Kindle and the Library
I was reconsidering yesterday’s post about the Kindle…you may recall that I wrote it while my local library. It occurred to me: what does digital media and digital rights mean for public libraries?
Libraries have come to be viewed as an indispensable civic institution, but it hasn’t always been that way. The first libraries were sort of like clubs: books were expensive and hard to come by, so people who had them would pool them together and share. As I recall, Benjamin Franklin started the first library in the British Colonies…it was this type of library.
I mentioned this situation on the horizon to my grandmother who is a great lover of books. She told me that she remembers “lending libraries” when she was growing up (in the teens, twenties and thirties). They were sort of like a video rental shop–you’d get a book and pay by the day. “A nickel a day,” she said.
In the future, when all books a digital, how will we check a book out from the library? What does that mean for our society? I have no idea, but it’s a fascinating question.
all the hardbooks will be replaced by e books future libraries will all contain systems than so i think it will be a library without books
fareza
10 Oct 09 at 11:36 am
Libraries in future are not just going to be places of grasping contents out of books .They are going to be places of overall development of people of all ages enhancing their skills ,creativity etc by group discussions.
fareza
10 Oct 09 at 11:49 am
Our library (like many others) provides a free service (Overdrive) to allow patrons to download first-run ebooks and eaudiobooks from home or the library. We offer Playaways, MP3-CD books, as well as standard audiobooks, but there will always be demand for actual physical books. Amazon’s recent fiasco with George Orwell’s books (where they deleted them from users Kindles without their consent) showed the importance of having real copies that can’t be altered, Big Brother-style.
We are looking at Kindles or Nooks to set out in the library, for patrons to access magazines and newspapers that we currently do not offer – not for checkout.
Chris
27 Oct 09 at 3:51 pm