Have libraries have become the new Blockbuster?

Streaming is over. The magazine is back. And everyone who’s too online is apparently getting off again. The time is ripe for an analog revolution. And where better to start than the stacks?

As Claire Woodcock reported in 404 Media this morning, public libraries—our standing temples, our best things—are currently holding down the fort for physical media. But lately, the brief has expanded well beyond books.

Woodcock, who spoke to librarians in Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, and western New York, has observed a rise in requests for DVDs, Blu-rays, video games, and 4K Ultra Discs at ‘braries all around the country.

She ascribed the upswing to exhausting features of the streaming service. Patrons from Utah to Pennsylvania have apparently been buying Blu-Ray players and borrowing the Criterion Collection because they no longer have patience for the Disney-Hulu-Paramount-Netflix game of IP thrones.

This viewer like you cosigns the madness. Subscription prices are rising across the streaming board. Catalogues are vanishing mid-binge. And we canny consumers have realized that short-lived sitcoms or films that never receive a theatrical release “become more vulnerable when companies merge.” Or, sometimes disappear altogether.

There’s also the fact that the algorithm is generally biased against certain movies. As Woodcock notes,

The data-driven recommendation systems streaming platforms use tend to favor newer, more easily categorized content, and are starting to warp our perceptions of what classic media exists and matters [!]. Older art house films that are more difficult to categorize as “comedy” or “horror” are less likely to be discoverable, which is likely how the oldest American movie available on Netflix currently is from 1968.

Bad luck, Orson Welles.

In a moment when few films receive that coveted theatrical release—and a lot of great old titles are out-of-service, out-of-print, or out-of-mind to begin with—the stacks are where it’s at. And libraries have begun to capitalize on the people’s nostalgia for objects.

In October, the Berkley, Michigan Public Library launched a “BerkBuster” room, which pays aesthetic homage to a chip off the old Block. Promos told patrons “your neighborhood video store is back.” But, you know. Without the late fees.

I’ve been ready for the DVD revolution. Bring It On? Consider yourself requested.

P.S. 404 Media continues to do some really terrific reporting. I recommend subscribing, while you’re in the neighborhood!