It seems the future of libraries, particularly public, is dependent on sponsorship and partnerships. However, it also seems to be a double-edged sword, where the benefits of such arrangements could also cause harm to the parties involved.
Most recently, the British Library is under fire for including a link to Amazon in its catalogue. The link takes the user to the matching record on Amazon, where they can then purchase the item.
Unsurprisingly, the furore has not arisen over having a link to a bookseller, but that “a very British institution is driving readers away from local libraries and high street bookshops…… ………..it is a shame that the British Library choose to give their endorsement to one aggressively commercial organisation.” (James Daunt – Managing Director Waterstone – as quoted in the Bookseller.com)
British Library responded that is was generic to their Primo product, but took it down briefly in response to criticism and for review. It was reinstated days later, with a statement from British Library saying it had done so “with the aim of providing users with the choice of an alternative method of obtaining a title if, for some reason, it is not available in the Library’s Reading Rooms. It also offered users a rich source of additional information for many titles (book jacket images, contents pages etc) that supplemented the data the Library itself was able to provide.” (British Library reinstates Amazon Link – The Bookseller.com. They also noted that they did not receive anything from Amazon for this.
Many library catalogues have the functionality to enable users to pursue their search outside the immediate local library. My library is part of a consortia of 15 Victorian public libraries, so our link takes it to the next option, which is to search all Victorian public libraries via LibLink.
Does your library catalogue have such a link? Where does it link to? As nothing changes hands, is this a form of sponsorship or partnership? Should libraries have such arrangements, either compensated or not? Only public libraries or all? Would love to read your take on this situation.
