Coffeemakers and E-Readers

Imagine this scene: You’re sitting in the local Starbucks enjoying your cappuccino and checking email on your iPad when in walks a woman with a coffeemaker. She approaches the cash register, plops her coffeemaker on the counter and tells the barista, “I got this coffeemaker for Christmas. I don’t have a clue how to use it. Can you show me what to do with it?” I can only guess at what the barista would say (likely something akin to “Contact the coffeemaker manufacturer” or “We sell coffee; we don’t deal with coffeemakers”). A humorous and highly unlikely scenario, don’t you think?

Picture another scene: You're sitting in the local public library perusing the new arrivals, when a woman walks in with an e-reader. She approaches the reference desk, plops her e-reader (still in the box, I might add) on the counter and tells the librarian, “I got this e-reader for Christmas. I don’t have a clue how to use it. Can you show me what to do with it?” And do you know what that librarian says? “Absolutely! Let me see what information I can get for you to help you learn how to download books.” Then step-by-step, the librarian will walk the e-reader owner through the process of accessing, downloading and reading an e-book.

Why is one scene so incredible that it’s difficult to imagine, yet the other scene is so commonplace that it’s happening countless times a day in public libraries all across the nation and no one finds it a strange occurrence? I recently saw a library-related quote that said something to this effect: “The Internet and e-books and all these things that were supposed to put libraries out of business have only made libraries busier.”