DVDs

It's interesting to me that the Lenox (IL) Public Library District has decided to drop their two-dollar fee for borrowing DVDs, saying that rental had dropped eighty percent.

From what I have heard, this is fairly typical of what's going on in public libraries across the country. Free DVDs will help the circulation figures of most libraries since they are already a whopping percentage of the total circulation.

What's going on? Well, the whole area of DVDs in American life has changed. The Redbox installation outside 7-Elevens and McDonald's gives you a DVD for only a dollar overnight. (I suspect they make their money charging customers who keep their DVDs longer more money.) Netflix gives you all the movies you can watch for about ten dollars a month. And cable sells you pretty new movies at a couple of dollars which you can watch any time if you have a DVR, right?

So the march of technology goes on: It wasn't so long ago that libraries were charging for videotapes, but they are long gone now. The only place I see videotapes is in flea markets - cheap.

I suspect that the end is in sight for DVDs. What will substitute for them is not clear, but technology is changing so fast that the only thing certain is change.

Maybe the obsolescence of DVDs is merely the precursor of the demise of the printed book in favor of the e-book. Then what will be in the library building? Computers for those who can't afford the high cost of connecting to the Internet?