First of all…is it for real?
This Google Play thing is seriously amazing. I’ve dreamed about it, plotted about it, and now it’s true?
So, what’s the big deal? Here’s the video from Google floating around the net:
It’s basically cloud computing at it’s finest. Sync your music, movies, files, and more. I can’t wait to get rid of my huge, noisy, fragile hard drives… Yes! From what I can see so far you can upload files you already own (for how much, I don’t know). Other things will be available for fees, such as videos, music, books, and albums. I’m sure there’s more details to come!
So, how will this affect the libraries?
After reading LibraryThing’s blog post Ebook economy: Are libraries screwed? I’ve really changed my view on how these movements are affecting libraries. What more can we offer? Google is often our most loved and hated counterpart. It’s so engrained in our patrons brains and they offer so much information for free. How can we compete? I think we’ve got to fight back by showing patrons the difference in material. Do you want information that’s close or right on? It depends on your research. Moving our libraries into the learning hub model we will support these patrons by helping them make educated decisions on information seeking strategies. We can provide scaffolding for help patrons understand transliteracy and cloud computing. How are you planning on helping patrons transition to “the cloud”?
photo credit: Espen Faugstad via photopin cc
