[Publib] A further signpost on the road to our oblivion (LiveSearch Books)

[K.G. Schneider]

> Where does that leave us?  The last refuge of
> those who want to hold the physical book
> (with its still superb human factors) in their
> hands?

If that's the business we're in, then yes, Houston, we have a problem. I
also don't think arguing for the merits of the paper-based book will keep us
in business for the next hundred years. Andrew Abbott describes the classic
example of this crisis in "The System of Professions," in which he discusses
how the railroad companies thought they were in the train business, not the
transportation business. 

Naturally, the book won't go away any time soon. But information does flow
down the path of least resistance. If we don't inject ourselves into the
business of providing information in the format people need and want, yes,
we'll be gone, eventually, and that will be sad, because libraries have
tremendous potential, sometimes achieved, at adding value to the information
experience-whether through grand public commons, service to the underserved,
premium services to the information super-users, advocacy for privacy and
the right to read, services to children, and more. 

I think the question is whether we are delivering a commodity or an
experience. If it's a commodity, we'll go away. If it's an experience, we
have a fighting chance.

Karen G. Schneider
kgs at bluehighways.com