the future of the library?…

I love libraries. and from a totally non-academic standpoint, I love the town library. As a child my mother would take my sister and me every Saturday to get books for the week. One time, she left the books on the roof of the car and drove off. This was a bit traumatizing for us, seeing the books splattered all over the road after we realized that when we arrived home we had no books with us (we retraced). But I digress…

I love the academic library, as well. Even when you know what your looking for, you sometimes hit the jackpot unexpectedly while looking for your chosen book. This happens to me often, as I tend to dawdle in the shelves. Now, digitized libraries do much of the same for me. When researching something in particular, I tend to find things ‘by accident.’ However, this does not replace the feeling of being around the actual books, but it makes it easier. For one thing, time is always an issue these days. And the fact that you can peruse the catalog from home makes it much easier to do research in the hours (usually late-night) you have free.

Therefore, I think it’s important that libraries digitize their collections. In the readings they talked about losing the library in the traditional sense, and I think that is a real possibility. I don’t think, however, that will happen any time in the near future. It’s true that we’re in the digital age and in order to keep up, certain institutions must make concessions in order to be included. As Jensen says, in his keynote speech, they must become ‘risk-takers’ and leave traditional thought behind to some extent to keep up with the growing number of places that are becoming digital. He also says, and I think this is important, that digitized collections are allowing people to actually read again and to research and become interested in things they wouldn’t necessarily be interested in, in the first place. The trick is to stay positive to change: money and funding are always an issue and grabbing the attention of a fickle and transitory audience is another issue. Myself, I think that anything to make information more accessible to the public is a good thing, however, I think that balance is important, as well. Perhaps one can look it up online and then go find it in the shelves. It’s like watching a movie on TV and going to seeing a play. One is easy, the other can be an effort. But once you’re sitting in the theater, experiencing something live, you’re glad you’re there. It’s the same with the internet and libraries: you just can’t beat the real thing.

Libraries have been around for thousands of years (think Alexandria). Sure, the modes of communication have greatly changed and they continue to do so, but the fact is the library as an institution has withstood the changing times, and will continue to do so. It just takes people who want to keep earning and exploring.

P.S. At close, I’d like to add that digitizing a collection can also be a means of preservation. Again, think Alexandria: they burned it. When I attended SCSU, the old library suffered greatly from water damage. Leaky roof? And a lot of their stuff, including art and over-sized books were lost. Part of the library was closed for months with buckets between the shelves to catch the water and plastic tarps everywhere. I think that it wasn’t repaired because the new building was in the process of being built, but it was sad to see something so accessible become so inaccessible.