Facilities: Library

Although the e-book is starting to make real inroads into our reading habits, there are many for whom they are either too expensive or too “new-fangled” to ever replace the library.

This section discusses:

• the Existing provision of this service: What, How, How Often, Costs, Providers and Trends
• the Proposed provision with localnet: What, How, How Often, Costs, Providers and Evolution
• how the existing and proposed services compare

Existing Provision

What

Large numbers of books, periodicals and often music and films that can be borrowed at little or no cost.

How

Most libraries occupy several rooms and have a dedicated staff. In rural areas, vans provide mobile library services and visit villages typically weekly.

Volume and Frequency

For the elderly, e-books are not appealing. For the less well off, the traditionally free availability of several books at a time has been an important boost to their quality of life.

Financial Model

Maintaining an entire building and having dedicated staff makes the entry-level cost for a library quite high and increasingly difficult to justify. Books are normally loaned out free of charge with (modest) fines being imposed if they are kept too long.

Providers

Most are run by local councils.

Trends

Libraries are under increasing budget pressure as councils see fewer - especially young - people visiting them.

With Localnet

What

The existing provision can be enhanced to provide “to the door” service for those who find it difficult to leave their house. However, many of those who currently struggle to get to a library will be able to visit easily thanks to the localnet transport services running from their door to the LocalHub - where the library will be.

How

A section of the LocalHub should be given over to bookshelves. This may range from a few shelves beside the coffee shop area to several rooms of books.

Volume and Frequency

With localnet delivery services immediately to hand, local residents can request books and have them arrive within hours. The efficient transport between LocalHubs means that titles currently only held at other LocalHubs - or larger central libraries - can also be retrieved at very little cost and delivered next day.

Financial Model

It should be a goal of localnet that it helps to maintain the free library service. This may mean that not every LocalHub has a full-time librarian - but a fraction of one or more staff members who are responsible for other functions as well.

Providers

To some extent this depends on who owns and runs the LocalHub as a whole. If it is publicly owned than the existing library function within the local council may run this aspect of the LocalHub. Where the operations are licensed, it may be a requirement of the licence that library services are provided free of charge.

Evolution

The LocalHub should become the social centre of an area and, as such, may reverse the decline of the library. At present, e-books are more expensive than their paper counterparts but in the medium term, the e-book is likely to become significantly cheaper than the physical equivalent. If it is made as convenient as possible to borrow and return books this could lead to a change in the way we think of books. Rather than filling our houses with racks and racks of them as many of us have done in the past, it may become more normal to borrow them.

 

Comparison

The table below assesses the impact of localnet on this service on a scale of -5 to +5 (details here)

	Existing services	As part of localnet	Score
Scope
Frequency
Security
Convenience
Cost
Quality
Carbon Footprint
Time
Resources Used
Reuse & Recycling
Landfill Waste
Other Differentiators