You know, I got into Libby and OverDrive and the other apps that libraries love nowadays. And the experience is totally different. I mean, it's fine because you

You know, I got into Libby and OverDrive and the other apps that libraries love nowadays. And the experience is totally different. I mean, it's fine because you've got a taxpayer-supported streaming service, and you can pick up audiobooks without the cassettes and rewinding and melting on your dashboard. But the eBook experience in a mobile app is markedly different than the experience of dropping into the library, chatting with the refdesk matron, paging through the cardfile/online catalog, going to the stacks, browsing the stacks, finding 3 more titles nearby that you love, pulling books from the stacks and taking them home with you, or at least to a study carrel to flip through and see whether you love it or not, then check them out. It's like online shopping vs. going to a store. Sometimes it's better, sometimes you'd rather have the meatspace experiences. My library has a café, print services, a 'seed library', culture passes for museums, and all sorts of really cool atmosphere that I'll never get if I'm lying in bed staring at my phone, but I can binge-read all the Libby content I ever wanted, without riding the stinky free bus, whoopee!