California Library May Stop Stocking Books
LatestIn what book lovers may see as a sign of the coming end times, a California library is considering eliminating all books and librarians. The Los Angeles Times reports that instead, Newport Beach’s new community center would feature a sitting area, kiosks that let patrons video conference with librarians stationed in some faraway outpost, and a “Netflix-like” system that lets readers order books and pick them up later in a storage locker.
It’s telling that the Times needed to compare this system to Netflix. Most libraries now feature some kind of online catalogue that lets patrons look up books and have them delivered to their library. (Though considering that I recently had to request a Timothy Zahn Star Wars novel for a friend, it seems even our nerdiest 20-somethings aren’t well-versed in the interlibrary loan system.)