[Gnolfo]

Eerie. Having been in/around Tempe for the last 16 years, as soon as he said "There's a coffee shop here in Tempe..." the first one that came to mind (of the many, many non-starbucks coffee shops in this area) was the exact one he meant. I've certainly logged my share of hours there studying, reading something interesting, chatting with friends, etc.

And going by that, the nearest library (likely the one he is referencing--and i went there a lot in middle/high school back in the 90s) is about a mile from the coffee shop and all in all is in a pretty suburbanite, middle class part of town. It's pretty fair to say that for an area with a good median income, high but not extreme property values, etc, something like a public library is going to be hit hardest by the advent of the internet, since the "public" is going to be pretty thoroughly plugged-in.

Not that it's a bad idea to consider bringing libraries along into the newer age...

[blhack]

Haha :). Has the internet always been as bad as it is now?

To be honest, the library I was at (Yep, right up the street from xbean), seemed to be very well funded, clean, in outstanding order. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with the execution of libraries, just that I would love to see what I believe is the idea behind them expanded to include more than just books (and movies, and magazines, and music).