JUL 17, 2012 ROTARY IN REVIEW:
Tom Mercer

Posted by John Andrews 
on Jul 17, 2012
 
President Dan McKeown opened his second meeting of the new program year at 12:30 sharp. There were about 110 Rotarians and guests in attendance, and we got to sit poolside on a hot summer day! (Insert eye-of-the-beholder response here.)

Chuck Field and Denny Boom led the room in patriotic song, and Tom Brinsko provided both parable and prayer.  Maria McLemore facilitated the introduction of visiting Rotarians and guests, and President Dan thanked the scribe and the greeters (Ed Coleman and Mary Beckman Butikis).

ImageEveryone celebrated the recent media coverage (KARE 11 and the Pioneer Press) of our Club’s commissioning and unveiling of the 8 foot tall Vision of Peace statue that will be dedicated in Nagasaki this coming October.  Vicki Gee Treft shared that we need two more host families for the upcoming visit by Chilean youth.  Roger Nielsen was next up, earning Paul Harris recognition presented by Bill Handschin!

Al Uniacke introduced Veru Valdivia, who leaves us tomorrow to return to her native Chile.  Veru shared several slides of her experiences, and said that she will be leaving her heart in St. Paul.

Kit Hadley introduced our program, and our speaker – Tom Mercer.  Tom has worked for 3M for 12 years, and he is currently in charge of the 3M Library Division.

3M has had library products and lines for about 40 years now – starting with security tape for the books.  About 18 months ago, Tom began exploring the possibility of a “Cloud Library” with our own Kit Hadley at the Saint Paul Public Library.  A Cloud Library is a different approach to using a Kindle or Nook to read your books – the books are read with the same tools (or on a computer), but the books are accessed via internet access whenever you are reading, versus saving them to your reader’s hard drive.

Research and development identified six problem areas with the initial concept, such as difficulty of installation, complexity of training requirements, etc.  The team ultimately arrived at three design principles that guided the final product:  it should be as easy to use as related hardware products; it should connect the library to the user (not just the books); and it should be a platform for ongoing investment.

The result?  Saint Paul is the first in the United States to provide the 3M Cloud Library to its users.  Since rollout, there have been 15 million product exposures, and 2 million tweets – and the Voice of the Customer satisfaction score is very strong.  When you are at the library, you can download both apps to be transferred to your e-reader, or download books at a “Discovery Terminal.” 

You can also check-out an e-reader (at no cost) at three branches of our library (Sun Ray, Arlington or downtown St. Paul) for three weeks, and the books are accessible for three weeks on any reader.  Future projects include making more books available for our library to access (250,000 titles will be available in coming months); implementing inter-library lending; integrating the catalogs with both physical and digital lending options; and working on digital college textbooks.

ImageTom shared that it will be easier to introduce new authors with e-books, and that cost savings for libraries are expected (they currently spend about $2 billion annually on hard copy books.)  Some popular books aren’t available as quickly as desired right now, but that is true of hard copy books too.

President Dan thanked out speaker, and the meeting adjourned just before 1:30.