5 things to consider when Updating your Public Libraries Audio Collection

Audio technology changes dramatically all of the time, how is a library to keep up?  With the evolving format of audio books, music, and educational media changing every decade or so, libraries have a tough job to stay up-to-date not to mention the hefty price tag that can come with change.  Here are 5 points for your library to consider as they pull out the Mr.Clean and tackle their collections of audio media for the ever expanding future!  Here goes...
1. What is the format?
When the teenagers are rocking out on their mp3 players but Mrs. Flanders wants "How to learn Polish" on cassette (because that is what she still prefers from the 80's!), the library has the job of figuring out the demand of their community.  CD's have been the preferred format of choice and truth-be-told most libraries are still nursing their collections of shiny silver disks but if your library is still hunkering down with media that only your local hipsters are using then it might be time to start your libraries upgrade!
2. The Question of Genre!
What does your community listen to most, read, study?  Who is in your community; Baby Boomers, Millennials, bikers, hipsters, do you have a large ethnic and/or religious community?  All are things to ask and more regarding what will be added and remain in your libraries media collection.
3. All Scratched up!
What is the condition of your libraries audio media?  Are CD's so scratched and pitted they no longer play?  Determining when something should be replaced can be tricky and potentially costly but eventually necessary in order to provide the best service to your community.
4. Should you Censor That?
Censorship is a difficult issue and includes questions of intellectual freedoms not to mention civil liberties!  Find out who is in your community, if you have large populations of minors, you may decide to censor materials with vulgar language and/or subject matter or you may decide that everything is fare game.  Each library must decide what is in the best interests of their community!
5. Back to the Future!
When is it time to upgrade the library media collection to digital or should older technologies like vinyl records or 8-track tapes be stocked to appeal to the retro/vintage movements?  Physical materials take up space, so digitizing a libraries audio collection has appealing perks, on the other hand we live in a time of "what is old is new again" so those old cassettes may not be so out of the loop (pun intended) after all.