Editorial: The Borders Concept

Late last month, Borders opened its “concept store” in its corporate hometown, Ann Arbor, MI, to so much hoopla and crowds that librarians from Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) had to wait a few days to check it out. Before we all get “Borders envy,” however, take a closer look at the new concept. It “fulfills the company's mission to be a headquarters for knowledge and entertainment,” said a press release announcing the store. Some of those words sound suspiciously familiar to librarians.

The new store is a prototype for 13 others. What makes the concept store distinctive, for instance, says the press release, is the Digital Center, with multiple computer stations where customers can “make their own custom CDs,” “download books and music,” “publish their own books,” “explore their family history,” “and take their time working on projects.” Borders staff will even show customers how to do those things. That all sounds familiar, too. While libraries don't have the financial resources to provide all the technology of the concept store, many are not far behind. They offer downloadables and enable patrons to burn CDs and DVDs. When it comes to delivering digital resources, training, and computers for patrons, libraries are way ahead.

True, Borders Travel Destination (i.e., section) is enviable. There is an “interactive computer kiosk where customers can research, plan, and even book a trip.... The 'Borders Trip Recommender' suggests potential destinations…and related book, DVD, and other resources.” (Do I hear a ka-ching for every trip booked? Or “co-op” dollars for the privilege of being a “potential” destination?) There's also customized travel programming on an LCD screen, as well as author interviews on screens elsewhere. Those “concepts” are not foreign to libraries, however. The new Darien Library, CT, scheduled to open in January 2009, will have “subject glades,” says Darien librarian John Blyberg (formerly with AADL), including one for travel, with several workstations “where users can arrange trips online with the aid of our roving reference staff.”

Then there's the children's section at Borders, with a “massive mural” and “two large cutout hot-air balloons suspended from the ceiling.” Where have we heard that description before? The books are divided by age groups: “infants/toddlers/preschoolers, beginning readers (age 4–8),” and so on. They seem to be missing a separate teen section, however—or it didn't warrant mention in the press release.

It's almost as if George Jones, Borders CEO, took a page from librarians and toured a slew of new libraries before embarking on his own building project. The coup de grace comes in the final two paragraphs, which point out the “multitude of free in-store events as well as outreach” that make Borders stores “a vital part of the communities they serve.”

“Jones sounds like any proud librarian I've ever heard,” says Josie Parker, director of AADL, who listened to him discuss the new stores on radio. “What a compliment to libraries that he's modeling his stores on us.” Does Parker see the concept store as a challenge to libraries? Not at all. “As long as we keep our focus on what we're doing as public institutions.”

While not all librarians are as sanguine about the comparison with Borders, there is one area where libraries far outshine the for-profit—on the community front. “The relationships we have with our communities are deeper and far more intimate than anything Borders could manufacture, and I doubt that will ever change,” says Blyberg. “There will never be any place but a library where a user can go to ask for the type of help we give” so freely.

As much as Borders touts its services, its bottom line is profit. The stores can never match the public service ethos that drives librarians. (For a look at how those principles translate into practical actions, see the Movers & Shakers supplement with this issue of LJ.) There are plenty of small towns and cities across America where there will never be a Borders store, because their communities can't deliver the number of paying customers needed to sustain one. Those towns are likely, however, to have a public library serving them. Let's keep it that way.