Libraries and Librarians as New Producers, Markets and Tastemakers

I like definitions and appreciate how Anderson concisely explains: "A Long Tail is just culture unfiltered by economic scarcity" (p. 53). Thinking about how libraries and librarians fit into this made me think about both the differences and the similarities between libraries in the past and those of today. Whereas in the past, patrons came to the library hoping to find something they needed, nowadays they often come to use the computers and other technological resources for their own personal needs (writing their resumes, creating video games, etc.) This is one obvious way libraries now fit into the new production model. Librarians themselves also produce more today than they did back when they were merely "keepers of books" through blogging, podcasting and other informational-producing avenues.

Library collections have also been changing dramatically too with their increased emphasis on media and greater amount of digital resources, all of which exemplify the new market concept of the Long Tail in libraries. Our library just introduced a downloadable video collection called MyLibraryDV which is one of the clearest examples I've seen of this concept: why should library patrons have to wait for a copy of a dvd to be returned to the library when they can more conveniently just download it to their computers from the comfort of their own homes?

And collection development itself seems to be much more patron-focused and driven these days. Instead of asking if a library has an item, patrons today are more apt to ask for the library to "get" an item. As Anderson observes, we all are working "in an era of empowered customers" (p.99). These customers do view themselves as the "tastemakers" and want their libraries to get them the things they want (as opposed to in the past when they came and more or less chose what they "wanted" from what the library had available.)

These differences aside, however, I think that the role of librarians as "tastemakers" is one that has traditionally always been there. They have always served the essential task of filtering information which, as Anderson shows, is more crucial now in this "long-tail-onomics" world of "infinite choice" (p.52) than ever. Librarians serve as that "3rd force" and "help people find what they want in this superabundance of variety"(p.107).