Daily Archives: April 1, 2018

Pulling the Digital Trigger

By Lon Maxwell, Reference Department

WCPLtn’s computer lab in the middle of being remodeled.

As many of you have already discovered, the Library is making a lot of changes. The computer lab is being remodeled. The carpet in many places is being replaced. Shelves are getting emptied out. There are new study carrels throughout the upstairs. These changes are all geared to give today’s library patron the best twenty-first century library experience.

Now most of these improvements have obvious reasons, but the empty shelves in our history section and the continued downsizing of our biographies might not be so apparent. Libraries around the world are seeing a huge increase in circulation as they increase their eBook holdings. Some have seen increases, year over year, of 100% or more. While our increases may have not been that significant, we have seen large gains in circulation as our eBooks catalog grows. During our Make-It-A-Million campaign we checked out 223,972 digital items. That is more than double the number of 4 years ago at 104,000+. Considering our readers’ obvious interest and the limited funding we receive, we have made the fateful decision to transition to a fully digital collection[i].

“Gasp!” I hear from the multitudes. How can you get rid of the physical books? It was a really, really easy decision. I mean, those books are really, really, REALLY heavy. In fact, they are far heavier than what we have down in fiction.  It will be a gradual change (like I said, they’re heavy. No one’s taking a load of them down stairs in a hurry), especially since none of us like to work out.  We prefer reading. The collections that receive the heaviest use will be the first to transition, hence the history and biography section shrinkage. Next will be cookbooks, followed by self-help and the political books.  Unfortunately, once the books have been removed we’re kind of stuck with digital since we will have donated all of the books to the Franklin Transit (they’re planning to add bookstores on the trolleys).  That means that the non-fiction section, which no one really cares for anyway, is the trial section. If this goes poorly, the print books will be saved in the other sections, and we’ll consider removing the digital collections for those sections. But there will be no going back for the non-fiction section. Dun dun dun…

So what are we going to do with all this space? We are constantly being asked for two things: study rooms and a coffee bar. Now that the non-fiction section is being digitized, we will finally have the space to put those rooms all over the upstairs. Plans are in the works for nine new glass enclosed rooms, lockable from the outside (and only the librarians have the keys… good luck!) and a regionally known coffee shop  will be setting up shop between the staircase and the windows overlooking the parking lot (the espresso machine is also available for checkout). There are also plans to replace the periodicals section with a newsstand run by Barnes and Noble. Apparently, they’re a little strict about paying before reading (those glass rooms can also be used as library jails).   Um, anyway…

As of right now, it is only the non-fiction and reference sections that are being migrated to digital platforms. The Children’s Section, Young Adult’s, and Fiction will remain as is until at least the end of the fiscal year in June, and then we’ll see how tired our arms are.  In fact, we will probably not change the young adult section over at all. Statistics for the last year show a significant drop in teen eBook sales and polls of those between 12 and 18 have shown a marked preference for print books. Go figure!

The library is aware that this may prove unpopular with many of our patrons, but we cannot allow progress to be stymied (eventually the goal is for the library to be manned by volunteer robots). Have no fear though; if you still want the old book feel and smell, you can still get your fix. Because we won’t have that massive amount of paper and other flammable material all over the place, candles with the new “Old book smell” scent will be placed throughout the upstairs. And the desk that was formerly known as the reference desk will now be the Library Guru desk where we will still be able to get your print media for you through interlibrary loans, although you will have to bring an offering of chocolate to speak with us. Luckily, as you are not tied to the total instant gratification that the digital generation can’t live without, the one to three weeks it takes to get the book brought in will not be an issue for you.

So I hope this has allayed any fears you may have about our changes. If you want to let us know what you think please email us at Ha.Ha.WeGotU@HappyAprilFoolsDay.bazinga.

 


Sources:

[i] In fact, this whole blog is a rather elaborate April Fool’s Day Prank. I just believe that no one actually bothers with footnotes until the end. The reason for the empty shelves in the 900s and the shrinking biography shelves is that we are making space for brand new, actual ink and paper books to keep our collection as current as possible.

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