Borders Gone? Good Riddance!

Not so long ago, my husband was looking for a good book to read. With our son in tow, he headed over to Borders on University Avenue. That is, until my son admonished him, “Dad, we don’t shop there. It’s a big chain store. We buy our books from independent bookstores.” My husband obediently turned the car around and drove to Town and Country Shopping Center to secure his latest biography fix at Books Inc.

This, I would like to believe, is one of the many reasons Borders will soon be shutting its doors in Our Fair City. Others would have you believe Borders lost out to Amazon and the iPad. In either case, the store is gone. And now, I have to admit, I am a little sad.

Before Books Inc. came to town, my children and I thought of Borders as our local bookstore. We bought the first, second, third, and so on, installments of the Harry Potter series there. I hid Borders gift cards in my kids Christmas stockings every year. We even made it a place to meet when we weren’t over at the Apple store ogling the latest technology. If you had to get rid of the old theater, a bookstore seemed like the next best thing for the location. What will go in there now? A mini-Walmart?

In the bigger scheme of things, I am not sad to see it go. Borders and its ilk all but ruined the publishing industry by killing the distribution channel options for books (ie: by decimating the small independent bookstores). Yes, of course, Amazon played a role too.

But the large chains also killed the content. Many publishers have whole staffs devoted to their relationships with the large chains. The buyers for these large chains have wielded undue influence over the very nature of what is published, because they could promise sales for selected books. I read once that four people decide what America will be reading, because they are the head book buyers for Costco, Borders, Barnes & Noble and Walmart (great, now it's down to three).

“What about the new technologies?” you might ask. With all the talk of e-readers, people still want physical books (at least, for now). In 2010, eBooks accounted for only 8 percent of total book sales, although they did grow by more than 150 percent year over year. This means that both the libraries and small independent bookstores could actually benefit from the troubles Borders and Barnes & Noble are facing.

Sandy Mullin, manager of Books Inc. in Palo Alto, agrees. “It's never a good thing when 10,000 people are suddenly out of a job,” she says. “That said, the closures definitely give independent bookstores the opportunity to step up their game and reach out to their communities.” Mullins plans more partnerships like the one she already has with The Peninsula Parlour, a gathering place for readers and writers hosted by yours truly (shameless self-promotion acknowledged; spaces still available for Carol Edgarian on Sep. 20). Books Inc. donates 15 percent of the sales of the books by authors at these events to selected causes. 

Libraries could well be the biggest winner of all. According to a study by the Museum and Institute of Library Sciences, visits to libraries across the United States increased 19 percent from 1999-2007. The San Francisco library system has seen a surge of new card holders, and once we get all of our branches running, we, too, should see usage surging. 

I find it more than ironic, perhaps even a bit synchronistic, that Borders announced it was shutting down all its stores the same week the Palo Alto downtown library reopened. New Library Director Monique le Conge promises that “the timing wasn’t anything we could have predicted,” but she is thrilled to see the influx of residents making use of the new space. 

“This is an exciting time in the history of Palo Alto libraries,” le Conge says. “It is very unusual to see a city of 60,000 with five library branches. It reflects our community’s commitment to knowledge leadership.” 

Upgraded branches are one solution to making our local libraries appealing and competitive. But technology needs to be on the top of our list for upgrades, too. As we look to the improve the technology of our libraries (click here to read the city’s library technology upgrade plan), the user interface should be of primary concern. Right now, it is unwieldy and overly complex. 

Additionally, having access to the latest e-books will make a difference moving forward. Le Conge says the library has a new, exclusive relationship with Overdrive that offers the latest e-titles to Palo Alto residents. 

These changes are imperative to staying ahead of the trends. If we don't, my children and others will turn to commercial ventures to fill their voracious reading appetites. However, with Borders now gone and the downtown library reopened, maybe the next time my husband needs a new book, my son will say,  “We don’t buy; we borrow.”