Thoughts on: Rick Anderson - Away from the “icebergs” - the idea of not having a physical collection ('just in case' collection) but providing access to information when it is required.
Public libraries are a different case from academic libraries. People borrow books for leisure reading. This could change when a comfortable-to-view book reader is developed.
If a shift like this were to occur there would still be a role for librarians. In fact there would be a bigger role in locating and reviewing materials. For example if we didn't have junior non-fiction books, we would have to be able to guide children and parents to materials. If they are downloading without using the library this will be a real challenge and we will have to find other ways to make ourselves relevant. We would need to market ourselves more to attract remote users.
For example work with council childhood development programs to promote library services to parents.
There will still be the equity issue - we now provide internet access for those who can't afford it. Unless everyone is provided with a book reader/ 'universal device' there will still be people wanting to borrow books, look at the reference collection. Perhaps we could lend out gadgets - however this creates problems with maintenance, cost.
A compromise might develop where we have copies of valuable and popular books and can digitally acquire others.
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