Peak Oil in the Library

I had to see it to believe it. The cover story of Library Journal was "After Oil". The story was even more incredible. It was an accurate representation of peak oil and various scenarios that could play out in American libraries. Take a look for yourself at: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6539360.html

It's all there. Except that the issue of an economic downturn and the fate of libraries isn't resolved enough for me. If things get really bad, will libraries be staffed and open anyway. There's an assumption here that they will be. I wouldn't assume that. Nevertheless, the author, a library school professor in Florida, is on target enough to suggest that people will be in the library asking about permaculture and ecovillages. Bring em on!

Of course, there's always a nay-sayer and sure enough the first commenter online to this story found it one-sided and unrealistic and too "gloom and doom". What I find funny is that he disagrees that things will get so bad that people will be making soap and growing gardens. Hello!
People are doing this already and you don't even know it! This is the type of ignorance that I fear. An ignorance that is undermined by complacency. As a result I sent my own comment to Library Journal thanking them for bringing peak oil to the attention of librarians and cautioning that despite the fact that we don't know the depth of impact peak oil will have on libraries, librarians (and anyone else, for that matter) should follow the developments and be prepared. Just because something has always been doesn't mean it will always be.