Amazon replacing libraries? Pish posh. Panos Mourdoukoutas, a professor of economics at LIU Post in New York, suggested in a Forbes article that libraries should be permanently replaced with Amazon bookstores.
This is such as asinine suggestion in my opinion. Libraries aren’t just for books, they serve as community centers with public programs like helping kids read, computer classes for the elderly, etc. A librarian can do so much more than an Amazon clerk, as librarian Amanda Oliver says:
It’s librarians helping people fill out free housing forms and visa forms and all things related to basic human needs. It’s shelter when it’s freezing or raining or scorching hot. It’s access to free newspapers and conversation. It’s so much for so many.
Libraries actually provide something for everyone, no exclusions. Literally no one is excluded from access to the library! It’s for everyone. Prisoners, people with disabilities, elderly, the young, the rich, the poor, etc.
Keep that in mind the next time you try to hang out at a typical business and they ask you to buy something or leave.
Check It Out: Librarians Respond to Forbes About Amazon Replacing Libraries
Yeah, I can just see that. And someday all of the invaluable reference librarians will be replaced by Alexa speakers to answer any questions one might have… /s