Oyzon, Joanna

Zaleski, A. (2018, February 10). The CD is dead? Not so fast. Salon. Retrieved from: https://www.salon.com/2018/02/10/the-cd-is-dead-not-so-fast/

Two huge retailers, Target and Best Buy, are reevaluating their compact disc sales strategies. Target wants to pay music labels only for what is sold (instead of buying CDs upfront and then returning them for credit). Best Buy, in an even bigger move, has decided to stop selling CDs as of July 1. CD sales have been slipping for years (as vinyl record sales have increased). However, streaming still dominates. As Zaleski states, "On-demand audio and video streams sales increased 43% to 618 billion. Physical and digital album sales, meanwhile, decreased 17.7 percent, to 169.15 million, " (2018). However, she believes compact discs will still be used by those without a solid internet connection and people who prefer stability in their music collection.

I am not surprised that CDs are decreasing in popularity. I don't remember the last time I bought a physical CD, and I have been using streaming services (Google Play, Spotify and now Amazon) for years now.  But... I've also got a library of my own music from my decades-long music buying days that I have digitized back when the iPod was popular. When I listen to new music I like, I'm able to listen to it for while... until it disappears from the streaming catalog, then I buy it digitally. Hoopla is a streaming service that is in use by libraries, but it doesn't have everything. For example, I just searched for Radiohead. There where no albums. So unless you want to hear a karaoke or a piano tribute to Radiohead, you're out of luck. In the future, when digital and streaming are much more dependable than they are now, I see libraries no longer having physical CD collections. Currently though, if having a stable music collection with breadth that is usable by people without a solid internet collection is important to a library, then physical CDs are the way to go.

Posted by Jenny Cofell
'Changing Needs, Changing Roles'

Thompson, J. (Spring 2015).  Changing needs, changing roles:  How public libraries are expanding traditional service models to best serve their communities.  Reference & User Services Quarterly, 54(3), 2 – 5.

Summary:  This article talks about trends that are impacting reference and user services in public libraries and then highlighting creative ways that libraries are coping with these trends positively.  The three main trends are listed as follows:  Data explosion, Digital divide and Early Learning Initiatives.

For all three trends, libraries are well positioned to develop partnerships, as well as provide information, materials, and programs to help communities make sense of, and thrive within their communities.  Successful libraries of the future will need to become these 4 things within the community:  Developers of Partnerships (STEAM), Content creators (Innovation Labs), Early Learning champions (Preliteracy programs and Material Advisors (Reading Clubs).  Collections need to become broader and include materials that support partnerships, content creators, early learners and material advisors.

Evaluation:  The idea of Early Learning as a trend in libraries was interesting to me.  At my library we do tons of this already.  We know that strong preliteracy skills in children help them to succeed in their academic career.  What I hadn’t thought is the positive effect strong preliteracy skills have on a community.  In this article we read, “This is also a workforce and economic development issue because an educated community is better prepared to innovate and address the challenges of the twenty-first century.”  (p.3).   I also appreciated the idea of libraries as ‘content creators’ and ‘material advisors’.