Missoula Public Library Processes Last Book Ever!

Our technical services staff finished cataloging and processing the last physical copy of a book the library will ever buy today. As they put the finishing touches on Nora Robert's upcoming novel Vision in White a collective sigh was heard throughout the library. The book will be available on April 28th and will be the last "book" added to the library's collection.

(Original photo by flickr user John Pastor. Some Rights Reserved.)

Missoula Public Library has decided to move to purely digital copies, also known as e-books, of both new and classic titles. Patrons will be able to download the titles onto devices like Amazon's Kindle (seen above) or Apple's iPhone. This will allow our patrons to virtually browse our shelves from home and avoid long checkout lines. Physical copies of our books will be gradually phased out to make room for more Internet access computers, e-book download stations and a vast expansion of Entertainment Central's DVD collection.

Also slated to be phased out will be Books on Tape and Books on CD. They will be available only as mp3s from our download stations.

Blast From the (Library) Past

Check out this amazing post-apocalyptic video to teach kids about the library. I like that the female lead is known as "Ms. Bookcart." This is just the first in a series of videos that were apparently shown in Mississippi on the Public Broadcast network there.



courtesy of boing boing.