Vavrek, Bernard. “Wanted! Entertainment Director”. American Libraries. 32(6): 2001.

Though this article was written early in the decade, the author’s points are still valid but it is interesting to read this almost 6 years after it was published in that it seems that either the trend of libraries falling toward non-existence is slower than the author believed or is not occurring at all. Vavrek writes that public libraries role in the community has fallen by the wayside in the wake of the Internet. It will have to compete with the media and have to reinvent itself in order to entice the public to its services. Reference librarians have to be open to answering questions over the internet. People will be quicker to determining a library’s usefulness than before because of the access to information that the Internet provides. But, librarians need to emphasize personal service as well. Programming aimed at young adults should be at the fore. The young adult market (which is growing) is definitely something to to focus on since in the past they are a demographic that has been ignored as their reading material can be so varied. Libraries should offer many public Internet terminals, work with the local tourism authorities, enhance on their genealogy collections and keep their bestsellers well stocked.