Magnetic Tape, We Hardly Knew Ye

At my major Midwest library, the death rattle of VHS echoes hauntingly. Oh sure, we still own a handful, but we yanked the format's feeding tube (i.e. funding) and signed its Do Not Resuscitate order nearly four years ago. Two years ago Variety ran an obituary: VHS, 30, Dies of Loneliness.

At best, our remaining analog formats have moved to hospice. Books on cassette have finally gone the way of the 8-track according to Andrew Adam Newman in this recent New York Times article. When Detroit ditched auto tape players in the new millenium, the audio cassette's demise was assured.

Tape may be the last medium completely supplanted by others, those being the DVD and CD. We're seeing the genesis of a marketplace where many delivery systems, including disc/streaming on demand/downloads, comfortably and profitably co-exist. Future library material acquisition models are likely to look like nothing in use today.

If only I had a crystal ball - I could retire a wealthy man.

Pay No Attention to the Blogger Behind the Curtain

Let's get this party started! The purpose of this blog is:

• To encourage participation by all peoples interested in non-print media in libraries.
• To examine defunct library media so that the decisions we make today are well-informed.
• To discuss the present challenges of analyzing, managing and modernizing media collections.
• To look toward the future of consumer media, DRM, online distribution models, copyright/permissions issues, etc. and their impact of library media acquisiton and management.
• To confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my sister and brother library media wizards.

I leave the highly technical IT aspects of media librarianship to other bloggers and to those who wish to comment. I plan to update once a week, more often if I can.