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Libraries. Do we still need them?
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A while back I was listening to some local talk radio and a promotion came on for one of the station's Conservative Talk Show Hosts(TM). In the promotion he stated that Libraries were now unneeded, a waste of money. People can just go out and buy books, go to a net cafe, etc. My first reaction was complete and utter confusion. How could anyone be so completely and utterly stupid? Maybe the whole thing was taken out of context, maybe he was somehow pressed into saying those things. Maybe it was a ratings ploy, trying to get people fired up so they would call in. But I've listened to the guy before, and he lets go with more than a few stupid opinions that have forced me to pull my jaw back up from the floor. I think he meant it.
I personally think this is a non-discussion, but if one person can think that way then more can. I didn't hear the actual show during which he said libraries were useless, so I don't know if he expanded on his reasoning for the opinion, and I'm wondering if anyone around here thinks that way.
As far as I'm concerned libraries are one of the few things modern democracies still do right. One of the saving graces of our governments. I don't use them that often, but just knowing that they're around is very comforting. You can get books, movies, magazines, music, newspapers and even access the internet for free. I think they're amazing.
How do the rest of you feel?
I personally think this is a non-discussion, but if one person can think that way then more can. I didn't hear the actual show during which he said libraries were useless, so I don't know if he expanded on his reasoning for the opinion, and I'm wondering if anyone around here thinks that way.
As far as I'm concerned libraries are one of the few things modern democracies still do right. One of the saving graces of our governments. I don't use them that often, but just knowing that they're around is very comforting. You can get books, movies, magazines, music, newspapers and even access the internet for free. I think they're amazing.
How do the rest of you feel?
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However I suspect a vast majority of reading done at a library is for research. I mean how many people are going to buy a full encyclopedia at Barnes and Noble?
I don't think you're going to get a whole lot of debate on this here, I'd bet we pretty much all disagree with Conservative Talk Show Host #5406334
Not everything is available at the book store, or online, and not everyone can afford to buy what is.
Imagine having to buy a $100+ reference book just for a research project in school. That would be ridiculous.
Shhhhh! Don't give the universities any ideas!
EDIT: also, as free access to the internet for people without capable computers, or to academic journals for those who cannot pay the expensive subscription fees.
Or is he just that retarded? No, wait, I forgot, this is Conservative-land, where everyone can afford a computer and a high-speed internet connection. :roll:
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However for regular reading digital copies are really no replacement for a real book. There's something tactile about a book you can hold and read that computers are not going to replace anytime soon.
Everyone who counts, anyway.
Sometimes when I'm just trying to look up a few minor statistics or examples, I would much rather have ctrl-F at my disposal with a digital copy.
Also, most books still aren't available online, and buying every book you ever want to read can be expensive. If everyone were reduced to only reading books that they knew were worth buying themselves, the entire industry (not to mention literacy) would suffer; having libraries allows people to walk in, see a book, think "oh that's interesting", and get access to it with much less commitment.
There are also tons of old books that are rare/out of print, so having an organization dedicated to preserving them and getting them to people who need them is great. A couple friends of mine were just doing senior research projects last semester before graduation, and were both using books, journals, etc. that were almost 100 years old; try finding those at Barnes and Noble, or locating an individual who has them and persuading him to let you flip through them.
I also agree that just having libraries there is comforting, knowing that society is at least attempting to collect and distribute information. I see how people could argue that they're becoming less useful as more stuff is moving online, and I honestly don't know if they'll be around in 50 or 100 years, but for now they're still pretty necessary.
Edit: wow, took me a long time to post. I agree with what everyone else said.
But wait! What about the poor people who can't afford to buy books?
Oh... right.
Edit: damn you, thanatos.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
And yeah, I'd say they are definitely still needed.
(disclaimer: I used to work at a library, so I may be biased)
Until smart paper is perfected books will not go out of date
Let's say, twenty years from now, every book in a library has been digitized and is available online. Is it necessary then to have the physical copies present? Would you rather just have a slimmer, sleeker library consisting of rows of desks with computers only?
It's likely that the library would then store massive racks of cheap ebook readers and associated support tech. And there will always be physical stuff hanging around in musty corners - who's going to pay to digitize the 20 years of back issues for The Podunk Times?
EDIT:
Modern ebook readers are rather nice on the eyes, and as progress grinds on will become thinner, lighter, and easier to read.
Plus libraries like ours are already allowing you to check out e-books at home if you desire.
Also, checking out handbooks and other teaching items is a godsend to homeschooling parents.
Been there, done that, boy does it SUCK. Besides, there's something comfortingly claustrophobic about stacks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper
Like I said when this becomes standard the paper book will be dead. Not before then.
1) buy the book
2) label it
3) set on shelf
and it stays there, able to be used.
Whereas to have computers, you need to:
1) fight the city for grants for money to replace the current shitty computers you have
2) train all employees on use of the computers
3) pay IT guys $texas to maintain 40 computers per branch, plus your book tracking system, plus to repair any stations that go down
4) implement and pay for a system that automatically handles everyone's time limit on the computers
5) hope to fucking god your system doesn't go down, or end up crippled for an entire week like we were and not being able to check in any books, but we can check out. If it was all e-books nobody could read or check out anything.
6) Encyclopedias are much cheaper in print than it would be to license for each computer that the library has. 10 volumes vs a 400 seat license = savings
there's also the fact that the number of e-books is very small to the number of paper-only books still.
That were actually made the same year.
The LOTR movies were quite popular.
I mean...no, libraries are a good thing. Sure. I swear.
Seriously, though, that talk show host was an idiot, but I find that most of them are. Unless you drum up controversial topics, you don't get listeners and you don't stay in business. That's all this was.
You can't find everything out on the internet, by any stretch of the imagination. It always puzzles me when people claim that.
Well, you can't necessarily find everything in most libraries, either. Big ones have a fair amount of reference material, but the truth is, if you wanted to find something - a book, a reference, whatever - chances are it's there, somewhere, and someone can find it for you.
Personally, though, I think libraries serve an important social function, as The Cat pointed out. I worked in a library when I was 16-17 and they do a lot more than store books. They have ESL classes, they host literary events, creative writing contests, etc.
Ah, but you can order books and other things from other libraries, and they give you a nice phone call when your stuff arrives. It's really a great deal.
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I'm the same when it comes to fiction anymore (although I did buy that which musn't be named) but non-fiction has to fight it out. If it's something I'll likely want to reference again or read through for certain ideas then I'll add it to my small, shitty, personal library.
In any event, public libraries do need to be ended as we know them. What needs to replace them are 'mediatheques.' Essentially, libraries ++ where potential new technology is planned into them and existing tech and collections are reorganized. My little local library still uses the Dewey Decimal system, for instance. They need to abandon it for the LOC version and such. Newly constructed ones need to have plans for using the infrastructure for whatever is going to replace computers a decade or two down the line. Etc.
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Yeah very much agreed, libraries do ALOT of things that are useful, another big thing is the fact that it's a nice quiet place where you can read/study for alot of people.
I think it's more that the ratio of complerely unrelated shit vs relevant shit is ALOT higher in a library. Alot of things are out there SOMEWHERE but since the size the internet is very little fact, and ALOT of personal opinoin, popular culture, pr0n etc trying to find reliable fact is really hard.
- "Proving once again the deadliest animal of all ... is the Zoo Keeper" - Philip J Fry
Yup, Toronto Public Library system is one of the greatest things in the world. I read all the time, but if it didn't exist, I'd never be able to afford all the books I read. And with the huge number of branches, one of them is bound to have the book I want. And that's just covering what they do for the general literacy of the population.
Even if all of these books were digitized though, I think that libraries would still play an important role. Not just for those who are too poor to own a computer (as was mentioned before), but also to maintain the accuracy of these important works. Imagine it suddenly being possible for hackers or intelligence agencies to rewrite history, laws, or masterpieces of literature by simply hacking a server. More likely we might lose precious works in any number of computer hardware or software failures. While books can also be destroyed by fire or decomposition, they are still far more permanent than their digital counterparts.