I agree that libraries need rethinking. I've found that even those Librarians who are inclined to do such rethinking can be surprisingly conservative. Even so

I agree that libraries need rethinking. I've found that even those Librarians who are inclined to do such rethinking can be surprisingly conservative. Even so, the authors needs a different point of reference needs a reset. I've never been in one of Seattle's libraries that hasn't been a bustling hub of activity. There are lots of public computers, for people who don't have their own. People are studying and working on their laptops, and some people are even reading or checking out books. Personally, most of my use of our libraries via the web, particularly to access the O'Reilly Safari Library. One of the awesome things about libraries is librarians, because they believe in things like the democratization of acess to information. One result is that often times, the licenses on online databases acessed through libraries are often less restrictive than you'd get on your own.