I care about libraries - that's who!

Okay, so this is my first post to my first blog. Why am I bothering? Because I care about the future of libraries. If libraries are going to remain relevant in people's lives we need to start responding more readily to both their needs and desires. How many times do we create policies that are more focused on protecting our resources than serving the needs of our customers? Does your library lend out your expensive print reference materials? Probably not. Have you ever photocopied a page or two and faxed it to a customer. Yes? Good for you - and for everyone still using 1980's technology. Now, have you thought of investing in a scanner (or using the scanner you bought, but didn't know why) so you could digitize snippets of information in the reference books and push it to the customer via their email (complete with citation of course). No? I bet this is a service some of our customers would really appreciate and it could be done fairly easily and inexpensively. What are your thoughts?