The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.....William Blake

Bob wrote:This is all nothing more than just another part of the digital/electronic technology revolution debate.
The question of whether we still need libraries with printed books is the same question as do we still need print versions of newspapers. Or do we still need movie theaters to exhibit movies. Or do we still need a landline telephone. Or do we still need a Shopper paper for classified advertising.
The answer is that we are in transition. There is still a place for all of those things but they are all gradually losing ground. And with enough time it will all go the way of the horse and buggy.

Just remember when you let that happen. Millions more jobs will be lost. Think back on the thread I made about "technology killing us".

and then I want you to think forward a hundred years from now. To a society that has all of its information in a sky box account. All your finances, no hard books excist, only from your sky box account. All your childrens photos sit in a little electronic mini picture frame that automaticaly flips the page every 2 seconds. Thn I want you to imagine that all of your data, everything bout you is known to the gov and the advertisers who have bots that stream through your personal data everyday and send you little advertising messages in your sunglasses, on your tv all directed specifically at you, for you. Then I want you to imagine that something happens and the power grid and the satelite are GONE. None of your electronic gadgets work, all your electronic wall photos, blank. No access to your funds, no access to any outside information other than your neighbors. Nothing.

And before you imagine all of that. Imagine a full scale war of the worlds. Because in order for a society like that to arrise, the society will have to give up every single ounce of freedom it has.

all those gadgets I just spoke about. they are already invented. And through the deguise of free market advertisment, access to our personal information has been sold ad is used for more than just telling us we really want to eat a bacon cheeseburger.

Hallmark,

If the libraries are providing something of good value to people that they cannot get from a computer and internet connection, then libraries have the potential to survive.
Exactly the same analogy applies with movie theaters. We can watch first run movies on tv at home but many still enjoy the theater experience.
As long as enough people want to continue to have what a library provides for them, and as long as enough people want to continue to have what a movie theater provides for them, then both will survive.

But if more and more of those people get like me, they won't survive.
For most of my life I used to visit a library every week. I rotated between the public library, PJC and UWF.
And for most of my life, I was a regular customer of movie theaters.
Today, I might visit a movie theater once a month. And a library once a year.
And I just stopped my print edition of the newspaper for the last time.
And I haven't had a landline telephone for 4 years.

But if I'm outnumbered and more people want to continue to utilize all those things then that's fine with me.

I go to a movie once every 6 months.....I used to go about once every two weeks. I go to a library once a year......I used to go daily. I used to go to a travel agent once a month......I have not been to a travel agent in 15 years......I used to call a broker to make a trade once a week........It has been five years since I have spoken to a broker.

I have no problem with updating a library which is scaled for the future, but the real concern is the library has just become a travel agent which just expanded its square footage 26k square feet and has to pay 200k a year to maintain that extra space, all while there own stats show drop in useage of meeting rooms and less books being checked out to the Public. Very efficient libraries are serving communities in the 10k foot range. I have an architect friend who is building libraries and they have finally wised up to the scale as the debate which has been active in this nation never even raised its head in Pensacola because......well some things are better not said, but a town which poured money into good old boyz four color print brochures for the last decade, and then gets some BP money and utilizes the internet and TV and radio in select markets.....and boom.....huge increase in visitors......no, there is a power elite who want show....not go.....so the kid in Century who has just seen their access cut by a third.....nope this is a very timely discussion, and the idea that it is built does not address the concept I am talking about at all......the paradigm is still broken.

not all houses have internet and thier very own computer.

Now, the big picture......we are pouring money down the rabbit hole of public safety, and now the library......yet we cannot put a central monitoring internet connection in every home and business in the county......this is the discussion which must precede opening the world to every child in America, and proper curriculum in our schools to teach mastery of the portals to knowledge.....rather than going to the grand palace of OZ where someone sits behind a curtain helping us find the magic of knowledge....

Wizard of Oz: You, my friend, are a victim of disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate impression that just because you run away you have no courage; you're confusing courage with wisdom.


so again....our excess with this library will eventually lead to the palace of wisdom, and we will focus on training, curriculum, and true delivery of internet to every child in America with structure and the key to knowledge.

For years any time we had said anything about the CMPA we have heard the term "Multiplier effect" Money spent here will affect others in the same area. We used the publics money to do this. Why is the Library any different?


Because the Library has a much more important primary impact than measuring the secondary impact. The primary impact is to enrich the citizens of a community with the love of knowledge and the means to acquire the same. When this is accomplished, you are so very right that the community has a huge secondary benefit of economic growth. Companies want a well educated work force, and productivity is enhanced by the same.

However, to fail in the primary mission, and to actually go backwards.....well the secondary impact will also fail. If children do not have curriculum changes which focus on teaching the skills to allow every child to succeed, and if we do not bring the world to each child.....we can debate this failure arguing about the size of the barn to house the horse and buggy.......but other nations realize that the auto has arrived, and they are building to prepare their children for our brave new world.

Even though seaoat and hallmark don't agree with each other, I agree with both.
Like hallmark, I'm skeptical of the decision local government made on how to utilize that waterfront property. I think the CMP is going to turn into a white elephant.
Like seaoat, I'm skeptical of the wisdom of local government in it's approach to spending money on the library.

In short, I'm just skeptical period. lol

Good point Mr Bob. I wonder why Mr Oats did not just watch "Lincoln" on his Kindle instead of going to a large, at times under used, Movie theater?


I am starting to watch movies on my laptop, but more importantly I am watching my favorite HBO series on my laptop.......they have this free download capability of all the HBO series if you are a current subscriber. I am watching Deadwood, Sopranos, Curb, Boardwalk, and many movies right on my laptop. I actually am falling asleep with the laptop in my chair watching old series. I cannot get enough of Curb.....the episodes get better on the third viewing.........so the rabbit ears in the living room, the commercials, and the limited choice has been replaced by instant access to my favorite shows over the last decade.....the times they are a changing......

I actually am falling asleep with the laptop in my chair watching old series. I

Damn!!! That does sound like fun. Party on !!!!