Libraries & Long Tail

Is the library world as a whole ready to benefit from Long Tail? Maybe.

I think librarians have known for a long time about the so-called ‘niche’ market, because they know their constituency. And to an extent, libraries already practice some elements of the Long Tail strategies discussed in the reading. For example, when libraries work as a consortium to buy bundled electronic journals for their patron’s use, they create access to a multitude of resources, save shelf space, and lower costs. Libraries have also offered podcasts and ‘rentable’ iPods, sparing some CD and DVD space while offering patrons a unique service.

But books are still an issue: the reason people come to the library, and the reason storage space is a problem. Libraries would need to adopt the same virtual shelving as Amazon, the same delivery system as Netflix, and the same downloadable service as iTunes to continue to serve growing Long Tail constituencies. They would largely need to rid themselves of objects, or rid themselves of the concept of ‘perpetually held’ objects. I am not saying that it could not work, or that discrete parts of discrete libraries do not make parts of this work already. But it would be tough to ask an archivist to reconfigure their special collection in this way. On the other hand, less space needed for books, more space available for archives… Could be a selling point!

We’re already reconfiguring what it means to be a librarian, and what it is we’re talking about when we talk about a library in 2008. Could we see the emergence of the library ‘superstore’? What will that look like?