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January 17, 2007
You couldn't make this one up either
There is a company who specialise in the design of libraries and this policy is stated clearly on their website
"Why Less is More:"
“If you find it difficult to believe that offering less choice can be helpful to readers, just think about car parking for a minute. What happens when you drive into an empty car park? You can't make up your mind where to park, often you park in one place and then change your mind - this side, no, over there - before settling. Compare that to driving into a busy car park - you see a space and you're straight in there, no messing. Less choice makes the choosing easy.”
It is for this reason that, when redesigning libraries this company reduces the number of books and the selection to the smallest amount they can, leaving only the simplest choice to the readers.
You wouldn't believe it was true-- except that these people do win a lot of library contracts and this is exactly what they do- -and why.
PS In case you are wondering--- it's wrong! A section on ornithology is better if it has books on lots of different kinds of birds-- (and even books by different authorities about the same bird) --get it? well you do, but the people at "ditch the book designs" don't understand that
Posted by Perkins at January 17, 2007 6:12 PM