I see where you’re coming from for sure but still think it is a valuable thought experiment. What if a library stopped housing a vast amount of content anymore? They could buy multiple copies of select content and create amazing programming around it. Community members could vote on what gets selected and have access to order 5 books/year for themselves.

How many libraries need to be doing original cataloging? [thx, Alan]

How many people are using expensive databases? Could public libraries partner with Universities for access?

I’m not necessarily advocating for any of these things, but I do believe that with limited resources, library *must* do less if they want to do some things with excellence. Tough choices to be sure, but they’d be growing pains.

I’m trying to imagine what you are pondering and to be honest, it seems kinda dull. At least from my perspective coming from a smallish library, if we cut half our services, we would go back to being not much more than a storehouse for books.