LISNews: Librarian News

The future library is the brainchild of Bexar County (TX, San Antonio area) Judge Nelson Wolff who got the idea while while reading Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs.

“It's not a replacement for the (city) library system, it's an enhancement,” says Wolff who also happens to be a book collector. The library hopes to secure at least $250,000 to acquire the first 10,000 titles. There will also be 100 e-readers available for checkout.

“We wanted to find a low-cost, effective way to bring reading and learning to the county and also focus on the change in the world of technology...It will help people learn,” said Wolff.

artist's conception of how it might look

Findings
Some 13% of those ages 16 and older have visited library websites or otherwise accessed library services by mobile device. This is the first reading in a national survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project on this subject. An earlier survey in 2009 by scholars at the University of Washington found that 6% of Americans ages 16 and older had used a mobile device to connect to a library site, so the incidence of this activity has doubled since then.1

Those who are most likely to have connected to a library site include parents of minor children, women, and those with at least some college education.

From the New York Times:

As librarians across the nation struggle with the task of redefining their roles and responsibilities in a digital age, many public libraries are seeing an opportunity to fill the void created by the loss of traditional bookstores. Indeed, today’s libraries are increasingly adapting their collections and services based on the demands of library patrons, whom they now call customers. Today’s libraries are reinventing themselves as vibrant town squares, showcasing the latest best sellers, lending Kindles loaded with e-books, and offering grassroots technology training centers. Faced with the need to compete for shrinking municipal finances, libraries are determined to prove they can respond as quickly to the needs of the taxpayers as the police and fire department can.

“I think public libraries used to seem intimidating to many people, but today, they are becoming much more user-friendly, and are no longer these big, impersonal mausoleums,” said Jeannette Woodward, a former librarian and author of “Creating the Customer-Driven Library: Building on the Bookstore Model.”

Comic showing the 22 steps needed to check out an audio book at the library.