Legal Research

TPL and Change

Nice big article in the weekend Toronto Star about libraries quoting my friends.

A tale of two countries' libraries
"In recession-wracked U.S. cities they are being targeted for closure. Not so here"

Selected quotes:

"Librarians are good at being innovative and economical," says Shelagh Paterson (executive director of OLA). "We're a very collaborative profession globally, so before we all go down the garden path wasting public money on the latest electronic device, a few places go out in front and try it, then report back to the rest. It works."

The "completely unmediated Internet," says U of T's Wendy Newman, who authored a report earlier this year on the future of Ontario libraries for the Ministry of Culture. That's where increasingly tech-savvy librarians are earning their stripes as navigators and content assessors. "They and library websites can point people to authoritative, credible sites," says Newman.

So yes, there will always be books, clothbound, with paper pages, lined up reassuringly in alphabetical order on shelves. "They're the perfect format," says Jane Pyper [City Librarian]. "They won't ever go away." They'll simply be joined by more eReaders ? Sony eBooks are already in the Toronto system ? as the device continues to improve in resolution. "The container isn't as important as the ideas it contains," says Pyper,

And that's the facts. Library Journal has reported that TPL buys a bunch of formats. For example Toronto Public Library tells us it's purchased 989 copies of Dan Brown?s new novel The Lost Symbol in multiple formats:
? 800 copies of the print version, or which 114 are non-reservable Best Bets
? 76 copies of the audiobook
? 83 copies of large print
? 15 copies of the eBook
? 15 copies of the eAudiobook

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on September 21, 2009 (boomark / email).