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Can startups solve this problem somehow? After all, there is a market need for libraries, it just might not be obvious since it's somewhat hidden by the taxatio
by itmag 15y ago
Can startups solve this problem somehow? After all, there is a market need for libraries, it just might not be obvious since it's somewhat hidden by the taxation model.
What would a free-market public library look like? And I'm not thinking McDonald's capitalism here, I'm thinking more like Google capitalism. What would the Gmail of public libraries be like?
The way I see it public libraries offer three things: physical books, physical locations, curators of content. So how could this be done in a different, startup-y way?
Physical books: maybe something involving print-on-demand technologies?
Physical locations: maybe something that piggybacks on existing physical locations?
Curators of content: I dunno, crowdsourced mobile/local/social librarians?
I am only half-kidding with this comment...
- yummyfajitas 15y agoWhat would a free-market public library look like? In India, it's a physical library just like the ones in the US. You sign up as a member and pay a deposit. You also pay a per-book reading fee, as well as late fees if you don't bring the book back. If you fail to return the book you lose your deposit.
- corin_ 15y agoSo basically it looks like a video rental store in the US/UK.
- itmag 15y agoThat would be like Gmail requiring a $10 fee / year. Much less appealing than free(mium). Sure, public libraries are obviously not zero-cost, just as someone (most likely people who buy ads) pays for Gmail at some point, but they both feel that way.
- telemachos 15y agoThere are still member-only, non-free libraries in the US. I live in NYC, and I can think of two walking distance from where I work. It's a little out of date, but here's an article about such libraries: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/business/yourmoney/11library.html http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/business/yourmoney/11libra...