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'No, Amazon Cannot Replace Libraries' (vice.com)
Over the weekend, Forbes published an article titled "Amazon Should Replace Local Libraries to Save Taxpayers Money," in which the author Panos Mourdoukoutas argued that libraries are no longer important to the community as the result of alternative "third places" like Starbucks, and "no shortage of places to hold community events," as well as streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime and the rise of e-books that have "turned physical books into collector's items, effectively eliminating the need for library borrowing services." The article did not bode well with many, including several librarians. Forbes has since taken down the article. From a report: Hundreds of Twitter users took to the platform to share both their anger with the piece and their love for libraries. People seemed to especially take issue with the author picking Amazon --notorious for its horrible treatment of employees, and accusations of ruining the cities it opens warehouses in -- as a potential replacement. Obviously, as the outrage from these users demonstrates, libraries are beloved and important in communities.
Mourdoukoutas's argument that libraries are becoming less useful is patently false, in a way that's fairly obvious. But the notion that libraries aren't worth their value to taxpayers -- one that fails to take into account the financial returns of a library and expenses of buying these items on one's own -- fails to address the vast importance a library has on its community as a physical space open to anyone in the public. Most of the utilities of libraries are quite obvious, like how they're essential to lowering the barrier of entry on activities that may be cost prohibitive. But many of us aren't aware of the impact our libraries have on our own communities, nor the programs they offer.
Mourdoukoutas's argument that libraries are becoming less useful is patently false, in a way that's fairly obvious. But the notion that libraries aren't worth their value to taxpayers -- one that fails to take into account the financial returns of a library and expenses of buying these items on one's own -- fails to address the vast importance a library has on its community as a physical space open to anyone in the public. Most of the utilities of libraries are quite obvious, like how they're essential to lowering the barrier of entry on activities that may be cost prohibitive. But many of us aren't aware of the impact our libraries have on our own communities, nor the programs they offer.
The author claims outrage without much in the way of real citation except for some peoples feelings and no objective evidence, and makes claims about Amazon which is based on hearsay (you can always find someone who hates their job).
But anyway - sure lets keep public libraries with late fees, lost books, damaged property, masturbating homeless, officious and bureaucratic librarians, and run down facilities. Versus a way to check out books electronically which you can read anywhere anytime and get quickly from home or work or school. I'd rather give people ereaders or tablets than pay for moldy dead tree books.
The other important factor with libraries is that books don't suddenly disappear en-masse like they can with a virtual/centrally-controlled commercial entity... People should remember the particularly ironic case of Amazon removing copies of 1984 from everyone's Kindle, as reported in the New York Times and The Guardian.
Seems like every community has a group of small government folks that are trying to reduce the size of government. My community has a group that has been trying to shut down the libraries for decades. The latest tactic is to reduce the number of full-time librarains and increase the number of volunteers. Most volunteers are not trained librarians or student librarians.
Content owners have a natural incentive to see libraries as a way that people can steal their stuff for free. That isn't an accurate description, of course, but that is how content owners see it. Borrowing IS stealing.
So, people in this group, and their sympathizers, level assaults against libraries in which they come up with bullshit reasons to try and convince everyone to get rid of them.
As far as I can tell, that's all this is.
My library has a 3D printer that's free to use. My kids love going there, finding a pattern on Thingiverse, and printing out something. (One day I might even try designing my own pattern.) We use the DVD rentals at our library also as well as audiobooks, events, and so much more. I know people love complaining about taxes, but I'd willingly double the amount of taxes that I pay for my local library. The more resources they have, the more awesome they are, and the more kids will be exposed to the awesome public libraries.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
When I was a kid, my local librarians knew me by name. I would come into the library, take out a stack of books, come back a week later, return them, and take out another stack. Now that I'm a father, my boys love going to the library. Yes, there are still books there and they enjoy that, but there are also movies, music, audio books, museum passes, 3D printers, computers, and so much more.
I'll admit that I like Amazon. Their Prime service is very nice and I like being able to fit thousands of books on my Kindle. Still, they are no library replacement. Not even close. Replacing libraries with Amazon.com would be a travesty.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
This article has nothing to do with a "local decision". It's the opinion of some Economics professor at a third-rate university that Amazon should replace libraries. It has absolutely nothing to do with "local populations".
In fact, I would be surprised if you could find a single community that wants to close its public library. Pew Research did a study that showed nearly 90% of people believe that closing the local public library would have a negative effect on their community, with 65% of those people saying it would have a major negative effect.
Communities love their libraries.
To summarize: This is not the decision of a local population. There is no indication that any local populations want to get rid of their libraries. It's some academic in a pseudo-scientific field, Economics, which is actually less rigorous than parapsychology, giving his own idiotic opinion. His name is Panos Mourdoukoutas, which sounds like some flaming dish you'd order at the Greek Islands Restaurant on Halsted Street. He's gotten his 15 seconds of fame out of his stupid opinion, which was so bad that Forbes Magazine has deleted it from their site out of sheer embarrassment.
You are welcome on my lawn.
(One day I might even try designing my own pattern.)
If you have a Windows 10 system kicking around anywhere, you may want to checkout the included "3D Builder" program.
It can import/export STL files and is a surprisingly good 3D design program for being Microsoft born.
I picked up the basic controls and functions within an hour, and after a few hours over a long weekend it no longer felt like I was fighting with 2d input devices in a 3d world.
My first project was to grab an NES cartridge slot lid from thingiverse and modify it for a retropie case mod.
I now have a lid with a hole and screw mounts for a 0.9" LCD, and the i2c wiring within the plastic running back to the hinge, as well as a custom logo cavity on the front.
Editing an existing design made it far quicker with the learning curve required and worked far better than KiCad for me. Perhaps once I get to making things from scratch I'll revisit higher end CAD programs, but for just dinking around to learn it works great.
It might even impress the kids by letting them throw their own little personal touches on an existing design without too much frustration.