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National Library Week: Public Libraries in 2011

By IGI Global on Apr 15, 2011
E-book readers were a hot gift for the 2010 holiday season, and public libraries are now finding it important to integrate more digital media into their stacks in order to remain modern and relevant to readers in 2011 and beyond. National Library Week, which ends tomorrow, is a great opportunity to take a fresh look at public libraries.

One advantage of e-books is that they can be downloaded almost instantly from any location, but how does this convenience fit in with the traditional model of a library? According to a recent article from NPR, libraries are still trying to treat e-books like print books, and this creates a dilemma as libraries continue to run things the same way they always have. This leads to the biggest worry for many libraries: Will they become obsolete in an increasingly digital era?

Libraries may need to break with business as usual and take a whole new look at their strategies and activities from the ground up. Many new ideas for e-books in libraries have been presented including e-books that can only be checked out a certain number of times before needing to be repurchased, e-book subscription packages that can be used by libraries as they see fit, and libraries working directly with publishers and other content providers instead of going through intermediaries. As these ideas progress and evolve, it is clear that libraries will need to continually reevaluate themselves. Libraries continue to offer a range of helpful resources and programs to their communities from computers with internet access and printers, to children's reading and literacy programs, to book clubs and other community gatherings. Many patrons today benefit from all that libraries have to offer, but as technology progresses, the demand for instantaneous services and materials will continually increase.

IGI Global publishes a variety of material on library science covering topics such as digital libraries and library information systems. To learn more about current issues in library science, subscribe to IGI Global's new Advances in Library and Information Science (ALIS) Newsletter.

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