Until 1994, network diagrams only used to depict specific computer servers, storage and networking devices with well‐defined rectangles, circles, ovals, straight lines. Then it became necessary for planners to include the internet, but without describing its detailed components. The stylized symbol of a cloud was introduced in a US patent application, and being itself an ill‐defined symbol instead of a fixed geometric shape, it caught on rapidly. Less than 20 years later, the cloud is no longer merely a vague set of resources, but a new way of delivering everyday computing services that is now challenging libraries to reconsider their computing support strategies. Cloud computing is beginning to affect hardware provision, staffing, partnerships and collaboration as well as relationships with end users. The volume 11 of The Tech Set series is designed as a “practical, fast‐paced guide” targeted at library staff.
Since cloud computing is still considered cutting edge technology, Marshall Breeding addresses it at a high level, but including technological details and selections intended to inspire and encourage experimentation and practical knowledge. The foreword mentions cost‐effectiveness in the first sentence, highlighting one of the attractions of the concept. The emphasis is on getting started, rather than exploring the history of technology or specific corporate supplier approaches in detail.
The preface makes it clear that libraries are now beginning to move away from owning their own hardware and software, and instead subscribing to relevant services for library applications, productivity tools, storage, security, information sharing, social networking.
The first chapter proper examines the terminology, models and benefits of cloud computing and introduces the various concepts later explored in more detail. This is a very useful overview of the topic for librarians unfamiliar with management of services that are what used to be considered “out there”. Understanding of the utility model, computing on demand and the concept of elastic computing are all vital if libraries are to prosper in the future or even to survive current austerity measures.
Chapter two looks at the types of solutions available to libraries. Migration to new infrastructures, using infrastructure, software and/or platforms as a service are discussed in historical order of development, leading to a review of their pros and cons. Some of the discussion is familiar from the debates around use of mainframes and client computing in the 1980s, but the scale, flexibility and pace of change is new and librarians, whether technical or not, must understand what is happening to the world at large as well as within their organisations.
The guide therefore moves on to look at how technology can be integrated into operational and budgetary planning, with succinct suggestions for practical steps. It highlights choices and stresses the importance of the details of service level agreements and performance measures as well as costs.
The next chapter looks in more detail at the impact on the local library of any changes, including possible outsourcing and discussion of where the boundaries of internal decisions and parent organisation involvement may lie. All of this should give pause for thought and encourage consultation in advance of possibly enforced change.
In case what is being talked about is now crystal clear, there are more operations‐level chapters on implementation and marketing which will be very handy for anyone looking to help staff develop skills and understanding prior to change. The information presented on services such as Google Apps and Amazon EC2 may date quickly, but these can be easily experimented with at little or no cost except time (but also potentially reputation).
This small introductory guide concludes with chapters on best practices, with tips and advice for immediate action; on metrics and how to assess strategic impact, which can be made easier by cloud computing; and on developing trends and how to continue monitoring them. These are all very brief, but based on sound and extensive experience.
The volume includes an index, and a perhaps more useful list annotated bibliography of further reading, much of which is freely available on the web. Contents, preface and chapter one are generously available for download on the companion website at www.alatechsource.org/techset/
This book is likely to appeal to those librarians intrigued by the title, but the text could perhaps have been made more attractive for non‐technical staff. If the purpose of libraries, especially public libraries, is to encourage reading, then they need to create literacy, create organizations which can spread it and promote and encourage reading. Technology is now available for libraries to move from cloud to crowd. The ill‐defined area of the network diagram called the cloud should now be filled with specific library services. These take advantage of web‐scale services to deliver, for example, unique local studies or learning materials to users with mobile devices who can print pages out, or statistics that enable the prediction of user behaviour across organisational boundaries and the cost‐effective targeting of services to where they are most needed. Library members can also be engaged with service development more easily both securely and effectively.
