The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 16, April 17, 2005, Article 21

DO LIBRARIES STILL MATTER?

Joel Orosz forwarded an article on whether libraries still matter.
He writes: "... interesting conclusions from the Carnegie corporation
of New York, the foundation that helped to build 2,509 libraries
around the world!"

"In the era of the Internet, will we still go to libraries to borrow
books and do research? The answer seems to be a resounding
yes, because libraries are more than just a place to keep volumes
on dusty shelves.

Libraries are supposed to be quiet, but it#39;s hard to imagine a
place causing more noise than the new central branch of the
Seattle Public Library, which sits with its off-kilter geometry
and brightly colored interiors at the heart of a city mainly
associated with digital technology."

"The question now is whether this futuristic structure is
outdated already—whether, in fact, it was outdated even
while it was on the drawing board."

“Within two decades,” says Michael A. Keller, Stanford
University#39;s head librarian, “most of the world#39;s knowledge
will be digitized and available, one hopes for free reading on
the Internet, just as there is free reading in libraries today.”

"Can that really be possible? If so, where exactly does it
leave libraries? More important, where does it leave culture?
On the one hand, the digital revolution represents the ultimate
democratization of knowledge and information, of which
Carnegie likely would have approved wholeheartedly. On
the other hand, libraries perform an essential function in
preserving, organizing and to some extent validating our
collective knowledge. They are traditionally seen as a pillar
of democracy."

Nobody can reliably predict the far-off future, but for
libraries, the digital information revolution raises a host of
existential questions about the present. In this day of
Amazon, the Internet, hundreds of cable channels and
ubiquitous computing, what is the role of the institutions
Andrew Carnegie thought were so important that he
devoted himself and a good bit of his fortune to
propagating them?"

To read the full article, see: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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