Public libraries, much like the Post Office, are beset by questions like "Does anyone use that?", "Isn't print dead?" and "Doesn't private for-profit enterprise do everything better?" And while those are all good test questions with intricate answers, the askers tend to get self-satisfied and leave the room before anyone else even starts to answer.
There are also stretches - without any NGOs or foundations to help run a libraray. This seems especially true in the red states, which are also of course the places most resistant to taxation for public projects.
Which is to say that Mellow Pages seems like a great idea. I mean, it's cool in New York, but it may well turn out to be necessary in other places.
Like the name, too. Has a certain Zap Comix air.
2 comments:
I just read the whole article and although I wouldn't have the energy required to do that myself - or the picture taking, tagging, social networking part of it - the concept sounds wonderful. The other one I read about a while back is called The Little Free Library. Whatever can get real books into people's hands has got to be a good thing.
It does seem to be a high-energy undertaking, which is why I would need some kind of support system if I were going to try it myself. I like the looks of the Little Free Library. It seems scrappy.
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