I understand that Virginia Beach Central Library intends to install televisions in the main front area (not the atrium, mind you, but in the actual library) so that people can watch the news and eat and drink whatever they want (food will be allowed into the library when this change takes place).
The reason is apparently so that VBCL can “compete” with the Barnes & Noble across the street. How can a city-funded institution compete– or even want to compete– with a mega empire like Barnes & Noble? Let’s think about this, though: Barnes & Noble doesn’t have televisions (and I’m sure they’ve spent millions trying to decide if having TVs in the stores would increase sales and came to a conclusion similar to the one that I am about to come to), they stay open until 11PM every night and they do not sell music or DVDs (at least not at this B&N). But wait, Planet Music sells DVDs and Music and so library competes by loaning out DVDs and VHS tapes and CDs– but Planet Music also has video games! Maybe the library should just install several XBox 360s and leave them unattended for patrons to play Dance Dance Revolution whenever they like so they can compete with Planet Music! Isn’t that a brilliant idea!?!
Today we have lots of informative resources piped directly into our own homes, thanks to the internet, but I still have to hit libraries to find books I can’t read electronically on the internet or take home for an extended amount of time without purchasing. Also, if I don’t have internet at my home, a public library gives me a way to connect to the web for research, checking my email or even writing in this blog.
The library also allows me to check out other media I may not want to spend money on. The “competition” doesn’t allow me to take books for free and bring them back without any questions asked. The library does. The library is not a book store and thats a good thing. A book store sells merchandise while a library freely distributes information. Virginia Beach Central specifically acts as a meeting center for various community organizations, performers and artists, something else a B&N cannot claim. The traditional role of a library may very well be diminishing but the bottom line is that there is no other alternative to the ingenious concept of taking something home without paying for it and bringing it back before its due date.
I guess it will depend on how the TVs are actually set up when its all said and done and whether closed captioning is turned on or not. No matter how they configure them, I believe installing televisions in the library will invite an element that I don’t think the library really wants to attract. Libraries have always been for resources that one can’t find at home. However, you can’t check out materials or use the public computers without a library card and you can’t apply for a library card without a place of residence. Basically, you need somewhere to live in order to check out books, but anyone can come in and read a book or the newspaper, and now anyone will be able to come in and watch TV. Before I continue… how about a quick poll?
1) How many literate people do you know read the newspaper these days?
2) How many literate people do you know that watch TV?
3) Is the answer for number 2 larger than number 1?
4) Do you think more or less people that are unable to apply for library cards because they lack a place of residence are literate?
I think you see where I am going with this.
Basically VBCL is reinventing itself so that homeless people can come in and watch TV.
Which is fine by me– they’re homeless– what else are they gonna do? Homeless people hang out at the library to get in from the weather and there is nothing wrong with it as far as I am concerned, so long as they aren’t disruptive. Here in Norfolk, the uptight locals have all but set Kirn Public Library on fire because they are terrified of the “sleeping bums.”
Dude. They’re sleeping.
(Just sayin’)
But I digress.
I understand completely the need for libraries to reinvent themselves to stay relevant in the Information Age but installing TVs just seems counter productive, especially since television is basically moving towards the back of the class and becoming old technology as far as the exchange of information is concerned. It’s a leap backwards, a big one, in my opinion and I think most tech savvy people would agree. The news can be obtained on any of the several dozen computers that can already be found in the labs.
I can’t help it wonder where the money is coming from if the city is in the middle of a hiring freeze. I am anxious to know whether or not these TVs are sponsored donations that will pump advertising into yet another institution for learning like they have been doing in public schools for years now. Let’s not go jumping to conclusions though, I was just pondering that.
But, if the TVs really have to be installed, why not put them in the lobby with the Bookmark Cafe and you’d have concept I can get behind: a cafe / lounge inside the library building but not in the work center of the library itself. They do the same thing in museums, and it makes perfect sense, but putting a television in the middle of Chrysler Museum to play the History Channel would be asinine.
What a terrible idea. That’s the sort of thing that would drive me to *stop* using the library. TVs are so damned distracting.
That whole allowing food in the library business is going to end badly too. People eat at Barnes & Noble but they have the fear that spilling something is going to end with them buying it because that is without a doubt what will happen.
Library patrons tends to sometimes act like they own the place already because they pay taxes. I don’t expect anyone will order chinese food or pizza and then have it delivered to them at the library “living room.”
My university library did this a few years ago . . . and we have a B&N sponsored bookstore (complete with Starbucks and baristas). :-/ …. but I digressed. Anyway, the inclusion of televisions and food/coffee/drink in the library met with great resistance from faculty and staff (students loved it). However, that resistance melted very very quickly. The TVs are set on CNN or MSNBC or something (can can’t be changed), and the TVs ALWAYS use closed caption . . . so there is no noise. In our case, the TVs are only in the “bristro” area that have tables and chairs. As far as I can tell, though (and I hold my office hours there sometimes), few people ever watch the TV. It’s just on in the back ground.
The rationale behind all this (as far as I know) was that students were “studying” all the time. The bistro area (with the TVs) gave them a break. They could physically get up from their study carrel or table and move to the bristro, grab some lunch, and watch the news . . . and NOT LEAVE THE BUILDING.
That last part is key, I think.
If they end up putting the TVs in with the coffee shop located in the front lobby I’d be fine with that, but I don’t believe that is what’s going to happen. Also, it seems to make a little more sense in a university environment than it does in a public library.. but even still, aren’t there TV lounges elsewhere on campus?
Academic libraries are very different from public. I can really understand and support the idea of a television in the lobby/cafe area of an academic library. A lot of those students need a break from homework and study groups. Catching up with the world outside by watching a few minutes of a local or national news broadcast is understandable to me. I don’t, however, think the nasty little man jerking off at computer station #3 in e-land needs to watch 10 minutes of channel 5 LNC to keep his hand from cramping up. Don’t get me wrong, public libraries do attract scholars and bibliophiles and we love those people. Unfortunately, we also get more than our fair share of pedophiles, bums, and runaways looking for a place to hide. I don’t have anything against homeless people coming to the library to find shelter from the cold/heat/rain. I’m actually glad they have a place to go during the day, but some of our regular homeless have a history of violence and the last thing I want is a reason for them to stay longer…and a reason to be in front of my desk all day long asking me if they can have their knife back.
I have mixed feelings about this. I am all for change and progress in public libraries, but only if the change can be done correctly in a way that benefits. I won’t go into detail about this here, but my library has a way of adopting things to modernize the library system without having the means to do everything completely and efficiently. So we start things half-assed and by the time we are in the swing of things we are already behind other systems and out of money. Such is the life of the public library. I want this to work…but first I would prefer our freakin’ self checkout and radio frequency identification system to work correctly. When that is fully functional, then we can worry about being able to track hurricanes with meteorologist Jeff Lawson on the weather segment of the news. The money is not going where it should. We are in a supposed hiring freeze and merit raises have been suspended for this fiscal year…so why in the world are we so concerned about buying living room furniture and televisions?
Heh, you said tech-savvy.