Town to close library, open electronic center. Is this the future?

[beespeckled]

OK my take on this is that it is fine as an added service but by no means serves the needs of a community. It only creates a service for those that can afford an ereader.

The traditional library branch offers equal access to all.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Old books? Google Books has 2 million PD books in epub format.

To be fair, most of those are atrocious as epubs. Auto-OCR'd with no formatting corrections. However, the scans are there and able to be converted into decent ebooks by anyone who's interested; a library could dedicate a few hours a week to conversion ("community activity: free workshop on learning to make an ebook!") and gradually build themselves an extensive collection to enhance what's available from Gutenberg.

What there aren't enough of, I will admit, is backlist books - those that are still in copyright but have fallen out of print.

And there's not decent archiving of the ones they do have; for all that Google is the master of websearches, their own ebook searches suck. Their metadata's haphazard and flawed and their browsing is atrocious. They've got 2m books (probably allowing for a number of duplicates, but at that quantity, who cares), but you can't find them unless you know specifically what you're looking for.

Sorry. I do agree with you--there's no shortage of available ebooks; there's a shortage of specific categories--like the majority published between 1930 and 1995 or so. But there's more than a lifetime's worth of good reading freely available.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by beespeckled

OK my take on this is that it is fine as an added service but by no means serves the needs of a community. It only creates a service for those that can afford an ereader.

Or a computer.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by beespeckled

OK my take on this is that it is fine as an added service but by no means serves the needs of a community. It only creates a service for those that can afford an ereader.

The traditional library branch offers equal access to all.

In this day of the Net, it's ridiculous to have a gazillion library branches scattered all over town. It's time to start shutting most of them down to save tax dollars. A few strategically placed branches are more than adequate to serve the needs of those who want them.

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by khalleron

What there aren't enough of, I will admit, is backlist books - those that are still in copyright but have fallen out of print.

There should be enough old books to satisfy anyone who likes old books.

I agree. I have a book that I've always wanted to read that was out of print since 1977. I found a "cheap" copy for $300 online. I plan to read it then sell it, but it's so old, I'm almost afraid to touch it.

Originally Posted by beespeckled

OK my take on this is that it is fine as an added service but by no means serves the needs of a community. It only creates a service for those that can afford an ereader.

The traditional library branch offers equal access to all.

They aren't eliminated paper books, they just aren't storing them in every branch. In the article it says that if someone comes into that branch and wants a book, they can order it and then pick it up at that branch.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

In this day of the Net, it's ridiculous to have a gazillion library branches scattered all over town. It's time to start shutting most of them down to save tax dollars. A few strategically placed branches are more than adequate to serve the needs of those who want them.

I like having so many branches near me, but I don't use them that often because they don't have enough quiet/study space. I have 2 small branches, one around the corner, one right on the beach (literally, the only thing btwn that branch and the ocean is the parking lot) and a large main branch 2.5 mis away.

The small branch closest to me should just have computers. It's impossible to get on a computer in that place. The branch on the beach should keep paper books, if for no other reason than because they are right on the beach. It's use would be like Starbucks inside of B&N; grab a book, grab some sun, bring book back, or... if you like it, check it out. However, it's also where tourists go when they need access to a computer. The largest branch should keep all of their books on the 2nd floor with quiet study places on the perimeter and keep their computers downstairs where all of the noise is. The library is new, and has a ridiculous amount of unused space.

[wannabee]

Here is our library. We have one of the largest local government areas in the state. In fact if I want to visit someone on the other side of the shire and have to drive around our dam it will take over four hours. We have two libraries only. Because of the huge distances to the library from residents to our library our local government introduced a mobile library which includes on-line computers with a satellite internet link.
If the book isn't in the truck and available at the library you can order it for the next visit

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by wannabee

Because of the huge distances to the library from residents to our library our local government introduced a mobile library which includes on-line computers with a satellite internet link.

How often does your traveling library visit?

[jbcohen]

Montgomery County, MD completed a new expanded library in a new shopping district just in time for electronic books to become prelevant in the area. Now they have had a sever drop off in visitors to the library as residents have simply stated that it costs too much to get to the library. It costs $0 to borrow the books, but the costs are in the fuel to get you there and back and therefore needs to be figgured into the cost of the books.

IMHO what counties across the country need to think about is how to remove the barriers to electronic books. Let's face it the readers are not free unless you have a smart phone, such as the one my office gives me which is free to me. In my county PC's are in 95% of all of the homes so library books can be provided via Overdrive. although readers are in 5% of the homes in the county so the challenge is to get the readers into the home. Since smart phones are in 90% of the homes and books can be borrowed with them, smart phones are a simple answer to how to get readers into the community. The challege here is telling the community how to get to the books via overdrive.

What ideas has your ocunties come up with the get electronic library books into the community? My county is talking to the community about smart phones and reading books on them. They will setup any smart phone that is presented to them for reading the counties electronic books from the county's libraries.

Other than that I say "It's about time a county out there gets with the 21st century". Libraries have become a rellic of the past.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

What ideas has your ocunties come up with the get electronic library books into the community? My county is talking to the community about smart phones and reading books on them. They will setup any smart phone that is presented to them for reading the counties electronic books from the county's libraries.

I won't read off a screen that small unless I'm stuck somewhere without anything else to do. Not sure how many others feel that way, but I'm not alone.

[wannabee]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

How often does your traveling library visit?

Every two weeks mate.
http://www.library.wollondilly.nsw.g...Mobile-Library

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by wannabee

Every two weeks mate.
http://www.library.wollondilly.nsw.g...Mobile-Library

Cool. How desolate is it between Sydney and Canberra?

[wannabee]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Cool. How desolate is it between Sydney and Canberra?

The desolate areas aren't between cities as the towns grew up along the highways mainly around the coast. Between the towns is a lot of paddocks. Not particularly great grazing land but that's what it's mainly used for. Towns are about every 10-30 miles or so along the highways. The desolate areas in our area are wilderness. Hundreds of square miles of wilderness just to our west.

[condor]

Originally Posted by wannabee

Show me some technology to equal that

Beautiful! It certainly has great value as an ancient book and a glimpse into the era in which it was created. But how many of us have actually seen it in person versus looked at a digital copy?

I love the way public domain ebooks can be copied and shared at will. Assuming the technology remains with us, copies will exist as long as someone thinks they have value.

My concern about a society mostly free of books is that access to electronic information can be controlled remotely.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by condor

Beautiful! It certainly has great value as an ancient book and a glimpse into the era in which it was created. But how many of us have actually seen it in person versus looked at a digital copy?

I love the way public domain ebooks can be copied and shared at will. Assuming the technology remains with us, copies will exist as long as someone thinks they have value.

My concern about a society mostly free of books is that access to electronic information can be controlled remotely.

As opposed to printing presses being shut down my angry mobs, as often happened in the antebellum South?

Or as opposed to the newspaper and book publishing industries being controlled by a few large conglomerates?

With digital, if one copy exists anywhere, it potentially exists *everywhere*.

As long as the lights stay on.

Downside to everything, I guess, but I'll put my money on digital.