Do children need school libraries if they have access to the Internet?

Question

The average cost of a book is $20.00. The cost to maintain public school library collections is an expense that competes with fine arts programs, athletic programs, and student support services such as nurses and counselors at each campus. Many believe if students have access to the Internet they do not need school libraries or librarians to staff them.

Answer 1

Yes! Libraries are crucial to a student of any age. The Internet, while a great resource, is filled with costly and blatant errors. Any John or Jane Doe can put a web page up online and say that the Animaniacs have taken over Congress, but it doesn't make it true. Students need to learn the importance of the library and how to use it so that if and when they go to college, they know how to find the resources they need. Even middle and high school students need to use the library for research papers. Books are not yet available in their entirety online.

Perhaps if a great number of entire books were available online, libraries would become a thing of the past, but considering copyright laws, this is not likely to happen for several decades.

Answer 2

Yes you need school libraries because not everyone has, or should have, a computer. The expense for having your own computer is high and food costs money. If you get a library card you can access your libraries info from home but still the book you are looking to read will not be on the Internet. Also with the amount of viruses out there it is better to use the library because they are better equiped to handle an outbreak. Computers are a convince and/or an expensive typewriter and libraries having computers allows one to learn the ropes before they have there own.

Since we live in a capitalistic society money is a catch all observation but having the ability to find information without a computer equates to being able to do math without a calculator or a dictionary instead of spell check.

Answer 3

Yes! And again, I say YES! Most children's book are not available (for viewing) on computer - Curious George, Dr. Seuss' books, even teen books like the Dear America series and Harry Potter series. Kids should be reading not JUST to complete a report, but they should learn the LOVE of reading for enjoyment. Do libraries really need encyclopedias costing $1000's of dollars per set? Probably not - but there are too many resources that are NOT available on the net that kids need to be able to access.

Also, some people (myself included) get headaches from looking at a monitor too long.

Besides (as far as I'm concerned), there's nothing like holding a book in your hands - feeling the pages, the smell of the binding and ink and paper mixing together. I love books!

Answer 4

yeah, i see what you are saying, I'm not a reader now a an adult, but i can't forget the feeling as a child going to the library with my family, i found it exiting, walking around searching for books, i used to love story time and the staff were great and quick to help when i had questions.i could socialize with other people, now that I'm 26 and have two wonderful sons i love to take them to the library because i can tell they love to go just by the look in their eyes when i mention it, i let them read on the computer too but for the it's not as exiting as going in person, i strongly feel the if the close the libraries most people that enjoy to read will become less social and every one need to meet new people and be more active, on the computer you just sit and search at least in person we can make it a tradition to walk to the library and walk to search for books, any type of exercise is good for us...i hop you understand what I'm trying to say, because i suck at explaining myself, but i hope they never close the library because our children deserve to have one. have a good day

Answer 5

YES a book is worth a thousand computers!