Quote:
Originally Posted by catsittingstill
I would argue that providing books people want to read has a great deal to do with literacy promotion. To be any good at anything people have to practice--and books that make them want to practice reading promote literacy.
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So much THIS! I'm very happy that my local library has not limited itself to such a "core mission". When I was unemployed for several months a few of years ago, the library became extra important to me. Yes, it did provide me with entertainment during a very stressful time in my life, and for that I am grateful. I am perfectly happy to pay taxes to support such a wonderful community resource.
Any day that I have visited my library, I've found several people there who appear to be studying for school, or using the public computers to job search or update their resumes.
My library hosts weekly movie & game nights (card games, console games, etc.) for teens. Heaven forbid they use "entertainment" to give kids a safe place to go and get them in the door of the library where they might pick up a book while they are there and become interested in reading as a hobby.
To get back on topic, I keep seeing publishers say that once a library has an e-book, if they don't put a lending limit, then the library never needs to replace the book as they would a physical copy that would wear out. In this case, Random House is saying, ok, no limit, but you're going to pay a higher cost up front since you will never have to replace a physical copy that would wear out.
Two problems with this - First, I've seen ages old books at my library that are in perfectly fine shape, that have not been repurchased and replaced in a number of years. So I feel that argument is kind of out the window. Second, *format changes*. As with all types of media, there is the possibility that the format will change and digital copies will need to be repurchased at some point.
However, I suppose that we shouldn't expect a company that still calls it's audio book selection "Books on Tape" to consider a thing such as format changes.
