Oftentimes I go to the Library to read books, not to check them out. What does your data show you in that regard? I know there are others like me, we talk to each other. I do take the occasional book home, yes, but most of my reading in Libraries is a result of wanting to explore literature and art. This story kind of makes me sad. Why would a library want to get rid of its purpose? Libraries aren’t sustainable by design! IMHO they shouldn’t even collect data, let alone use it for making decisions, or trust software that uses data collected at libraries.
What should a technologically enhanced library do? I can think of -
*tracking books so they aren’t lost
*making copies upon copies upon copies of books
*digesting information contained in books to make queries easier
Why track users? Don’t care. Just show me where the book is on a map. It might be an interesting job to bop around town and collect overdue books. Probably cheaper than software licenses.
Why track who/when/where/why books checked out? Copies are free, make plenty to satiate demand, keep a hard copy local for perusal and unlimited digital copies for at home consumption.
Why paygate any information these days? The whole ‘industry’ of allowing flow of information in exchange for currency is deprecated. Making copies of information is so incredibly cheap and fast, it is truly a wonder why anyone would purchase or paygate anything information related these days. Yes, please, patronize the artist. Keep them warm, fed and sheltered, let them want for nothing - but this is a relatively cheap endeavour. An industry built upon an artist’s back is an unnecessary one. The artist and their indulgences can be satiated fully without having to corporatise, hybridise, or apply business models.
Think of a world where Libraries are democratised, where a consumer could vote their conscience with their choice of what art they would like to consume, where they could request the library make available art pertaining to even their most whimsical desire. I’ve always seen the Library as a place of discovery, not some brick box on the side of the road to scoff at and say ‘why not just google it?’ … It’s the place you go when you don’t know what to google.
