" Still, it
seems that B&T's approach is heavily influenced by software
licencing ("one copy one use").
But, there is an underlying, fundamental incompatibility
between the Internet and the library. They are competitors.
One vitiates the other. Free Internet access and e-book
reading devices in libraries notwithstanding - the Internet,
unless harnessed and integrated by libraries, threatens their
very existence by depriving them of patrons. Libraries, in
turn, threaten the budding software industry we, misleadingly,
call "e-publishing".
There are major operational and philosophical differences
between physical and virtual libraries. The former are based
on the tried and proven technology of print. The latter on the
chaos we know as cyberspace and on user-averse technologies
developed by geeks and nerds, rather than by marketers, users,
and librarians.
Physical libraries enjoy great advantages, not the least being
their habit-forming head start (2,500 years of first mover
advantage). Libraries are hubs of social interaction and
entertainment (the way cinemas used to be).
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