Comments on: Public Libraries are Doomed

By: Gianna Elton

Gianna Elton — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:22:17 +0000

What you can do is do a google search for the cheapest domain hosting just to get you started and also youll need to register a domain name. Once you have done that you can google up a website that will teach you how to do HTML to design your site or else you could just pay a website designer to do it.

By: Zagrobelny

Zagrobelny — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:50:03 +0000

This assumes that everyone who uses the library is rich, or at least can afford Amazon and Netflix, and doesn’t need assistance with anything at all, like computers, or job hunting, or research papers, or genealogy….

By: Lib

Lib — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:57:18 +0000

Ok- what about children’s books? I mean baby board books, Eric Carle, Lois Ehlert, Don Hillert, and Petr Horacek with his tactile and pop up books. These books for the 6 and under crowd cannot be replaced by ebooks. The children are learning motor skills, colors, numbers, etc. These books will remain, and it makes sense that they would remain in the new libraries that will be more like community centers.

By: L

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 21:45:46 +0000

With regard to e-books, most patrons use the library as the support desk for assisting them with their numerous questions about troubleshooting and downloading to their e-readers and other assorted devices. Right now, it’s the one place they can actually get a real person to help them with these questions. If the e-book and e-reader vendors ever figure out how to do this, then I agree, libraries will truly be out of the loop.

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:46:28 +0000

I’ve two comments.

First comment is too O+FLibn. Are you and those like you the reason for the failure of Borders?
One word : MOOCHER!!

Second comment to Denise: Wonderful points. Adapt/Change/Evolve or Die. About ten years ago, everyone pined about using Borders as a model for how libraries should offer coffee and display books to attract readers/customers. Didn’t Keep Borders Alive. They fails to realize the changes in their environment until it was too late. Be Aware & Adapt/Evolve or Go extinct. Be proactive: Do not be reactive. Understand the needs of your users and make the changes before it’s too late. Renovate and expand your facilities and infrastructure (ex. more electrical outlet near comfortable furniture. Encourage and facilitate interaction. That’s how ideas and thoughts are exchanged, developed, and improved upon. Nothing is created in a vacuum. What if libraries evolved into a Community/communication centers where people gain access to ideas and information. Then it’s shared, discussed and molded into something better and then released so they benefit the lives of others. That is the ideal. Now let’s figure out how to achieve it.

By: Kim

Kim — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:01:32 +0000

Finally read this and it brought up some questions. If they are so doomed, then why are public libraries swamped all the time? My public library certainly is, particulary on the weekends and after school. I have a friend who is a children’s librarian there. She doesn’t just coordinate a significant amount after school and Saturday programming, including bookclubs, homework help, and a variety of educational programs, my public library also partners with preschools, headstarts, and the public and charter schools, taking services on the road. The collection is excellent, the databases are frequently used, and this library doesn’t even have an extensive ebook collection. Why would a city be willing to fund ebooks for all if they won’t fund a library?

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:35:08 +0000

I don’t understand how libraries are doomed.

Yes, cheap electronic rentals mean that a book can be delivered to a consumer at a cheaper cost, but who pays the rental fee? If 100 people borrow a popular book from a library over one year the cost of that book is tied to the one physical item that the library purchased. If 100 people rent a popular book from Amazon over one year, do they not pay 100 separate rental fees? How is it cheaper?

And what service would the city be paying less for? Is the city honestly going to rent individual e-books for each citizen who wants it? I don’t see that being cheaper.

Annoyed librarian informs us:
“A kind reader emailed asking for my thoughts on this, and gave a price breakdown that put Internet, video, ebooks at only slightly more than most cities spend per capita for their libraries.”
Great authority there. If your friend told you that, it must be true. May we have a look at those numbers?

Furthermore, do Internet, video and ebooks encompass the entirety of library services? What about databases and other deep web content subscriptions? Surely those take up a fair amount of a library’s budget. Plus, how many people do you know who would buy a really decent reference collection and update it every year?

Kindles and Amazon do not spell doom for the library. They provide great services, and I am not arguing that point. But they just aren’t public libraries. Public libraries provide a lot of services to their communities. A lot of these services are not really considered in the fuzzy logic that sees Amazon, the bane of big box book stores, as an equal threat to libraries.

By: puddlepublic

puddlepublic — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:52:59 +0000

This is the guy we should pay attention to: http://jaslarue.blogspot.com/

He knows print books are in trouble…but he also has ideas about how to keep libraries going. His library is involved in almost all parts of the community and he has ideas about how libraries can be publishers and all kinds of things.

By: Chris Harrison

Chris Harrison — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 05:43:17 +0000

Wonderful. I suppose there are several million (?billion) people out there who are still trying to establish public libraries in their locality. Trouble is books are priced for the US and European market, and are too expensive for the majority of would-be readers outside these marginal places. For most global readers, pirated copies, or second hand copies are still in huge demand, while anything ‘e-’ is still out of reach. Western libraries need to ‘get out there’; western librarians need to be where their users live (just like social workers). Cataloguers, indexers and shelf-stuffers are doomed, certainly; but readers still need informed and educated helpers and advisors. Just having a Kindle or internet connection (lucky you!) is no longer enough.

By: Laura

Laura — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 15:18:33 +0000

I’m a librarian. I would consider myself middle class. I rarely use my public library – except to perhaps occasionally download audio books. I would proudly fight to keep my tax dollars funding libraries but that is because I know the value of the services and collections my library provides. Sadly, the majority of citizens don’t.

The current public library model only fulfills the needs of a subsection of our society – those who have time to go to the library. And it should fulfill the needs of those people. However, libraries have to get better at the delivery of their collections before most people will see the value of a library – and therefore – ever step foot in one again.

ps – I also own a Kindle and am very happy libraries are now able to lend Kindle books via Overdrive. Thanks Amazon.