Important Read: LibriVox Founder Hugh McGuire on "What are Libraries For?"

It’s very likely that you’re either a user or are aware of LibriVox, If you’re not aware of the service it’s a volunteer organization where public domain books are being recorded and made available for free as audiobooks. If you’re interested in volunteering check this page.

The founder of LibriVox is Hugh McGuire. He’s also the founder of iambik audiobooks,  a commercial venture. More about Mr. McGuire and his many accomplishments here. It’s worth mentioning that he was  a member of  the Board (2002-2010) of the Atwater Library and Computer Centre located in Montreal, not far from McGill Univesity . It’s also the last remaining Mechanics Institute and the oldest lending library in Canada.

That intro leads us to a guest post by Mr. McGuire on the “In the Library With a Lead Pipe” blog.

The post is titled, “What are Libraries For” and in this case “libraries” is referring to public libraries.

Given McGuire’s experience in publishing, his Internet entrepreneurship (both non-commercial and commercial), and the fact that he was on his local library board for many years his thoughts are worth reading and discussing.

In fact, Hugh McGuire is an excellent example of a person the public library community should be solicting for for his opinions, entrepreneurial /marketing skills, and the fact that he has demonstrated (library board membership) that he cares about libraries.

Direct to Hugh McGuire’s Blog Post
Make sure to read the comments and responses from the author.

We plan to post some thoughts about what he has to say next week but overall McGuire has a lot of important things to say that make a lot of sense.

Filed under: Libraries, Public Libraries, Publishing