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If you surf the library websites, you'll see that libraries face a fundamental problem: They need to remake themselves as an entity that is central to the community. As local repositories of books and magazines, they had that essential function. Now that information is more easily obtained over the internet, and now that several Libraries at Alexandria can fit on an SD card, they've lost that central function.
I have very fond memories of my town's neighborhood library, of sometimes making the trip to the "big" library downtown, and of going to the library for research, including research on how to become a professional writer. But I have to admit, when I want to know something now, I hit the internet rather than the streets. I let my library card expire and just re-upped recently so that I could...what else?...check out ebooks.
Libraries need to reinvent themselves in order to survive. Nostalgia alone won't save them.
And again, this isn't just some cranky old poop talking. It's pretty much the buzz in the library world.
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