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With all the talk of new digital, organisational, business models, I thought this article from FirstMonday might be of interest. http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_5/roehl/ We describe a number of interesting parallels between circulating libraries in England circa 1725-1850 and video rental stores in the United States circa 1980-1990. Both institutions evolved in a similar manner, which suggests that common economic and social forces were at work. Perhaps the histories of these two industries may be helpful in understanding current and future developments in computer- and Internet-related media. ________________________________________________________________________ The EARL Consortium for Public Library Networking http://www.earl.org.uk Linda Berube Research and Development Co-ordinator [log in to unmask] Gun Court 4th Floor 70 Wapping Lane London E1W 2RS tel: 020 7702 2020 fax:020 7702 2019