[Web4lib] Paperless society

[Havens,Andy]

On a related (for very large values of "related") note...

A blog pal of mine, Douglas Galbi, a senior economist at the FCC, has
written some great stuff around library circ data. One of the areas he's
been looking at that seems very interesting to me is that of AV library
use.

He notes here:
http://purplemotes.net/2007/06/24/print-down-slightly-video-up-sharply/

that print circ in Boston Public libraries is down slightly, while audio
and visual materials circ is up. 

In another post:
http://purplemotes.net/2007/06/10/library-users-like-audiovisuals/

he makes note of various studies that come down on a number near 20% as
a percentage of circ for video, and 25-35% for all AV combined.

And Douglas points out here:
http://purplemotes.net/2007/08/19/public-libraries-outperformed-video-re
ntal-businesses/

that libraries, in terms of percentage growth, outperformed the video
rental biz from 1985-2004. 

What does this have to do with the decline of paper? Well, I don't think
it's just the decline of paper, it's the ascendence of digital delivery
of all media. People ain't filling up their iPods with old CD's as much
anymore, they're getting songs right from the Web-hose. As far as online
video is concerned, ComScore has been tracking it for more than a year
now. The latest:

http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2051

Including growth from last year: "Online viewers watched an average of
3.4 hours (203 minutes) of online video during the month, representing a
34-percent gain since the beginning of 2007."

So... What portion of library users' AV needs/wants are now being met
directly on the Web? Between free content on the Web (YouTube, etc), and
Netflix offering a download service, there are more free and/or
convenient options coming fast. 

Paper, celluloid, plastic (or whatever those DVD's are made of)... It's
moving onto (or streaming from) the Web.



- A
Andy Havens
OCLC: Manager, Branding and Creative Services

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of K.G. Schneider
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 10:28 AM
To: web4lib
Cc: web4lib
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Paperless society

I always hate to break up a good discussion with the facts. However,
paper generation has been rising for over four decades. In the United
States, 1995-2005 showed a slowing trend, but not a reversal. This is in
keeping with the Times' statement that worldwide, paper usage has
"plateaued." 

See:

http://www.epa.gov/garbage/pubs/mswchar05.pdf p. 38 and passim

Note that books are a very small percentage of the total paper waste --
on a par with grocery bags (p. 37, table 4). Corrugated paper (as in
boxes) is *huge* -- five times that of office paper production. That
doesn't mean that we shouldn't aggressively tackle source reduction in
all areas -- just wanted to put into perspective that every book
published could go digital-only and we'd still have a massive
environmental problem caused by our appetite for paper. As the Times
(again, accurately) reported, "The paperless office, which some experts
had said would be the norm by the 1990s, has so far failed to
materialize."  

I'm the world's lamest reference librarian, so perhaps someone can find
more current statistics, but a quick search for "paper consumption
site:epa.gov" hoovered this up immediately.

K.G. Schneider
kgs at freerangelibrarian.com
(& former director, EPA Region 2 Library)




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