I sure hope they never stop printing them.
At 20/25 Km/h (comfortable biking speed on a suitable terrain) you just need enough people within a 25 Km radius to provide the necessary demand for the library's services. At the average population density of the EU, that holds about 175k people. Can the last politician to go out the revolving door please turn the lights off?
How many books a library does have? Assuming two books borrowed per person at any time, that's 350k books out at any time, plus say a similar number in stock (many copies of each book).
This system encompasses the whole of Sweden (lots of rural areas) and while built on a backbone of traditional libraries, at least one in each kommun (municipality and surrounding area, closest translated with county) it also has bookbuses and other ways of reaching the population.
I do not see libraries as a thing of the past. Books are a very popular format. A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!
Another problem is that public libraries are already labelled as thieves by authors those days so if you scale up it will get worse intellectual property lobbying wise.
Any author that makes that argument instantly loses my respect. Can the last politician to go out the revolving door please turn the lights off?
http://www.freescape.eu.org/biblio/article.php3?id_article=92
Mourir plus vite Mis en ligne le jeudi 9 mars 2000. Nos éditeurs nous sollicitent avec insistance pour signer une lettre, dont les auteurs ne sont pas à l'initiative : refuser le prêt de nos livres en bibliothèques tant que n'est pas instauré leur prêt payant. [...] Refuser le prêt de nos livres en bibliothèque, mais quel ridicule : juste comme vouloir mourir plus vite.
Nos éditeurs nous sollicitent avec insistance pour signer une lettre, dont les auteurs ne sont pas à l'initiative : refuser le prêt de nos livres en bibliothèques tant que n'est pas instauré leur prêt payant. [...] Refuser le prêt de nos livres en bibliothèque, mais quel ridicule : juste comme vouloir mourir plus vite.
you are the media you consume.
I really should list and sell them...
