Comments on: Future of libraries…some thoughts http://futura.edublogs.org/2009/06/24/future-of-librariessome-thoughts/ technology, libraries, and schools Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:29:26 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Jacquie Henry http://futura.edublogs.org/2009/06/24/future-of-librariessome-thoughts/comment-page-1/#comment-2119 Jacquie Henry Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:20:58 +0000 http://futura.edublogs.org/?p=827#comment-2119 Early thoughts.... " the public library [is] as busy .... than the bookstore is." I see the same thing and wonder why the publishing companies & newspapers seem to be in such trouble? Also - I don't think the vendors, automation companies, & whoever is the Marc god or goddess is providing what we need to draw our customers in. But I appear to be a voice crying in the wilderness on this topic. http://bit.ly/AsU0l http://bit.ly/9Lpkj I'd love to know how to start a revolution here. Our catalogs have stagnated. Many of us are filling the gap by creating books blogs with trailers etc. - but at least some of this promotional material could be automatically generated according to the Amazon "people who liked this book" etc. etc. And Marc records limited to a controlled vocabulary of subject headings.....sigh…. The point is to get books into kids hands - not teach them how to think like a librarian!! Early thoughts….
” the public library [is] as busy …. than the bookstore is.” I see the same thing and wonder why the publishing companies & newspapers seem to be in such trouble?

Also – I don’t think the vendors, automation companies, & whoever is the Marc god or goddess is providing what we need to draw our customers in. But I appear to be a voice crying in the wilderness on this topic.

http://bit.ly/AsU0l
http://bit.ly/9Lpkj

I’d love to know how to start a revolution here. Our catalogs have stagnated. Many of us are filling the gap by creating books blogs with trailers etc. – but at least some of this promotional material could be automatically generated according to the Amazon “people who liked this book” etc. etc. And Marc records limited to a controlled vocabulary of subject headings…..sigh…. The point is to get books into kids hands – not teach them how to think like a librarian!!

]]> By: techxas http://futura.edublogs.org/2009/06/24/future-of-librariessome-thoughts/comment-page-1/#comment-2118 techxas Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:33:19 +0000 http://futura.edublogs.org/?p=827#comment-2118 I am downloading your discussion now to watch. I think this is a very interesting topic right now. My question is how will bookstores stay open in the digital age. I used to work for Barnes & Noble Booksellers years ago and they build them with so much space for books. But I know they are not making profits anymore because of heavy competition with online book services. Some stores are even getting rid of the CD/DVD areas in the back of their stores because of competition with online media resellers. I think the future of bookstores will involve the closing of these mega-stores because they won't need as much space. If closing the media store is in the near future, then that space can be used for what? And if magazines/newspapers keep going out of business, what happens to that space? If school libraries are modeling bookstores, are they planning for the eventual shift of digital bookstores? Less space? Less need to visit a bookstore or library if the resources are available online? How are schools and districts preparing for this shift? I'm not saying we don't need libraries. FAR from it. I'm saying that the future looks like the library space and the bookstore space may be a smaller space. And that space needs to be another competitor with the media drawing our kids away from reading literacies. I am downloading your discussion now to watch. I think this is a very interesting topic right now. My question is how will bookstores stay open in the digital age. I used to work for Barnes & Noble Booksellers years ago and they build them with so much space for books. But I know they are not making profits anymore because of heavy competition with online book services. Some stores are even getting rid of the CD/DVD areas in the back of their stores because of competition with online media resellers.

I think the future of bookstores will involve the closing of these mega-stores because they won’t need as much space. If closing the media store is in the near future, then that space can be used for what? And if magazines/newspapers keep going out of business, what happens to that space?

If school libraries are modeling bookstores, are they planning for the eventual shift of digital bookstores? Less space? Less need to visit a bookstore or library if the resources are available online?

How are schools and districts preparing for this shift? I’m not saying we don’t need libraries. FAR from it. I’m saying that the future looks like the library space and the bookstore space may be a smaller space. And that space needs to be another competitor with the media drawing our kids away from reading literacies.

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