Minerva Shelved

There is an article at statastic about the case for transforming Washington, D.C.’s public library system (“Can DC Public Libraries Play Leapfrog?”). The author (known as Statistico) would like to see DCPL become the nation’s “first true virtual public library system.” D.C.’s libraries are underfunded and way behind the technological curve. Instead of trying to play catch-up, DCPL should set its sights higher.

DC Public Libraries suffer from several problems that make them an ideal test case for launching a real virtual library: huge deferred maintenance costs, an aging central library, and a population disillusioned by years of neglect to local libraries.

DCPL is too far behind the technology curve to play catch up. Instead they should leapfrog technologies. Statastic proposes that new DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and DCPL Director Ginnie Cooper consider a bold experiment in virtual collections.

Citing the low circulation statistics of DCPL and the amount of money spent on books, the author suggests partnerships with companies such as Google, digitization projects for rare books, and private and public grants to achieve this goal. Furthermore, Statistico would like to see a reduction in the purchase of new books beginning in 2008, “with the goal of e-books making up no less than 90% of new acquisitions 2013.” The focus of the collection would be on e-books, “so no dollars are wasted on lonely, unread books sitting on dusty shelves.”

How do we get e-readers into the hands of D.C. residents? What about the costs? The author mentions the falling prices of technological products over time, and suggests subsidizing e-readers for those unable to afford them:

In a city with 17% of its residents and 30% of its children living in poverty, it might seem that DC is not well-suited for e-books. After all, how would someone living in poverty afford a $300 e-reader? And how would they download a book with access to the Internet? Statastic expects the prices of e-readers featuring e-ink to drop to less than $75 within 5 years (we already have $100 laptops), and less than $40 by 2017.

Under this plan, the DCPL would phase in heavily subsidized or free e-readers for every low income DC resident. Children could also use these e-readers in the public schools where textbooks are in such short supply making it impossible to assign homework from textbooks. And assigning a hot new technology like e-readers to under-privileged citizens might just spark their interest in reading.

With the advent of Google Books, do we need a virtual public library? Many DC residents with their own e-readers and home Internet access will soon have access to millions of Google e-books. But the digital divide is real and if public libraries aren’t centrally involved in digitization of books, the gap will widen. As the high-income, early adopters turn toward e-books, wealthy taxpayers might see less value in funding the DC Public Library System (if this is even possible). This would exacerbate already grave funding shortfalls, leaving an underclass with an ignored and out-moded library system.

Another advantage to transforming DCPL into the nation’s first virtual library system would be the reduced costs of maintaining the system’s underused branch locations. The author still sees a need for a central, main library in the city. In other parts of the city however, one would see e-book kiosks, where one could download books onto an e-reader.

The author has a poll at the end of the article for readers to weigh in on this proposal.