Are books and libraries becoming obsolete?

Question

Are libraries turning into internet cafes? If you've been to a library recently, you may have noticed there are far more people at computer terminals than reading books. Personally, I can't complain. I don't need to wrestle anyone for a book so I don't get punched and kicked as often. I can sit on the floor in an aisle and read without blocking any one's passage. Maybe before long I'll be able to check out books, and they won't even care if I return them.

Answer 1

No, I don't think so. Research materials on the Internet tend to lack the depth that paper-and-ink books have. I've heard the Internet described as "a mile wide and an inch deep," meaning you can find superficial information about just about anything, but you can't do any real research. For that, you need a real book.

Also -- wrestling for books? Kicked and punched? What library have you been using -- the library in a prison?

Answer 2

If they are then I and others interested in library and information science as a career better find another path.

Though I think a lot more turn to Internet cafes for certain things, I believe that just as many people still would rather have a book in hand from a library, then have to go through an inter-library loan process which they may have to spend time on a library homepage waiting to print out confirmations and things.

The same with Internet bookstores, I try to limit my use of those, because I like to see and do a sample reading of the material before I buy.

The overall reason I think that books and libraries will always be around is because they create a forum for discussion and study of the world around us. Rather or not they are actual printed material, the Internet itself is an open book of sorts.

So in conclusion, I believe that as long as the Internet and libraries are linked one will never fully overshadow the other. If and when books and libraries become truly irreconcilable then we will have a break down of society as we know at least for a while anyways.

Answer 3

Yes and no. My University's research library has over ten million volumes in it, on 15 floors. You'll NEVER replace that breadth of knowledge with online databases, at least not right away.(ie a generation or two)
However, much of the new information is going directly to the Internet.
While much of it is what Leslie Millen would call "Intellectual landfill" there are literally thousands of peer-reviewed academic journals I can access only through the Internet connections to databases.
So, if you combine the two, it will literally put the knowledge of the world at your fingertips.
I love to sit in the 75 year-old chairs, with the old oak Great Tables donated a century ago, surrounded by books from the 1820s and surf on my wifi-capable laptop. It's the best of all worlds.

Answer 4

You see people using the computers because most researchers and readers check their books out and read them at home. As much as a pain as the public terminals are for library employees (we have a love/hate relationship with them), they are an important service. Not everyone has a computer at home, not everyone can afford internet access (just like people can't afford to buy every book they want to read), and not everyone has the internal filtering skills to distinguish fact from fiction when it comes to information on the web.

I hope they never do become obsolete, and I hope books never do, either. ebooks are a great service, but there is something almost magic about holding an actual paper and ink book in your hands, reading it at your own pace. It doesn't take electricity, it causes less eye strain, it is very portable, and usually doesn't break if you drop it. They are also easy to share.

Answer 5

I think as more and more books become translated into electronic form, the book will become increasingly an antiquated mode of acquiring information. However, for the book to be entirely relegated to obsolesce will take years, and will probably happen long after we have left this world, considering the sheer breadth of information that has to be transferred from paper to electronic format.

I don’t see anything lamentable in this. When the word was transferred from inked manuscripts to the printed sheet, after Gutenberg’s printing press revolution, the power of the written word did not diminish, but was made more accessible. Information became democratized. I think the transference of the written word to an electronic media further proliferates the written word to the masses.

The information technological revolution has greatly increased many societal ills. Yet when it is used to disseminate ideas through written communication, it more than makes up for its unseemly side.

Answer 6

I don't think so. Don't believe everything you hear/read in the media about technology and it place in modern culture.

It just takes on walk into a Barnes and Noble to realize the printed book is here to stay. Billions of people worldwide still like to purchase and own books. Books make a statement about their owners just like any other personal possession of piece of technology.

I personally love to be able to hold a book in my hands and read it. I believe it is much easier to read a printed book than it is to read over the Internet. Also a good book can be handed down thru generations to family and friends.

Answer 7

I'm a book lover, so I would fight that tooth and nail if it ever became an issue. At the library I often use I see the majority of people sitting, reading and studying.

Answer 8

No, computers and computer cafes are good alternatives to books, bookstores and liibraries. But they will never REPLACE them.

Answer 9

No such luck. The final word is still the book.

Answer 10

no the people serious about reading just get thier books and take them home.