Tuckahoe Village Departments

TUCKAHOE TALK
With Mayor John Fitzpatrick

People of the Kindle

December, 2009

Last week I wrote regarding moving the library to Village Hall. To give you a quick update on the feedback - one for, and one against. Not a large outcry either way, but the Town Report tends to linger in our homes and maybe some haven't read it yet. Personally, I am not convinced of the future of libraries. What I mean by the future of libraries is the form they will hold. You see, I am not sure it will be a large building filled with books in every town in America. The electronic age has delivered us devices that in nearly every way, except holding and smelling a book, may eventually prove far superior. For instance, this Kindle device is something I think I can get my hands around, and I believe the world will also. The Kindle is an electronic book developed by Amazon, but other versions have popped up like the Barnes and Noble "Nook", the Sony "Reader" and the "CyBook". Many of these can hold 1500 titles or books; are thinner than some magazines and lighter than a paperback. Shouldn't be long before the Apple people come along and corner the market; however, they already used the term "iBook" for a laptop.

Let me be clear: I'm not advocating closing libraries based on the introduction of the Kindle type device. I will say I am not convinced that a town the size of Eastchester needs three separate libraries. Aside from that, I believe the future of the building that houses books should be evolving in the same way that which holds the written word is evolving. I can see the merit to a small community reading room stocked with a limited amount of children/adult current fiction and non-fiction selections and periodicals. This type of setup could still facilitate a person being able to order a more obscure book. If you have been to the library, you already realize quite often a specific book must be ordered, since no matter how big we make our libraries they can't stock everything. So why try? We currently spend over half a million dollars to staff and stock the Tuckahoe Library.

A scaled down version could still have an employee to "shhhhhh" the general public. It would also need a few computers for research. Interestingly, most of us have no trouble seeing the computer as an integral part of the library. One would have to believe, though, that a few librarians' heads nearly exploded when videos and computers entered the sanctity of the building of books. However, the rest of us (even those of us who did research as children with books), saw the progression to the internet as sensible. Even a more dramatic change is that most families no longer need the library for research. It happens in our family room at our own computer. At this point you may be saying, "Hey, wait a minute, not everyone can afford computers, and the same will be true for an electronic book."

But as computers have become commonplace, why not believe the electronic book will be embraced similarly? For those who can't afford one, the Public Library should make some available for loan, similar to a book. For those that do own them, the library would buy a few copies of a title and offer a download of a book for a limited time, the same way one borrows a book now. The sellers of books are already banking on this catching on, since they are the ones producing these electronic devices. The Amazon version is still struggling with public use and methodology for distribution, but Sony is already working with libraries.

I intend to express my wish that our Library Board begin investigating the programs available to introduce these devices within Tuckahoe. My intentions are not to spend some money on gadgetry for the sake of modernization. I hope we can begin to contain the size of the library within our village to something more manageable. If village services cost continue to rise so steadily, the future may see the public demanding those services which are not used by all be eliminated. I don't envision a debate occurring questioning whether to have garbage pickup or a library but within all departments cuts will have to happen somewhere.

Finally, back on the electronic book: perhaps the best way to familiarize everyone would be the introduction in our schools. Imagine our children not carrying the backbreaking 500lb knapsacks of textbooks home every evening. Instead, every textbook more practically held within one device. It makes even more sense for school districts, since textbooks must be repurchased continually upon the release of an updated edition. Or we could be purchasing one copyrighted master copy in a downloadable version and then uploading to each student's device. Certainly the printing and trucking of millions of copies of text books all over the country is advantageous and job creating for publishers, printers and truck drivers. But is it sensible? I may be alone in this belief, but the pack mule ritual for our children is not a rite of passage.