Are libraries finished?

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

yes.

Kinda like University too. It's a historical accident and makes no sense now that information is so widespread and readily available to all. Of course, being forced into it in exchange for a paper which says are elligible to getting a big paycheck may be more convincing than studying by yourself rather than hanging around in facebook all day long...

Oh I see, first it's close libraries, and now it's do away with universities. Why not go for a triple whammy, and stop teaching people how to read? That should do the trick!

[jbcohen]

My old undergraduate is making use of internet technology on campus expecially during winters when students tend to get snowed in their dorms. They tell me that they have a campus issued internet connection and desktop PC in every dorm room that students can use to attend classes. So in a sense they have sort of done away with the college. An old pal of mine tells me in addition to this in his undergraduate they have closed the library and made the entire library available on line to all students 24x7x365.

I am waiting for someone to figure out how to feed people via the internet <laughing>.

[shorttimer1]

I was in a library yesterday picking up a book and was talking to the librarian. It is a big library and she said they are getting more and more demand for eBooks. Another thing she told me is some libraries can lend out eBooks to library card holders that are not in their county but some libraries cannot. In our state most libraries will let you sign up for a card for a library outside of the county you live in as long as you live in the state. She also said our county has about 3200 eBooks. This is only eBooks and not audio books.

[Namekuseijin]

@boxcorner
BTW, Universities grew out of large medieval libs, which used to be the repository of all knowledge. The internet is such place now, but it's got not just knowledge but also much noise, so filters are necessary for people to separate useful knowledge from all the junk. That's the only thing which may still deem Universities worthwhile.

of course, before going to University or indeed search for knowledge by yourself in the vastness of cyberspace, you need to learn to read and how to interpret what you read. That's the goal of basic schools and teachers so I don't think they should go.

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I am waiting for someone to figure out how to feed people via the internet <laughing>.

besides ordering?

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

... They tell me that they have a campus issued internet connection and desktop PC in every dorm room that students can use to attend classes. So in a sense they have sort of done away with the college. An old pal of mine tells me in addition to this in his undergraduate they have closed the library and made the entire library available on line to all students 24x7x365 ...

The UK has its Open University, which has offered distance learning courses since 1971, and of course it makes extensive use of the Internet, but students still have to spend a certain amount of time each year on campus, to interact with academics and participate in group practical work.

Whilst a vast amount of information for students is available on the Internet, there is still a humongous amount that is not. Clearly, whether or not the amount of on-line information is sufficient, depends on the discipline being studied. For example, The British Library has put 30,000 items on-line. Does that seem a lot?

Spoiler:

The British Library holds 14 million books, 920,000 journal and newspaper titles, 58 million patents, 3 million sound recordings, and much more. Your coffee will get cold, waiting for that lot to be put on-line.

British Library to offer free ebook downloads
The Sunday Times - 7 February 2010

"More than 65,000 19th-century works of fiction from the British Library’s collection are to be made available for free downloads by the public from this spring."

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

... Universities grew out of large medieval libs, which used to be the repository of all knowledge. The internet is such place now, but it's got not just knowledge but also much noise, so filters are necessary for people to separate useful knowledge from all the junk. That's the only thing which may still deem Universities worthwhile.

of course, before going to University or indeed search for knowledge by yourself in the vastness of cyberspace, you need to learn to read and how to interpret what you read. That's the goal of basic schools and teachers so I don't think they should go.

You seem to be saying, the Internet supersedes all universities, they only serve to teach students how to interpret information gleaned from the Internet, and it is the responsibility of "basic schools and teachers" to teach students to interpret what they read. That seems illogical to me.

[Namekuseijin]

I don't expect my coffee to see the day when most information is digitized, but it's certainly doable in a life-time -- how many of those 30.000 titles were digitized and online just 10 years ago? Heck, when I was born talking about credit cards, photorealistic videogames, internet or smartphones would have anyone besides scifi authors jailed in some mental institution.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

... when I was born talking about credit cards, photorealistic videogames, internet or smartphones would have anyone besides scifi authors jailed in some mental institution.

Anyone born talking about credit cards, photorealistic videogames, internet or smartphones would surely raise a few eyebrows, and make small fortune for their parents, but consigning witnesses of such a miraculous event to a mental institution does seem a bit extreme.

[Namekuseijin]

ah, the price of rushing... stick a colon in there, dude...

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

ah, the price of rushing... stick a colon in there, dude...

"... when I was born: talking about credit cards, photorealistic videogames, internet or smartphones would have anyone besides scifi authors jailed in some mental institution."

So, nobody in their right mind read sci-fi books.

[Namekuseijin]

stick fans and geeks in there too.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

stick fans and geeks in there too.

"... when I was born: talking about credit cards, photorealistic videogames, internet or smartphones would have anyone besides scifi authors, fans and geeks jailed in some mental institution."

Ignoring the earliest science fiction, European science fiction and film have been around since 19th Century. Both had and have their fans. Some people consider Turing to have been a geek.

[Namekuseijin]

You're reading way too much into it.

[SolRaven]

I haven't been in any of my local branches without them having a decent, or even packed, amount of people. Most of them are on the computers, but there is still a line to check out books.

My favorite branch is also one of their smallest. It's right on the beach and shares the same parking lot for the beach. It's impossible for them to keep sand off of their floors in that branch.

[Giggleton]

It's a little premature to be talking about whether or not librarys are dead IMO. There are quite a few people who still do not have access to any book they could ever want at any time. For this reason alone librarys serve an essential purpose.

What I haven't been understanding is why our local governments haven't just given their libraries a mandate to share everything with everyone. Sure there'd be a big hullabaloo from numerous sources, but I firmly believe that the good of free access to information far outweighs any of the potential negative consequences such an act would cause, and there are many to be sure but if you have to do something sometime, why not do it now?

When 90% of readers are reading 90% digitally will our librarys be useful?

Spaces for community meetings, classes for community education... All that is required is a space. That space does not need to be called a library.

What exactly is a library?