{"id":38,"date":"2005-01-09T21:52:57","date_gmt":"2005-01-09T21:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"\/ifbookblog\/?p=38"},"modified":"2005-01-09T21:52:57","modified_gmt":"2005-01-09T21:52:57","slug":"whats_a_library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/futureofthebook.org\/blog\/2005\/01\/09\/whats_a_library\/","title":{"rendered":"what&#8217;s a library?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"stacks_then.jpg\" img style=\"margin:4px;\" src=\"\/blog\/archives\/stacks_then.jpg\" width=\"170\" height=\"215\" align=\"left\" \/> In a recent <strong><a href=\"\/blog\/archives\/2005\/01\/after_a_holiday.html\">discussion<\/a><\/strong> in these pages, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.futureofthebook.com\/\">Gary Frost<\/a><\/strong> has suggested that the Google library model would be premised on an inter-library loan system, &#8220;extending&#8221; the preeminence of print. Sure, enabling &#8220;inside the book&#8221; browsing of library collections will allow people to engage remotely with print volumes on distant shelves, and will help them track down physical copies if they so desire. But do we really expect this to be the primary function of such a powerful resource?<br \/>\nWe have to ask what this Google library intitiative is really aiming to do. What is the point? Is it simply a search tool for accessing physical collections, or is it truly a library in its own right? A library encompasses architecture, other people, temptations, distractions, whispers, touch. If the Google library is nothing more than a dynamic book locator, then it will have fallen terribly short of its immense potential to bring these afore-mentioned qualities into virtual space. Inside-the-book browsing is a sad echo of actual tactile browsing in a brick-and-mortar library. It&#8217;s a tease, or more likely, a sales hook. I think that&#8217;s far more likely to be the way people would use Google to track down print copies &#8211; consistent with Google&#8217;s current ad-based revenue structure.<br \/>\nBut a library is not a retail space &#8211; it is an open door to knowledge, a highway with no tolls. How can we reinvent this in networked digital space?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a recent discussion in these pages, Gary Frost has suggested that the Google library model would be premised on an inter-library loan system, &#8220;extending&#8221; the preeminence of print. Sure, enabling &#8220;inside the book&#8221; browsing of library collections will allow people to engage remotely with print volumes on distant shelves, and will help them track [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1060],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-libraries-search-and-the-web"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/futureofthebook.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/futureofthebook.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/futureofthebook.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futureofthebook.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futureofthebook.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/futureofthebook.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/futureofthebook.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futureofthebook.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futureofthebook.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}