“Today’s libraries are reinventing themselves as vibrant town squares, showcasing the latest best sellers, lending Kindles loaded with e-books, and offering grass-roots technology training centers. Faced with the need to compete for shrinking municipal finances, libraries are determined to prove they can respond as quickly to the needs of the taxpayers as the police and fire department can.”

Check out the rest of the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/us/libraries-try-to-update-the-bookstore-model.html