Ok this is a controversial topic with an aggressive title. However like all such topics, it needs attention.
As this trend of OD providing most ebooks and audio books to the libraries grows, I see more and more OD tentacles everywhere.
I feel like in 15 years OD will control the flow of all such digital content around most countries. In return, most public libraries around the world will become web site shells and vehicles for delivering OD content because most of them wont need physical places anymore. Is that bad? I think it is pretty bad.
Just think about this side effect everytime you conveniently borrow your OD ebooks from your local library.
There are other things to be scared of when it comes to OD and such corporations providing content to the libraries. For instance your privacy is very much comprimised on multiple levels. Before it was just you borrowing a book from your local lib. Now everyone involved will have big dossiers about your borrowing/reading behaviours. The other issue is the filtering. We all might end up living in bigger filter bubbles due to corporate algorithms controlling our reading/borrowing actions.
Once most of the take over is done, most librarians will be out of job. Any librarian thinks that OD is cool, he or she should worry about the future prospects of their jobs. A fully digital public library that is controlled by a corporate master wont need floor jobs anymore.
We need to force libraries to do the hard work not easy work. Easy work easy, you just let OD to take over public interest. The hard work is to get our libraries to understand the technology, understand the future trends and behave accordingly if possible, at least work towards the public interest.
If people want corporate controlled and filtered digital/audio book content they can always go for Amazon.
Anyway, enough said. I would like to hear what others think about this matter.
Cheers
As this trend of OD providing most ebooks and audio books to the libraries grows, I see more and more OD tentacles everywhere.
I feel like in 15 years OD will control the flow of all such digital content around most countries. In return, most public libraries around the world will become web site shells and vehicles for delivering OD content because most of them wont need physical places anymore. Is that bad? I think it is pretty bad.
Just think about this side effect everytime you conveniently borrow your OD ebooks from your local library.
There are other things to be scared of when it comes to OD and such corporations providing content to the libraries. For instance your privacy is very much comprimised on multiple levels. Before it was just you borrowing a book from your local lib. Now everyone involved will have big dossiers about your borrowing/reading behaviours. The other issue is the filtering. We all might end up living in bigger filter bubbles due to corporate algorithms controlling our reading/borrowing actions.
Once most of the take over is done, most librarians will be out of job. Any librarian thinks that OD is cool, he or she should worry about the future prospects of their jobs. A fully digital public library that is controlled by a corporate master wont need floor jobs anymore.
We need to force libraries to do the hard work not easy work. Easy work easy, you just let OD to take over public interest. The hard work is to get our libraries to understand the technology, understand the future trends and behave accordingly if possible, at least work towards the public interest.
If people want corporate controlled and filtered digital/audio book content they can always go for Amazon.
Anyway, enough said. I would like to hear what others think about this matter.
Cheers