Libraries in a Flat World (Pt. 2)

Or, why outsourcing libraries (in totallity) probably wouldn’t be that effetive.

While Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century postulates that anything that can be outsourced will be outsourced, and my previous post explored some ways in which libraries and librarians might not be as secure from outsourcing as you would think, I am not suggesting that the idea would actually work.

Certainly parts of library service can be, and are, outsourced. We can even take a suggestion reported in LISNews from Erie County, NY to an extreme. Instead of simply not returning books to the originating branch after they are sent to a requesting branch, we could move towards a new idea Friedman explores. We could, perhaps, contract with UPS to handle all of our book routing. No need for a physical library at all…a patron can access an online catalog or call the local number to get connected to a library call center in India and place a request for a book. UPS could hold all of their books at their local processing hub, and deliver them as needed while they are making their rounds. Total cost to the taxpayers? Well…it might actually come out less. UPS, after all, has those very cool “smart labels” that go way beyond a simple barcode for managing items in transition.

So, all extremism aside, why wouldn’t this work? Well, for starters it defies one of the primary purposes and principles of a library: a safe place for information and learning. UPS is a tool, not a place. India is a place, but it is a bit far for an afternoon jaunt. Public libraries, and the “free” access to information resources they provide as a local “place,” I think may be one of the primary elements that allowed the United States to rise to the higher level that has since brought us around to talking about the flattening of the world. In other countries, informationa access for the masses has come with an increasing availability of internet access at a decreasing price. While the US has fallen behind in broadband access, libraries have always offered information at the speed of print. A bit hard to measure this, though it would be a fascinating article to read.

So how does this relate to infomancy? Infomancy, after all, is an idea…not a place. As an infomancer, I might actually be able to make better use of a fully outsourced, fully digital library. But would my neighbors?

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