Nathan Bierma on the future of libraries
librarian.net linked yesterday to a fantastic article by Nathan Bierma on the future of libraries: Future Bound: The greatly exaggerated demise of an American institution. He discusses how audio books and multimedia have had tremendous growth at a time when the ebook was supposed to be taking over (which it barely has started to). He discusses the transformation of libraries into social centers with cafés and computer labs. The thing people who predict the death of libraries often forget is that they are the central public structures for many communities. The only thing that will make them fail is not solidifying that position by concentrating on making them community cultural and tech hubs. Anyway, this article is a must-read.