New technologies take a while to shake out, and if there is money to be made, it can turn into a real can of worms.

My concern at this point, though, is the 3-D world bricks-and-mortar public libraries. I got my first library card when I was six years old and I've had one ever since. A lot my love of reading -- and writing -- came from hanging out in libraries when I was a kid. They were quiet and kind of holy. All that knowledge, all that information, all those wonderful adventures, just for the price of taking a book off a shelf! I've used libraries a lot. But I've also bought a lot of books. And Barbara, too. My God, the books! You can hardly see the walls for the bookshelves! So our heavy use of the library certainly doesn't mean we haven't spent a substantial portion of our incomes supporting authors and their publishers.

From a few things I've picked up from writer's magazines and at writer's conferences, some higher-ups in publishing would like to shut public libraries down. They'll use them to promote books, but they hate the idea that someone can walk in, check out a book, and read it without having to pay them some kind of royalty. At the very least, they want the libraries to charge patrons for checking out books and pay them a fee, like radio stations have to pay ASCAP or BMI for records they play.

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I think what the publishing companies really have in the cross-hairs is the public libraries themselves. If not now, then soon. Just keep watching.

Don Firth