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Originally Posted by webroot
Multnomah is a large library, although librarian answered those many reference questions but in your link I couldn't find how much of ebook make of entire transactions. Library as we currently know a hub of books and today ebooks, if they become something else, sell CDs and computer parts and if you want to call that a library, that is fine by me.
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I was at lunch with my librarian friend about 6 months ago and she was beginning to worry that her job was becoming obsolete. The local library currently does a very robust business with ebooks despite differences in the checkout rules, prices and so on. I almost always check out books using the remote ebook checkout process now.
My friend mentioned that with ebooks a whole host of tasks were no longer needed (binding, re-covering, certain catalog tasks). She could foresee a small town setting up a library that was strictly electronic and that may not even have a dedicated building. Certainly older, larger cities have call for other services that are provided by libraries and younger, newer cities may want those services but not be able to offer them--hence our discussion on how you could have an electronic library run by perhaps one person (even part time if a budget didn't allow for more). The books would all be ebooks to save cost and space. Like the small town bookmobile, the ebook library would be funded by either a small budget or even be enhanced by volunteers.
My library has already seen cuts in hiring. Even though the city is building a larger public library, it will be interesting to see if they increase the number of employees or continue to decrease the overall number.
So, I think your question is quite valid. No, print books won't go away in the short term, but there is opportunity here for ebooks or new branches/libraries that specialize. Even while that is going on, I can see ebooks becoming a more prominent part of existing libraries. Librarians still have many tasks they can do, but that doesn't mean every city will continue to pay for those services and expertise.