It's not often I think "librarians are way out in front of this trend!"
We've been crazy about privacy and "digital ethics" (though I'm not sure we've ever used that phrase) forever, or at least as long as I've been a librarian.
Attorney General John Ashcroft actually picked a fight with the ALA years ago over this kind of thing because of the PATRIOT act.
Really? In my country libraries did audiobooks before everyone except for audible. They did movie streaming before everyone, including Netflix. They digitised the way you order, rent and pick up books in a way that'd put most digital retail to shame, and they did it before 2010.
They're almost exclusively open source, and they corporate across their sector to build and use the same standards, even though their management is as split up as everything else. I mean, I work in a muniplacity and we can't even agree to buy a standard component for our intranet even tough we're mainly looking for a new intranet because the old non-standardised component can't be upgraded, and meanwhile, the libraries across the country have developed and adopted universal standards for almost everything they do...
Libraries did service design and user based fail fast methods before anyone else, and I think they're still one of the few business to actually succeed at it.
They're really, really bad at marketing their successes though. Remember that movie streaming thing I talked about in the beginning? Well, almost nobody knows it exists. I bet, that none of the Danes who read this post will have ever heard about http://biblioteket.filmstriben.dk .
That's really fucking cool! Does it work by "checking out" the movie while it's being watched, then "checking in" when it's done?
I could see a system like this working in the US if there was the funding for it. The library systems in the US have made pretty great strides in modernizing their offerings lately, lots of ebooks, lots of downloadable audiobooks. Unfortunately, much of it is closed source and driven by a company called OverDrive. It would be really cool to see a digital library revolution in the US.
Anyway, libraries are dope. They need more support.
My first job was in a library (shelving books), and I gained a huge appreciation for what they do and what they offer. I suspect a lot of people don't even realize what a good library system makes possible.
In my town, our library buys upwards of 25 copies of major new movies, it might not be available as quickly as Redbox when the demand is high, but it's free. Our libraries have 3D printers that residents can use, and even workspaces intended for startups to be able to work on launching their business from. A huge perk is that any resident can use these resources, regardless of income level, libraries are a huge balancing factor for people who can't afford to buy their own movies and books.
There's access to online rental/streaming of books, music, movies, comics, etc. They even have a program which gets you discounts in various local stores and restaurants from presenting your library card.
As you said, libraries have always been on the forefront of privacy, I recall many a time hearing about how checkout history simply wasn't kept, and how hard libraries fought to avoid disclosing to law enforcement even what materials people currently had checked out. I think their site now does have a feature where you can track history, because it was a really common patron request, but it's distinctly opt-in, you have to want it and actually go in and enable it yourself.
We've been crazy about privacy and "digital ethics" (though I'm not sure we've ever used that phrase) forever, or at least as long as I've been a librarian.
Attorney General John Ashcroft actually picked a fight with the ALA years ago over this kind of thing because of the PATRIOT act.