Any long-time readers of Journerdism know that libraries have had a huge influence on my life. Regular weekly trips to the atheneum with my mom and brother are what laid the foundation for my interest in journalism. I believe libraries are crucial, community institutions that at their best help those with the hustle and energy to rise up and overcome to be anything they want in life. This sharing and freedom of information is also why the Internet is — I believe — a right all people should be guaranteed and why new technological tools with open development platforms like Android make my heart flutter.

Jason Perlow of ZDNet’s Tech Broiler blog wrote an interesting piece last week, “Digital Underclass: What Happens When Libraries Die?”

Within 20 years, perhaps even as few as 10, virtually almost all forms of popular consumable written media will be distributed exclusively in an electronic format. While there are clear advantages to digital media, such as the instantaneous purchase and delivery of that content, elimination of book shortages at bookstores as well as the obvious portability benefits, it has a sociological impact that many have not considered — which is that the “Have Nots” of society may find themselves denied access to an entire range of content they enjoyed previously with the printed book, newspaper or magazine.

What I’m talking about of course is the Public Library. You know, those big, quiet buildings in your town filled with shelves of books, card catalogs, and librarians to help you find that material. In a fully digital society, we won’t need Public Libraries anymore. They won’t be cost effective, and there will be far less new printed books, magazines and newspapers being released to stock these libraries with.

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In the last several hundred years, Public Libraries have been a cornerstone of having a literate society, and it’s something that many consider to be a basic human right — free access to books and information, paid by the state and local governments from our collective tax dollars. In contrast, most e-Book and digital media consumption requires a personal outlay of funds.

This week Perlow published a reader response from Andy Woodworth, “a New Jersey-based Librarian and Library Advocate who authors the Agnostic, Maybe blog” entitled, “Digital Underclass: Libraries Aren’t Dead Yet. Woodworth confesses he doesn’t know what will happen with eBook licensing from publishers:

The current bottom line when it comes to libraries and ebooks is that the options are limited. There are only a few companies (one by the name of Overdrive) that deal in the business of ebook lending services for libraries to offer their customers. With some of the limitations that have been listed above, this creates its own special quagmire for ebooks.

None of the ereader companies nor any of the ebook sellers have come to the table with libraries about using their devices or their content. To be perfectly honest, right now there is little incentive for them to do so. Personally, I think it is a matter of time as the ebook market develops and finds itself or when those companies start looking for additional revenue streams or when their customers start demanding it.

In his letter, Woodworth points to an interesting 50-minute documentary on a Darien Public Library in the 20,000-person town of Darien, Connecticut, a nationally-recognized library, and he asserts:

The reason that this has reached to the hearts of the community is that it is completely people oriented: the library staff members work hard to make the connection between the customer and the information or material that is sought. The library of the past is no longer an information gatekeeper, but now an information launch point. The enormous increase in the amount of information that is available to an individual will increase (not decrease) the need for librarians and other information professionals.

It’s an interesting film and there’s a lot of parallels to the transition that newspapers are going through switching from “information gatekeepers to information launch points.” The film discusses about how important it was for the library’s transition to embrace technology, openness, building community and “extreme customer service.”

Sounds kind of familiar.