Everywhere you turn, there’s some news tidbit about how great libraries are at saving Americans money.  Where the hell has everyone been for the last 30 years?  Many of us in the library community have bemoaned the fact that libraries don’t market themselves well but, in their favor, they rarely have the money to use advertising as well or as creatively as the profits do. 

The AARP Bulletin ran an article in the November issue that described how to save $$ by renting DVDs through Redbox and Netflix or watching free movies and TV shows at Hulu.   This month, the Bulletin received a letter from a reader in Salt Lake City who pointed out that free beats fee any day.  He checks out DVDs from his county library system for zip, nada, rien, bubkes.  He said he’s watched more than 100 DVDs in the past year.  Give this guy a contract to market public libraries for us!