The Long Tail and Libraries

Wow, what an interesting read Anderson's The Long Tail has been so far! More than just explaining an economic phenomenon, his insights paint a vivid picture of what our cultural landscape has become in the 21st century.

I found it ironic to be reading this book now, when I've finally (after over a year) gotten the hang of weeding in our library. Until very recently, I absolutely hated the task, and wondered if I would make a better archivist than librarian since I preferred to keep books rather than discard them. Without even knowing what it was, I had "the long tail" in mind, thinking, "Someone might need or want to read this someday," each time I sentenced a book to the weeding cart. The public library where I work definitely espouses more of a "hit driven" collection development policy: acquiring 20+ copies of all the most recently released DVD's and bestselling books because they circulate.

With this in mind, when I first started Anderson's book earlier in the week, I initially felt that our library didn't quite "fit in" with the long tail concept. As I read more, however, I began to think otherwise. Perhaps re-reading Steve's question helped me broaden my vision. He asked about "the library world as a whole" which made me realize that our particular library serves the particular niche of our community in mostly satisfying their entertainment needs (and, as Anderson observes, ours is now a niche-driven culture.) Academic and school libraries serve other purposes for their users. Now more than ever, it seems important for libraries to have mission statements that define their purposes. I think all libraries could truly benefit from the long tail concept by doing this, and then working together with all the other different libraries in their state or consortium to ensure that all the various "niches" are filled.