I’m not inherently biased against non-print (although I do partly blame it for the lowering levels of education and critical thinking in this country, and for, as I implied, distracting people from reading). But I do think that libraries should retain resources facilitating traditional literacy as their primary core.

We’ll have books (and even lectures) about the influence of science fiction on 20th century American history, and let them buy Star Wars for $5 at Wal-Mart.

I know, it’s like libraries should be staffed with people who can recommend and host materials and programs for audiences of various reading levels and skill sets…oh wait…

I’m not sure why your reply seems so…divorced…from what I wrote. At the risk of sounding impolite, I feel like you may be biased against non-text works. Your word choices and phrasing lead me to that conclusion…particularly ‘inundated,’ ‘spectacles,’ “base, commercialized pop culture,” and “TV addiction.”

Maybe I’m wrong, though. Maybe I wasn’t clear enough. I will admit that I wrote a book and maybe I didn’t hit my points hard enough. So I’m going to try to be more succinct.

There is more than one kind of literacy. In our multimedia-rich “remix” culture and our interconnected world, libraries cannot – and should not – restrict themselves to ‘traditional’ literacy. Make no mistake – I love reading and I love books. But the simple truth is that to function in our society, people *need* to be culturally literate.

Our culture – including “base, commercialized pop culture” – is a huge part of how we relate to each other and how we communicate. A lot of this stuff can’t be picked up in books. Hell, oftentimes the books we read contain just these sort of references and cultural touchstones. People need to know what a Jedi is, or why it mattered to people that the first space shuttle be named “Enterprise,” or what all the sports terms mean that people use in daily life (“home run,” “struck out,” etc). Libraries need to be a place where people (of all ages) can learn this stuff. We can’t force anyone to learn, but we can make the resources available and encourage people to use them well.

In short: We need Chaucer, but we need “Star Wars,” too.

“Part of the reason why public library collections outside of huge cities lack intellectual rigor is simply that the buildings and budgets are too small to provide a breadth and depth of coverage for nonfiction.”

That’s why most public libraries
- are part of a library systems (counties, city, etc.)
- will often purchase requested items
- have developed efficient schemes like standardized cataloging, Worldcat, & ILL for resource sharing
- have entered into consortia to obtain access to expensive electronic resources

You’re right, it is hard providing in-depth coverage on limited resources, but libraries have done quite admirably in adapting. And any failures are not signals that small public libraries should abandon the mission to build collections of intellectual rigor and instead focus on other means of education.