Friday, September 11, 2009

Is A Library Without Books Still a Library?

September 12, 2009

This week, Cushing Academy in Massachusetts donated all their library books. As their website says, "The Fisher-Watkins Library is currently undergoing a digital transformation. The Academy is replacing the majority of the library's printed books with electronic sources as a natural and integral outgrowth of the school's strategic commitment to becoming the national leader in 21st-century secondary education."(1)

As far as I can remember I loved the library. These were places where I borrowed all the Nancy Drew collection, the Narnia collection by C.S. Lewis, Judy Blume's "Are You there God, It's Me, Margaret?"

The air conditioner was always on at the library, and you could find a corner of the library where it was just yours, and no one would bother you while you flip through a magazine or a book.

Even today, we don't own a lot of books, instead I go to my local public library and check out mystery / detective books for my husband, quilting books for me, and movies.

Imagine not being able to browse the shelves, and touch the books?

I am one of those technologically savvy people, I embrace technology, I make technology work for me everyday. But, I think removing books from the library is going just a tad bit far.

In my humble opinion, it might just be a conspiracy with a technology firm where students will need to start carrying these things (whatever it is) where they can borrow books through these little hardware that they carry around. No more overdue library fines, because when they borrow a book they don't need to return it because it simply expires.

It's a fine idea, but where will our history go? When everything is digital, and when we have another ice age or a global eruption, there will not be any traces of paper left, but instead little fragments of chips and hard drives that are too brittle for the next homosapien species to figure out who we are and whatever happened to us?

What are your thoughts? Should we embrace this new concept of digital library? Should we start campaigning to save the books from digital destruction?

Quilt & Bitch

Footnotes:
(1) Cushing Academy, Academics, Transforming Our Library <http://www.cushing.org/academics/library.shtml>

5 comments:

p00lriah said...

What are your thoughts? Should we embrace this new concept of digital library? Should we start campaigning to save the books from digital destruction?

we should have both. that way if one goes out you got a backup. personally i like books i can look at & hold, but electronic formats are good for research. have both. keep the books they already have, & electronic format shouldn't take up much room, not with 1 TB hard drives out there nowadays.

Quilt+Bitch said...

p00lriah,

Good point on if one goes out (which is usually the electronic version one) you have back up with the hard copy. Never thought about that.

In today's age, when something goes wrong, the computer, the computer system, the server, internet - people feel stuck like they are hopeless because they are at the mercy of the person fixing the problem.

For example, today we take electricity for granted, and when there is a black out, I bet a lot of people don't know what to do because their lives depend on having the electricity on.

Q&B

Susan M. said...

I read this article too and it just made me sad. I can't say that one way is better than the other but entering a "library" and not seeing actual books... it just makes me sad.

p00lriah said...

Good point on if one goes out (which is usually the electronic version one) you have back up with the hard copy.

funny u said that b/c i was actually thinking about library collections that were damaged/destroyed due to plumbing problems (water from leaky pipes wet the floor/ceiling then get on the books) or flood. but ur right that computers and hard drives crash. any good systems admin will back up the info on 2-3 separate storage units to prevent data loss.

as far as electricity i like to keep flashlights around just in case. candles if ur the romantic type. scented ones if ur girly. :-P

Quilt+Bitch said...

Hi Susan,

I don't know how I would feel if I walked into a digital library. It would definitely be worth driving over there to check it out. Road trip. I wonder what the students would be doing in a library? Maybe it'll just be a hang out place for the nerdy kids, I would feel right at home. :)