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Why Libraries Will Never Die

There’s a guy named Marc Bodnick, who apparently participates in some kind of social media experiment at Forbes magazine called Quora, where the contributors ask questions of each other and then they all try to answer the question as completely as possible and organize the information effectively, such as “What is a Realistic Trade The Lakers Can Get to Get Dwight Howard”? Kinda sounds like they’re trying to invent Wikipedia, with fewer contributors, but experiment is the way we learn.

Marc decided to address a different question, and the question he decided to answer is: “Will Public Libraries Go Exctinct”? His answer, although he elaborated it in much more detail here, was “basically, yes”, That’s based on his assumption that the most important service libraries have is lending books, and that people don’t borrow books anymore because they all have ereaders, which are more convenient. And also, that most “power readers” will love reading on their Kindles instead of holding a book in their hands. (News flash, Marc, I’m one of those power readers (aka insane bibliomaniacs) and I know many others who read not just one kind of book, but BOTH). My dad agrees with Marc,  by the way… thanks for the support, Dad.

The response to Marc’s theory from librarian Erica Freedman, which appeared just below his response, was this:

 

Most libraries now lend e-books, music, and magic.

Wow. That’s something I never thought I’d see in Forbes. Or in any response by any librarian to this particular argument. But I like it. And I think it’s true.

Wait. That can’t be right. Maybe I need to finish my coffee?

 

Okay, done now. Let me see that again.

 

Most libraries now lend e-books, music, and other media as well. But the real reason libraries will disappear is that people “perceive” them as only lending books”.

 

Well, that’s more what I expected, especially in a response that appears in Forbes. But I liked the first one better, Erica. Optimism and magic are both pluses in the library world. Can I change it back? I think I will, if it’s okay with you.

 

…Libraries lend e-books, music, and magic.

 

 

Marc, imagine what else they might share with this world. Or others. A Kindle book won’t protect you, once you start moving through the story of Stephen King’s Ur. You might WANT to give that back to the library.

I don’t think anyone wants the magic to die. And, since libraries aren’t businesses, and the world needs them for much more than ebooks, these places of knowledge, growth, and inspiration, the heartblood of their communities, will continue on. And the magic will, too.

And that is why libraries will never die.

Posted on October 8, 2012 by , Reply

Help A Reader Out: A Halloween Dog

 

A mystery keyword searcher asked:

What kids’ book for Halloween has a dog on the cover?

Oh, this is one of my favorites– as a librarian and a parent. Most likely you are thinking of The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey, also the genius behind Dogzilla, Kat Kong, and the famed Captain Underpants books. It’s one of my favorite read alouds for preschool-3rd grades. Here’s hoping you check back and find the answer you’re looking for!

Posted on September 25, 2012 by , Reply

Integrity in Writing Reviews

Integrity is so important. It is the value of emphasis that the master teacher is reinforcing with my kids in tae kwon do. Truthfulness, along with kindness, are the things that we want them to know we value. And it’s also something we work hard to model, both in our lives and in the kinds of reviews we write and publish.

There are a lot of review sites that will only publish positive reviews. If the reviewer doesn’t like the book he doesn’t write the review. That’s okay, everyone has a different philosophy, but here we think that to serve you the best you ought to know what isn’t worth your time or money as well as what is so astonishing that it’s worth it to pay the extra money. We try to be professional and tell you what we think, but without being nasty. There are librarians who write reviews for us, and people who truly love the genre, and we support them in their views. It’s hard to give out a negative review, especially a respectful one, and I so respect those of our reviewers who are honest when it comes to writing a difficult review (sometimes those reviews pay off in unexpected ways– like a writer revising his book, or a reader who really appreciated the review).

I know there are a lot of fake reviews out there– reviews that rave about how great a book is, or are really negative about one, that are with cynical intent, or even to drive (or decrease) sales. It saddens me that there are so many, because the way most books end up in someone’s hands is when someone they trust recommends the book to them. But with so many fake reviews, who can you trust? If I only bought the books the book critic at the Wall Street Journal recommended I’d end up frustrated because her tastes are different from mine… but at least I can trust her to give her honest opinion. I’d like to be able to trust that the opinions I see in reviews are genuine, too, since they’re more likely to live on the same planet with me.

But even if a review isn’t written with integrity, and the number of these that aren’t is expected to increase, Digital Book World reports that reviewers who are compensated for writing positive (or negative) reviews may be committing a crime. Incentives to write positive paid reviews are expected to increase as companies attempt to increase their market share, but every time someone writes a paid review he or she deprives the rest of us from making an informed choice.

We don’t take compensation here. Although we are sent review copies, anyone who contacts us ought to know that sending us a book doesn’t guarantee them a positive review. But we write honest reviews. You can count on that.

Posted on September 24, 2012 by , Reply
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