For many of us the public library lost its soul long before the coming of the Kindle. Libraries became multi-media, three-ring circuses: audio-visual tapes in one ring, computer centers in another, and books in the gradually-shrinking third. They had little choice, of course, as the disbursers of the public purse demanded entertainment for the masses. This pandering to the lowest common denominator was based on theory that people would become familiar with the books surrounding the digital toys and interest in the written word would grow.
Did it work? Apparently not, the computers and tapes (DVDs, CDs, etc) proliferated and the bookshelves shank. Many downtown libraries became digital entertainment centers for the poor, the dysfunctional and the dispossessed; those at the cities’ rim resounded to the delightful sound (to some)of children playing in the once-cloistered rooms.Downtown parents would not let children out of their sight for fear of predators. Adults in the suburbs couldn’t concentrate for the happy din.
The coming of the Kindle heralded yet another change for libraries and librarians. Why bother to fill the shelves with expensive paper products requiring security and maintenance–not to mention the whole host of bureaucrats needed to distribute them–when you could purchase a few digital copies for patrons. Recently some libraries have linked the digital copies for loan with the e-stores they purchased them from. Are all three of the library’s ebooks on loan? No problem; here is a link to the bookseller–so meet the library as affiliate marketer, the librarian as Amazon associate.
Michael Nardine
As should be made obvious by the accompanying photo, Mike Nardine (aka Cheap Mike) is plain vanilla and old as dirt. He is Secret Laboratory’s Technology Editor and has been writing since before the invention of the electric typewriter. His first computer was a 1kb Sinclair; his love-affair with computers began with a Kaypro. He has sold short stories to women’s magazines and has published several books, which are available in Amazon’s Kindle Store. Mr. Nardine has also written a whole slug of book reviews, play reviews, news articles, and consumer-tech stuff for various ezines and The Reader Weekly of Duluth, Minnesota. He presently lives in Rochester, Minnesota with his wife of many years and a fifteen-year-old Jack Russel Terrier named Chloe. Still writing as he circles the drain, he also sells domains and web hosting at CheapMikes.com. Visit Mike and view all of his titles at booksonkindle.com.
Email Mr. Nardine at michaelnardine@secretlaboratory.org.
