Quote:
Originally Posted by GlenBarrington
I think it's a shame, but libraries, especially public libraries, will find the struggle for survival very difficult in the future. Libraries really only make sense economically and culturally when knowledge, and intellectual property of any sort is rare and relatively expensive.
We are entering an era where knowledge and intellectual property has become commoditized. The issue isn't making sure everyone has access to this information by storing it in special treasure houses, it is now separating the valuable information from the useless.
In the past, any intellectual property encountered was a treasure that needed to be cared for and preserved. Now, it's as likely to be a nuisance as it is a treasure. Culturally, the internet has taken the place of the library. I'm not sure it's better, but it sure is different!
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I agree on your point that public libraries are no longer storehouses of rare treasures, but I still believe that libraries serve many important functions. For some people the library is their only connection to the internet or the best place they can go to print and make copies of papers. They also can provide many more useful public services. My local library offers free language learning programs, tutoring services for kids and adults, job skills classes, job boards, readings for kids, and book clubs. Iibraries are still great resources for the many who don't own computers or can't afford to buy a lot of books. For instance, when Warren Buffet became interested in investment, I think he was twelve, he went to his local library and read every book he could find on investment. Perhaps he could have done that today with the internet, but most or perhaps all lof the books he read were copyrighted. The library isn't just a place for books. It's a public resource that people without a lot of resources can draw from to better themselves.
University libraries are especially important because they house lots of cultural documents and archives. Librarians and archivists are especially skilled at organizing information as well as sifting through vast amounts of information to find relevant data. Their vast expertise and experience simply cannot be replaced by search techniques. They are invaluable to the research process. The also work to preserve, maintain, and digitize important books and other documents.
Perhaps the actual physical libraries will become increasingly unnecessary. Most of the services that public libraries offer could probably be done online. I guess we could online consult research librarians online as well. But I think closing our temples of knowledge would be tragic. Libraries are more than storehouses for books or public places offering public services. They are symbols and monuments to our faith in the power of knowledge, to our belief that its dissemination benefits us all, that it is above the petty concerns of profit or self-interest, that some sort of public culture, no matter how enfeebled, still exists. Our willingness to support libraries, and other public institutions, is a testament to the belief that the people in a nation or community are one, that their are fates somehow intertwined, that in a democratic culture some things, perhaps the most important things, belong to all the people.