Tim at LibraryThing posted this on the Thingology blog a couple days ago. I really hadn't looked at the whole CDs-and-DVDs-in-libraries debate (as in, do they belong in the library) this way before. Basically, he sees it as a moot point, since "This stuff is on the way out," as he puts it. And when I stopped to think about it, he's right. I can't remember the last CD or DVD I got from the library (though I know I have done so occasionally, but so rarely and so long ago that I couldn't tell you what they were now). He says "let's all stop imagining a library without books, and imagine a library without CDs and DVDs. Let's imagine a library with books, and hope for one with more of them."
I use the public library often for books. I use it even more since I discovered that they'll hold items for me at the circulation desk for me so I can just come in, ask for them, have them checked out to me, and leave. This makes it very easy for me to pick them up on my evening commute when I'm in a time crunch to pick my daughter up from school. Since I live in a newer part of town, which leaves me without a convenient library on weekends (hint hint: We need a library further west than 132nd Street), it's great that there's a library directly on my route home which will perform this service. It's really a win-win - I get the use of the books (free, as always!) and the books get circulated, helping the library's usage statistics. I've been meaning to send them a note saying how much I appreciate this service...Guess I'd better go do it now.
