I really need to start blogging more regularly! For those of you still left reading (or even subscribed to) my blog, I apologize!
So, the title of this blog must have some wondering what it means. I read in the NYT today that the last major music store in New York City has closed. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/15/arts/music/15virgin.html. Well, I read the article and couldn’t help but wonder if there are not implications here for the library
For example, see the quotes from Tony Beliech: “Unfortunately the large retail music store is a dinosaur” and also “It does matter because it was also a social gathering space, and that’s one thing that buying music online lacks.” Yet, the store is closing.
Then there is this quote from Michael McGuire: “The Titanic that is physical media started slowly sinking in 2000. Certainly this is a traumatic event for those who worked there, but it’s an expected product of the digital transition.”
Then there is this too: “true value was not in its sales but in the real estate that its stores occupied”
Obviously there are vast differences between academic libraries and record stores. However, is there something here we can take away? What are the implications here for academic libraries?
