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Originally Posted by sommerpears
I agree with one of the previous posts - that you can't blame the government or politicians for slashing budget cuts where they have when you look at the popularity of that service. I'm not saying that libraries should be dissolved but realistically only a handful of people still regularly go to libraries- even less if they are off-campus ones.
For me, as a child, libraries have always been uncomfortable. I have always had a passion for reading but walking into libraries has always enacted a bit of a cold chill down my spine. The confusing rows and rows of archived books (that never seem to make any chronological sense) and the stiff silence of the ambiance, all were major deterrents for me. Now to compare that to me sitting cozily at my favorite coffee shop with my laptop, downloading a scholarly article or novel.
It is a new technological age - where information and novels can be downloaded at a click of the button, bought new or old for cheap, or streamed online. Is it not better that information has become so avidly available for people?
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Wow, my sympathies that your early experiences with libraries were so uncomfortable. Mine were the total opposite - I loved the library, loved the slightly musty smell, loved the special hushed feeling, loved all the books, and the librarians who would talk about them with me. Libraries (and my parents) were what got me hooked on reading. As I've gotten older, I admit I wish I could take my mug of tea or coffee into the library, but I manage. And, my husband was the same, and our son too.
And your experience of "only a handful of people" using libraries now is completely different than my experience too. Every time I walk in one of my four "sort-of-local" libraries (my local county and city libraries and the city and county libraries where my son lives a couple of hours away) it is packed. And, even more packed as hours get cut back. Granted, I'm not there in the middle of a weekday, but on the weeknights and weekends that have survived budget cuts, they are packed. People reading, people using the computers, people browsing the stacks, long checkout lines, kids' programs on the weekend...
More ready availability of info via the Internet is great, but based on my four anecdotal little data points, libraries are still very much used.