Whyos

Bijan Sabet followed up a tweet pondering the future of libraries with a post including the feedback he had received. Some of the responses were interesting visions, while  some simply crowed the death of the printed word as the end of libraries. A fair amount of what I’ve been called upon to do since 2001 is evaluation of how physical retail can continue to have value in a world of digital distribution. -I dealt with this specifically as VP of Business at Electronics Boutique, and since then in a consulting role for various initiatives. Amusingly, the redundancy of libraries and of video game retail stores ends up being sort of the same issue at this point in history:

Both rely for now on the lack of  universally available connectivity or hardware to combine with the lack of a universally compelling business model, to drive certain specific users to their locations. -Neither is yet broadly enabling under a new philosophical reason for existing. But, as Bijan’s posters note, in fairly short term, the barriers will indeed fall in both of these situations. This leaves, in the case of game specialty retailers, thousands of high traffic locations and a brand well known to a lucrative demogaphic, that, for appropriate shareholder value, really should/must have value beyond the place where boxes are moved. And, in the case of libraries, an important social asset that goes beyond simply being the place where users get books, to being a safe place for kids, and an important safety net.

Both are gathering places for youth, and for each the medium should be secondary. Kids will always draw together physically, no matter what they have in the way of online media, both because there’s a basic human need for proximity and because their homes won’t always be safe, useful places for them. That doesn’t mean that they’ll be buying discs or checking out books. So, the question is; what do you do with your physical space to make it useful?

Connectivity is good, combined with a physical space from which kids won’t be ejected. -Although, given the ever-changing nature of connectivity, and the promise of ubiquitous 3G and beyond, proximity-based connectivity is a transient benefit. In a mall, store managers will often switch off interactive kiosks (gameconsole demo machines), in order to keep kids from dawdling; this is the wrong approach. Stores should create and use in-store technology that keeps employees part of the physical and online community. Growing social aspects of retail beyond anything yet seen, is what would save a GameStop. As they stand, relying on logistics to enable massive, very fast distribution of soon-to-be redundant media, they are an elephant, but they could fairly easily be something significant that won’t lose value in the new environment.

Libraries are a bit similar; their masters often think of them simply as places that hold books, and see the end of physical books as the end of library value. But they are a critically important place for youth, and as importantly, they create an alternate distibution model for knowledge in our society, which is not a bad thing. If libraries take as a starting point those two elements, there are a hell of a lot of useful forms they could take. Even at the most primitive concept of being on one hand a place for people to borrow kindles (or perhaps an open licensed e-reader) and load them up with content, and on the other a quiet place to study and take in face to face education.

If libraries or physical game presence die over the next few years, it won’t be because it’s inevitable, it’ll be because the people behind them lack the vision (or funds, in the case of libraries) to take a necessary next step to something even better for a new era.