John Palfrey, Biblio Tech

John Palfrey’s is loyal to libraries: a former librarian himself (most notably at the Harvard Law School), he does not see them as potential profit centers or dismiss their books and shelves as obsolescent tchotchkes in an age of information technology. That said, he is not optimistic about the future of libraries as repositories of books. Sure, he says, ebook-reading has plateaued. Yes, we've witnessed an outpouring of love for paper, for bindings, for detailed colophons, for book-craft and for the country’s remaining bookstores. But, he warns, the weather is changing rapidly: this is the last summery day before a hard frost. Though librarians across the country have initiated some extraordinarily imaginative projects to reengage the public, tech companies have far deeper pockets. Their projects don't just encompass a library or a library system. Theirs reach the entire online world, and recast the social meaning of information and knowledge and literacy. Libraries just can’t compete with such resources and relentless focus. Palfrey insists that libraries must, right now, remake themselves in ways permanently valuable to their communities and and to the nation, creating new experiences to compensate for the loss of oak tables, narrow stacks, and the odors of old leather and paper.

My own sense is that the threat to libraries isn't from technology but from uncertain state and local budgets. I just learned that Douglas County, Oregon – where I spent my summers with an uncle and aunt – has closed all its county libraries for lack of funds. The county's 100,000 people are now unable to borrow books, read the magazines secreted on the web behind paywalls, or, if they're young, learn that reading is more than a skill: it's magic.The library in Roseburg, a small but solid facility newly-built back in the 70s, is now just an occasional meeting venue. How does Dystopia begin? As an item on the agenda of a regular Wednesday meeting meeting of the County Board of Commissioners.