I have two thoughts/responses to this article.
1. I do agree with vsalvaggio -- I love reading. Period. Physical books are nice, some are beautiful, some are breathtaking, some are fun to handle, etc. But it is the reading that I value the most.
2. I have worked & taught on a college campus that had separate libraries for "undergraduates" and for "graduates" - and have seen the behavior in both. The library in this article is in a prep school - whose students' age would roughly match those using the undergraduate library. Granted, I am using a limited sample of 1 library on 1 campus but over a period of over 10 years, the so-called "undergraduate" library was really an on-campus meet & greet pick-up hang-out, not a library for readers, scholars, or serious students. So adding a coffee bar, expresso machine, big screen TVs - what have you, would fit what I have seen that students of that age group appreciate and want - not silent stacks of dusty books.
Also, the main reason students checked out books from the "undergraduate library" was to avoid having to buy them for assigned readings in class - and they were returned covered with highlights, notes written in ink, etc. - the books were used/abused as text books. So giving them digital copies doesn't seem too far-fetched to avoid this either. It will probably be cheaper than replacing ruined pbooks. Get a deposit on the readers, or include the cost in the school fees, and cut your overhead to computer and coffee-maker maintenance.
|