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Originally Posted by JeremyR
The trouble is, at least where I live, libraries have long ago stopped focusing on books, but renting movies, providing internet access (providing computers, not just a hotspot), renting video games and whatnot.
Why should a publicly funded place directly compete with video rental stores/services? Or internet cafes?
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Or bookstores?
Why are they allowed to compete with Borders, but not with Blockbuster? No reason that I can see. Although I hope that they have a healthy dose of instructional and classic DVDs mixed in with more popular ones.
If libraries lend books, I see no reason whatsoever that they shouldn't also lend DVDs. If they have reference material, there's no reason that they shouldn't also provide internet service (and computers, if need be, since it's hard to think of a better research tool than an internet connected computer
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Every DVD bought could have been a book. Every video game 4-5 books. But when when you look at the book stacks, it's empty and bereft of classics. More titles from William Shatner in the SF section than Isaac Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke. Never mind past authors who have faded into obscurity, but who are well worth reading.
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I don't see a reason not to have books and DVDs.
Although it does sound like your library has a notably poor selection of SF - but I'm not sure that not buying DVDs would help - the Asimov, etc., should have been bought before the Shatner, in any event.
And, yeah, I do kind of dislike how some libraries are moving away from genre shelving. I mean, I sort of understand their difficulty, since I can't really *explain* why some SF is genre and some isn't. But I think that almost all SF fans would know that Asimov and Clarke go in the SF section, while Vonnegut and Margaret Atwood go in the fiction section. Ursula LeGuin goes in the SF or Fantasy section (depending on the book), but you get the feeling she's not at ease there.