Have you visited your local library lately?
Having lived in the same community now for nigh onto 18 years straight, I've seen a lot of changes in mine. It seems at least once every year or so, things are being shifted from place to place, reconstruction is occurring, alterations are in progress. I was there just the other day, though, and the cumulative effect of all these changes really struck me:
There are (hardly) any books anymore!
We have a two-story library of pretty good size. In the past, the public areas were pretty well filled with ... BOOKS. Now, the main part of the collection has been shrunk into half the upstairs space; the reference area no longer seems to have many actual books; and a good chunk of the former reference space now contains DVD rentals.
Accentuating yet another trend, a large number of public computers has been shrunk to only about 10 (I suppose because everyone now has his/her own computer-like device).
On the ground floor, the only books remaining are a few shelves where people can claim books they've reserved online; a few shelves of the newest acquisitions; and a well-stocked children's section. (That last part is interesting too - isn't it the kids who are learning to use those "devices" as early as age three? Funny that they of all people should be considered an audience for books.)
Well, granted, it's only natural that the city library follows the trend of the population. People who read (including me) aren't going so much for print books any longer; instead, they're getting electronic versions -- convenient, ecologically trendy, and (usually) cheaper. But that medium still has its drawbacks, one of which is that a current novel that sells for $25 in hardback, or maybe $12 in an electronic version, still might be had for $1 in the library's sale room, or even free by checking it out. That's why I go to the library.
We should, perhaps, be happy to learn that our local library gurus are so up with the times. Yet I feel we have lost something, as the number of available free books (and even films) dwindles in favor of their new electronic manifestations, which - whatever may be said in their favor - are mostly not free.
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