I’m sure it’s more than that, I really am; but the Telegraph.co.uk reports a spike in library membership since those staid old institutions started offering eBook downloads.
Thanks to Jorgen for this link to a story about libraries that had been bemoaning a decline in membership suddenly marking increased interest in digital books and media. Only time will tell if it’s a fad brought on by the novelty of reading books on ‘devices’ but one could argue that library eBooks are the perfect fit for lives that never seem to have enough time.
How many people stopped going to the library because they couldn’t spare an hour, or because the idea of rambling through the Dewey Decimal system had long gone out of vogue or memory? It’s quite possible that ordering books over the net, just like ordering movies, music and pizza is the modern solution for our busy lives. It will be up to future sociologists and philosophers to determine if all of our insular cocooning was a good idea or not.
Actually, libraries might provide a bricks and mortar foundation for knowledge and learning in our modern lives: offering shelves of ‘actual’ books and opportunity for interaction while reaching outward into communities with new digital connections and products.
