Just back from the home page of the library system in Fairfax County, VA, the one whose collection I use far more often than Alexandria’s because the county’s is both bigger and better.

What a contrast between the Web sites of the two systems. Fairfax has a beautiful and functional home page that combines the usual catalogue links with a well presented summary of events at local branches. But Alexandria’s home page is cold and static. While the design is attractive and professional with a slick drop-down menu, the same spark of life isn’t there. I look at the page for Alexandria, to which my wife and I moved eight years ago from Fairfax County, and ask, “Where are the people? The events?” I see a link to newsletters, but so what? Alexandria asks far more of the surfer, and I don’t mean this flatteringly, than Fairfax does.

So what’s the TeleRead angle? Well, as much as I appreciate Fairfax’s site, imagine what it would be like if a TeleRead-style national digital library system existed. You could have not only the write-ups of local events, but also links to newly available items that matched the reader’s interests, based on past usage patterns, just like Amazon.com, and a form could also make the selections more personal. What a way for libraries to be more relevant to children and others, perhaps with in-person help, if desired, from librarians when it came to completing the form. Via cookies, the page could be customized in these ways for a reader wanting this; here’s to the gods of confidentiality and opt-in-dom!

Best of all, and this is one of my favorite possibilities for TeleRead, the links could lead directly to books and other items available from the well-stocked national digital library. The reader wouldn’t suffer from the limited selection of a local system (don’t get me going on the $12 million that Alexandria has lavished on its deluxe headquarters building at the expense of books and neighborhood branches). And at the same time, local librarians could influence the construction and content of the home page and customized link collections.

On top of everything else, readers could even subscribe to e-mail alerts about relevant books, speakers, whatever. I think that Jenny The Shifted Librarian would approve.

While we’re talking e-mail, I’ll confess that I am a hypocrite. I like to pound out these items when the mood hits me, then return later on for polishing. That makes e-mail a little less practical for individual blogia. I could hoard everything for a day, but such an approach would take some of the fun out of it (blame the former newspaper reporter in me for this love of instant gratification). Still, I might change my mind and go the full e-mail route. Right now TeleRead does have an e-mail list, but that really doesn’t count, since the thing is occasional and offers only highlights (TeleRead is hardly the center of existence of the typical reader). Feedback welcome.

And a related reminder: This blog is open to contributions from other believers in the concept of well-stocked national digital libraries. TeleRead is not just a cranky editor-writer–it’s also people like Amos Bokros and John Iliff even if I’m the main conspirator.

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