The Library Dilemma

The title above is a play on Clayton Christensen’s book title, “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” which I highly recommend for its clearheaded proposition if not for its literary flair. The book uses a 30-year period of optical disc and electronic device evolution to illustrate the trap suggested in its eponymous title. The trap is that one-time innovators of industry tend to become complacent and defensive of short-term self-interests; they become oblivious to and resisters of innovation. Innovations elsewhere inevitably displace their once-lucrative markets, and/or snap up the new ones, eventually. Are there examples outside the fast-tracking computer industry? Sure. A few weeks ago, I talked about keelboats, Conestoga wagons/prairie schooners, steamboats, and railroads, all in turn transpor…