"Who now remembers that a program called WordStar once had 70% of the word processing market for personal computers or, for that matter, that the CD-ROM was once effortlessly going to replace children’s storybooks? Formats and applications rarely last for long; it is copyrights that endure, first in bookstores while copyright pertains, then in libraries."

"Seventy percent of libraries said there aren't enough computer terminals during peak periods, while another 16 percent said there's always a shortage. Shortages are most common in high-poverty and urban areas…."

"Why, oh why, have librarians not been busy building recommender systems for their collections? Can't some clever people build one that sits on top of the silo known as the OPAC? Wouldn't it be a very good thing to suggest other, less popular, books to all those Da Vinci Code readers that may provide them with other views? Wouldn't this drive library users further down The Long Tails of libraries' extremely valuable but underused collections?

And why wasn't it one of our bookish tribe who came up with this?

There can be few things more gratifying in life than finding a kindred spirit; someone who sees the world as we do, who enjoys the same intellectual challenges, who smiles at the same funny side of life. It’s something we all yearn for and yet, as we tunnel between work and family commitments, it’s often difficult to meet people beyond our immediate circle, let alone someone with whom we can have a meaningful conversation.

The days of such intellectual isolation may be over thanks to ConnectViaBooks, a brand new Web site which allows people to meet kindred spirits in the safe and culturally neutral setting of cyberspace. As the name implies, these encounters are forged through a shared love of books."

"...I think we’d be better off to just utterly erase our existing [library] catalogs and forget about backwards-compatibility, lock all the vendors and librarians and scholars together in a room, and make them hammer out electronic research tools that are Amazon-plus, Amazon without the intent to sell books but with the intent of guiding users of all kinds to the books and articles and materials that they ought to find, a catalog that is a partner rather than an obstacle in the making and tracking of knowledge."

“Today in Georgia the PINES integrated library system allows 44 regional library systems with 251 individual facilities to act as one library, constantly moving materials about in response to direct, patron-placed holds. Having an item is no longer the hallmark of readily available library service. Stretching dollars for materials now involves knowing how best to provide something to a patron on demand, no matter where it originates. In this paradigm, the transaction is more important than the local collection.”

“If I could wave a magic wand over libraries and make just one change, I would eliminate overdue fines. Is there any library practice that symbolizes the stereotype of librarians more than the overdue fine? If you are worried about loss, do what NetFlix does: the customer can keep the item as long as she wants, but she doesn't get any more until that item (or items, depending on the library's policy) is returned. My guess is that a donation box at the circ desk would end up returning more revenue than the 10 cents here and $2 there we get from fines anyway.”

"The Whatcom Public Library System stood up to an FBI request for circulation records on an Osama bin Laden biography. As reported by the director, Joan Airoldi, the Whatcom Public Library could do so because the FBI did not invoke the Patriot Act. The Airoldi story is cautionary, not one of defiance or civil disobedience."