What purposes can a library serve in an era when research can be done at home computers, thousannds of public books can be downloaded for free, and people are starting to carry around e-book readers? That's the question that David Sarno seeks to answer. "It's very common for people to say, 'Why do I need a library when I've got a computer?'" said Pam Sandlian-Smith, director of the seven-branch Rangeview, Colo. , Library District. "We have to reframe what the library means to the community." In the struggle to stay important-and ultimately  to stay open-libraries are reinventing themselves in ways unimaginable even a few years ago, preparing for a future in which most materials can be checked and read from a home computer, smartphone or electronic reading device. But not all library professionals are enthusiastic about the community-building efforts. Sandlian-Smith and others like her have taken: "If you want to have game rooms and pingpong tables and God knows what-poker parties-fine, do it, but don't pretend it has anything to do with libraries," said Michael Gorman, a former president of the American Library Assn. "The argument that all these young people would turn up to play video games and think, 'Oh by the way, I must borrow that book by Dostoyevsky'-it seems ridiculous to me." Sarno reports that lending books is taking a back seat as libraries diversify their holdings-DVDs! E-books! -and struggle to define how they can serve their local communities. And yet libraries can also serve a wider audience; some are bringing rare archival  materials online. That doesn't mean that there are e-books available yet for everything in their collections. Publishers hold back e-book versions of some big sellers from libraries, for example, Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, and the Harry Potter series. How are the libraries struggling to stay important?
By reinventing themselves in common ways. By offering a bright future for the community. In ways that people can't understand even a few years ago. By preparing for a future in which other electronic reading devices may be used.