is really cool. It is basically just a box that hooks into your network and comes with software. One "box" connected to the network could run screens (of any type that we want) throughout an entire location - or even throughout the system. It can run powerpoint style slideshows, movies, pictures, and has a scrolling event bar at the bottom. Neat, easy and relatively inexpensive (they quoted me $4,000 for a unit).
Thanks for the info, a trip back to the Expo is in order. This stuff sounds great. And since, I have been told by the San Diego County ED that CML is the HIP library... we definitely need to check it out.
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