purple motes – Page 528 – Artifacts to help you imagine more.

library users like audiovisuals

Sarah Ann Long, a former president of the American Library Association and currently director of NSLS, a library consortium in the northern suburban region of Illinois, recently noted public library users’ interest in audiovisual materials:

In 2001, the NSLS conducted an informal survey of member public libraries and found that in a few libraries, loans of AV materials were about 40 percent of all loans. The same survey was just repeated and the numbers have grown. Many libraries now report that AV borrowing is in the 40 percent range. The Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin said that almost 57 percent of their loans were for AV materials and the Glencoe Public Library reported that AV accounted for 63 percent of all items borrowed.

Some libraries are adopting innovative collection management approaches to audiovisuals, such as having the library subscribe to Netflix.

National censuses of U.S. public libraries provide more comprehensive information on audiovisual materials in U.S. public libraries. Audiovisual materials as a percent of the number of book volumes in libraries’ collections have increased from about 3.5% in 1987 to 9.5% in 2004. The share of videos grew much faster than that of audios, with videos rising from 0.6% of book volumes in 1987 to 4.6% in 2004. Estimates based on cross-section variations in libraries’ collections indicate that videos account for about 20% of libraries circulation in 2004, and audio and visual materials together (audiovisuals), about 35%. Thus the reported figures from northern Illinois appear to be representative of the situation in the U.S. as a whole. The popularity of audio and video materials compared to books is consistent with a variety of other evidence from the communications industry.

Public libraries’ provision of audiovisual materials has received relatively little scholarly attention. The Library Media Project, which sought to foster the development of public libraries’ video collections, recently expired. Nonetheless, public libraries have provided and are likely to continue to provide many services besides lending books.

Update: Some state library websites (search them here) provide data on audiovisuals circulation. The data I’ve found are in the table below. These data suggest that audiovisual circulation for libraries across the U.S. might be closer to 25% of total circulation in 2006.

**Audiovisual Items in U.S. Public Libraries**
State	Year	Video Collection Share	Video Circulation Share	Audiovisual Collection Share	Audiovisual Circulation Share
Kentucky	2006	4.6%	18.4%	8.7%	28.3%
Massachusetts	2006	3.8%	23.1%	7.2%	32.4%
Rhode Island	2006	4.1%	n/a	7.1%	29.6%
Maryland	2005	4.3%	14.8%	10.1%	25.6%
New Jersey	2005	3.7%	n/a	7.4%	26%
North Carolina	2005	3.0%	11.4%	6.5%	17.3%
South Carolina	2005	3.8%	20.8%	7.6%	20.8%
Source: public library statistics on state websites.

saturated in literary discourse

In English literature, the direct speech of imaginary characters is typically marked with quotation marks. An imaginary character says, “Do not throw trash in the tray.” Perhaps your mother?

Literary style seems to have become a deeper part of consciousness than verbal grammar. An ATM deposit envelope provides the setting. Written on it is a bare noun phrase, although it could be an imperative statement if the ATM had needs: DEPOSIT ENVELOPE FOR ATM. Then a stern, laconic voice says, “NO COINS”.

The whole world is not naturally made of narrative. Historical contingencies of intellectual life and technology have constructed it that way.

Wednesday's flowers

dark blossoms with a bare, reaching branch

worlds without decay and congestion

Digital objects typically persist just as long as the virtual world around them. Digital space can double every year or two with advances in digital hardware. Creative users acting in a virtual world can make it a lonely place:

More and more empty houses and castles and the like are lovingly constructed as monuments that few will ever see, and each becomes another wall between users, diluting their presence more and more.

… even if people do manage to find each other, the unbounded complexity of user-created data puts a low ceiling on the number of people who can get together, and thus limits the social dynamics that can emerge.

The upshot is that worlds that depend on user-created content a) suffer from progressively worse dilution of the user population; and b) limit the number of people who can get together when they do find each other. This is not a strong recipe for building effective, long-lasting community. [Terra Nova]

That’s much different from the real world:

The importance of geography is also evident across 8,000 years of history in the area now called Japan. The most densely settled regions in the Jomon period (6,000 to 300 BCE) were also the most densely settled regions in 1998. Consider as well the effects of U.S. bombing of Japan in World War II. The nuclear bomb that the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima, Japan’s eighth largest city, killed 80,000 persons (20.8% of the city’s population) and destroyed two-thirds of the built up area of the city. Kyoto, Japan’s fifth largest city, was not bombed at all because of its cultural significance. The nuclear destruction of Hiroshima did not have an enduring effect on its attractiveness as a place to live. By 1975, the ratio of Hiroshima’ population to Kyoto’s was about the same as it was before the bombing. The relative attractiveness of places to persons is a remarkably stable aspect of life. [Galbi, 2002; source references there]

In the real world, place is a powerful structure organizing long-lasting communities. Moreover, renewing and preserving the built environment is a central concern in civic life.

While digital spaces organize digital objects in Euclidean neighborhoods (e.g. 184 W. 64’th St, NY), the web organizes digital objects in link neighborhoods. Link neighborhoods are much more flexible and dynamic than Euclidean neighborhoods. Link neighborhoods can evolve as communities of contemporary interest. Search engines can generate new link neighborhoods with regard for activity (modification date) and popularity (page rank or other ranking systems). Digital space, in contrast, is much more cheaply abandoned than re-organized.

Virtual worlds that encourage participants to create digital objects in a Euclidean digital space need to develop better ways to decay built objects and re-organizing space, or they will become lonely places.

CSC Invitational bicycle races

Scoping other major media, purple motes offers a special report on the 10’th Annual CSC Invitational bicycle races. The racing took place on a tight one kilometer course right here in the middle of Arlington, Virginia. Mark McCormack, former USPRO National Champion and 2006 CSC Invitational Winner, described the race:

It’s savagely hard. You have to close the gaps, you have to have the right positioning, it is incredibly technically challenging with all the turns and there is always wind that blows you over between turn 2 and 3. [CSC Press]

It’s NASCAR with no pollution and a lot more muscle.

In the elite amateur men’s race, former Lanterne Rouge rider and crowd favorite Todd Hipp (Battley Harley-Davidson) took third. A former Marine Corp swimmer who pulled boats onto the enemy’s shore, Hipp has switched tactics on land. He looks to his Harley teammates to pull him close to the line, and then he launches a ferocious sprint to get there first. But today, Hipp didn’t have the legs, and had to settle for third.

In the women’s pro race, Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) won to become the only three-time CSC winner. Van Gilder got away early with Rebecca Larson (Aaron’s Corporate Furnishings). The pair left the field in the distance for the rest of the rest. On the final lap:

Larson [refused] to come around Van Gilder despite slowing to a crawl. With no other choice save a trackstand, Van Gilder led out the sprint just after the final corner. Larson drew nearly even with just meters to the line, but didn’t have the extra punch to topple the two-time CSC Invitational champion. [VeloNews]

Congratulations to Van Gilder. Some of the guys I ride with also refuse to come around.

The CSC Invitational included for the first time the U.S. Handcycling Criterium Championship. Seth Arseneau, a former U.S. army soldier, finished first. His teammate, Oscar “Oz” Sanchez, a former Marine, finished third. The guys are fantastic athletes who give cycle racing another whole dimension. A great addition to the CSC Invitational.

In the men’s pro race, Rashaan Bahati sprinted for the win at the end of the hot, fast, 100 km distance. Bahati was looking spent in the middle of the race. His teammate, Kayle LeoGrande, was coming off a tactical mistake that may have cost him a win earlier this May. On his blog, Bahati described his moves on the final lap:

Crossing the finish line with one lap to go, I had made up in my mind what I was going to do and I did it. Going into the second to last turn, we have a straightaway of about 200m and when I got there I started my sprint. Moved from 10th to 4th with Kayle 2 guys back. I went through the second to last corner so fast I think other riders stopped and looked to see if I would crash or not.

I’m in to the last turn and I’m 4th wheel…I’m thinking…well if Kayle is here, we could get 1st and 2nd. I started to sprint and I quickly moved into 2nd position right behind Ivan Stevic of (Toyota) who beat me in stage 3 of Tri-Peaks Stage race. 150m to go and I pop out to close the deal and my first 4-5 pedal strokes I came neck and neck with Ivan and from that point on, I knew I had it. LeoGrande finished 8th giving us 2 guys in the top ten. Not bad for a new team.

A brilliant performance by Bahati, Leogrande, and the Rock Racing team.

Thanks to all the participants and organizers for bringing the best of cycling to Arlington this past Saturday. For more exciting cycling action, head to the Crystal City Classic on June 16. Or come out and ride with the Lanterne Rouge.