I wrote one of the reports that Richard mentioned. It is called ‘Changing technologies, changing business models: a challenge for public libraries’. It is available from www.kenchadconsulting.com and is my response to John Dolan’s ‘Blueprint’
I believe that the particular challenge I describe that wasn’t really addressed in previous reports, and not highlighted by Richard, is that libraries (not just public libraries either) now have increasing competition from free or very low cost global web based “library services”. So not only can it be more convenient to get a book from AbeBooks or Amazon it can actually be cheaper than the notionally free public library. And that’s just books…let’s not even go yet into the realm of digital content.
Libraries need to scale up if they are to compete with these global services, and I agree with you and Richard that it’s hard to see where the leadership will come from to make that happen. The MLA is only England anyway and we need at least a UK service.
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