The more general point I was probably trying to make

[oursin]

On reflection, my reaction to the 'what's wrong with public libraries' question boiled down to the same reaction I've had to similar phenomena in other spheres. It's not so much that I'm saying 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' or that outreach per se or extension of services is a bad thing, but that what I perceive is a failure to engage with a

Comments

[green_knight]

I think that it's a mistake to solely cater to the popular, or the seemingly popular - viz large numbers of rubbish books in my local libraries *which aren't taken out* that nonetheless displace others.
My local libraries have large numbers of obscure welsh-language music which I think is an excellent use of library resources - as depositories of knowledge and making things accessible.

The spiffy! new! resources don't gain _my_ local library readers, by what I can observe and by what my friendly librarian tells me. The kids come for the good books (yay!), the computers gain _some_ users (many of whom don't check out many books, but that's ok, they don't, in the end, use that much space) but the cool people have failed to discover libraries. A large proportion of local use is large print and a small selection of talked-about books. People come into the library and say 'I enjoyed this, can you recommend something similar' (which my local librarian can) - or they want to look something up (mostly homework) in which case, thanks to small selection/no proper catalogue/no clue about how to conduct research they get pointed at google. This is based on real-life observations on my part, and on the sheer frustration that comes of trying to _find_ books in the library system.

It's not creating readers. It's not creating 'other library users' either.

[londonkds]

The problem with partnerships with research libraries is that much academic content is now online and subject to rigid institution-member-only access contracts.

[green_knight]

This library is a small local outpost - no charge for loans from the network - but without a catalogue that functions, no-one knows what's there, and there aren't enough books for the librarian to even demonstrate what a kid would be look for and how.

Numbers - based on observation - who comes in, who spends time. If 'library user=person who wants free internet access' then the whole library thing becomes pointless; that's not a library.

Our system is ancient enough to use a piece of paper glued into the book. If the first stamp dates to the publication date, and there are only two or three more until now, and some of the books you've bought off the library had sheets that were filled to the brim, then that might not be a scientific study, but it sure as hell makes you wonder who controls what remains in the collection.