Bookless Libraries: Don’t Panic (Maybe Panic)
About a month ago, Bexar County in Texas announced its public library system would be completely bookless. Called BiblioTech, the libraries will offer computer and e-reader services with digital content. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff describes the focus of the library:
“People in those outlying areas have no library services, so this would be a relatively inexpensive way to bring those services to them.”
Its first location is placed in an area with less access to library services and will stay open until 8 PM during the week. Instead of books, it will have computers, tablets and 100 circulating e-readers to lend out for two weeks at a time. Bexar County’s project strikes me as well-intentioned, but perhaps a little ambitious. Availability will be vital to BiblioTech’s success, especially making sure that trained staff are always around to help users with the transition from print books to e-readers. At a time when many libraries face decreased budget for staff and operating hours, BiblioTech will need to dedicate more resources to these areas. It offers a great learning opportunity to users who otherwise have limited access to technology (although one might observe that, if no traditional books are available, a patron doesn’t really have a choice – he will have to learn that new technology in order to get the same access as before). I also wonder if the designers of BiblioTech are worried that an ultra-high-tech facility might intimidate the very people they want to reach, namely those people who don’t have a strong technology background. Many people still prefer reading physical books to e-books, and their needs shouldn’t be neglected. This is the perception we want to avoid:
Bookless libraries will face the same spending and technology issues as any other library, but the stakes are higher when your collection consists entirely of expensive tech. When picking what technology to invest in, libraries must weigh what their users want, what is affordable, and what seems like the most endurable (and durable). Primarily, there is the problem with choosing a single brand or type of device and the cost of keeping it upgraded. It’s a bigger problem for e-readers, since certain e-books are often locked to specific e-reader brands based on their DRM. Hopefully the average e-reader is built to withstand heavy use (I haven’t thrown any popular e-readers off a building lately, so I cannot speculate). At this stage of the game, it seems unwise to put all your eggs in one basket: brands of e-readers (and the protected e-books on them) are still going in and out of the market. Tablets, phones and e-readers are becoming more and more similar, and e-readers may eventually lose out to these other technologies. Some sources suggest that, with the e-book purchasing/licensing situation still uncertain, it is too soon for libraries to rely entirely on e-published content. Reema Khrais writes on npr.org:
Many publishers don’t license to libraries, and those willing to do business often have what Houghton considers outlandish terms — too expensive or unrealistic for a library’s allowance.
BiblioTech is supposedly low-cost design, but it’s budgeting at least $25 a book for its initial purchase of 10,000 titles. It is not clear what publishers or formats they are buying and what restrictions they will have to work around. Another concern is that the first BiblioTech location has too many computers crammed into it, leaving little flexibility to use the library for other purposes. Until the technology and the content delivery is more stabilized, no library should completely swap its paper collection for the latest technology. Alas for all those libraries that got rid of their print books when the fiche collection arrived, let us learn from that mistake. BiblioTech isn’t starting out with any physical books, so at least they don’t have to worry about that. I just hope they didn’t pick the Nook as their primary e-reader.
On the other hand, we don’t always have to take such a gloomy view of the e-book situation: some libraries have managed to work successfully with publishers to acquire digital content. And many popular, classic books are available for free in e-book form (like on Project Gutenberg), so libraries can take care of the “literature” shelf pretty much through modernism. Some publishers publish DRM-free e-books, which allows them to be transferred between devices easily. Just because a technology is still in its growing phase does not mean libraries can’t take advantage of it or help drive its growth. Librarians know that digital publishing is the future, which means we’ve got the best minds in the business trying to figure out how to make e-content work.
BiblioTech seems like it could be a very good library. It seeks to address the specific needs of its user population and is committed to providing as much access as it can. However, physical books aren’t going to disappear just yet: we’re still a long ways away from the paperless society of Star Trek. Is it too soon for a completely bookless library? At this point, probably yes. With the e-publishing/e-reader situation still somewhat unstable, libraries should pause before jumping ahead to a completely bookless model. A mixture of print and e-content seems best to suited to serve the broadest user base while still being a sound investment.
Note: This post originally appeared on a private blog for my Information Technologies class at Pratt SILS.