Internet Desintation

Needing a break from the computer and my cube, I was browsing the “New Non-Fiction” section of the branch upstairs and ran across this:

The Rough Guide to MySpace and Online Communications

I ran to the info desk, grabbed a scrap of paper and a golf pencil and wrote:

Rough Guide to MySpace… Travel / destination guides. Internet as destination.

Which reminded me of David Lee King’s post about the Library not as destination but as providing ACCESS to the destination (which would be whatever is out there on the internet).

I started having rough-around-the-edges thoughts about the Product > Service > Experience shift that libraries need to go through (I thought I had posted about that before, but I can’t find it). If we’re not the destination, if our books (or the plots in them) and the internet are the destination, we need to rise to the level of Experience (Starbucks… Build-a-Bear) rather than revel around in the Service (Dunkin Donuts) arena. They’re (customers) aren’t coming to us for us. They’re coming to us for our access to other stuff. Other destinations.

It’s all very fuzzy at the moment as it’s 4pm and I still have 2 hours of work left but my energy is starting to falter so please help me by commenting. What do you think about the role of libraries in the future? Now? Where should we ALL be? How are we ALL going to get there?

In other News: Here are some of my favorite Rough Guide titles (just browsing through the listings): Babies. Ethical Living. Superheros. Playlists. Genes and Cloning.