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Old 05-06-2008, 09:17 AM   #11
kovidgoyal
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Taylor514ce View Post
I'm interested in you reasoning. Please explain why you feel this way, I'm curious.
I'm extrapolating from my experiences. I used to frequent libraries and bring home big stacks of books to read over the next month. Now I find that locating the books and fetching them online is just so much easier. Of course, at the moment online repositories are not very complete, so I still have to go to a library once in a while, but that will change with time.

Then there's the economic side of things. If you consider a library to be an institution that facilitates access to books (and other media) for the community, this can be done in a ore efficient and cost-effective manner online. The only way I see the traditional neighborhood library surviving is if it morphs into a community center, that just happens to have a few cupboards of books.

As Harry pointed out, there will still be the great national archives of original sources and rare publications, but, IMO, the neighborhood library, as a library, is doomed.
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