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One view is that libraries need to be about a lot more than books. Kids are actually reading more than they used to; it’s just more than books—Web sites and online gaming, for example.

I predict that the future is going to be fewer libraries and more librarians. The facility is transitioning from places where librarians do their work and to places where communities meet and gather. The physical space is simply where the librarians sit. The electronic medium is where they can research and read.

Here's the new plan: Colleges require students to pay a course-materials fee, which would be used to buy e-books for all of them (whatever text the professor recommends, just as in the old model).

Why electronic copies? Well, they're far cheaper to produce than printed texts, making a bulk purchase more feasible

An Indiana company called Courseload hopes to make the model more widespread, by serving as a broker for colleges willing to impose the requirement on students. And it is not alone.