"To Video or Audio, that is the Question"

[J. Theodore Anderson]

Many years ago we started out having reel to reel audio recordings that were taken around to shut-ins of the church services and stored in the Church Library. Then along came cassettes and we started recording the services on this media device and selling them in the Book Store and having copies in the Library for people to check out. We also did the same with some of our popular adult education classes. Then "everyone" was telling us that cassettes are "old hat" and we should switch to compact discs. Now we see that CD's are becoming "old hat" and a new system is coming around. We used to have VHS Tapes and now we're told they are "Old Hat" -- we seem to have lots of "old hats" and new technology is coming down the pike faster than we can keep up with it. After all investment in all this media and the cabinets to store it in and the machines to play it on are not cheap -- especially since congregational libraries are usually at the "bottom of the food chain" when it comes to money being given out. In about 5 years time all the electrical apparatus that you are using now will join the other "old hats" and you'll be forced to "get new headgear!"
Any thoughts about how the libraries can keep up with technology when most of us don't have huge budgets?