L@P # 22: MOLDI

I've been using MOLDI for some time and encouraging my college students to use it as well; a decent digital reading makes some classic texts, such as Dickens' Hard Times, more accessible for many undergrads for whom literature is not a passion.

It's very exciting that MOLDI will support IPODs now.

Digital downloads are the future of media; it will not be too long, I suspect, before the library has no discs and is offering several types of download, from music to movies on demand. User behavior will drive this trend, not technology. Several different vendors are already offering library databases to support this trend, some of which offer holdings as or more interesting than what we find on MOLDI. I hope that CML can trial and perhaps subscribe to some of them. So far, film offerings are a bit scanty but we can expect to see that change.

The ability to "check out" digital offerings and have them automatically "return" will offer customers the same ability to enjoy content that we now have with check out of physical items; the library can remain a source of enjoyment and instruction for those who wish to enjoy without the necessity of purchasing, enhancing public literacy and knowledge.