physical vs. electronic books
So I was walking home, and started thinking about how people are going a bit nutty over electronic books. They are all like, "OMG these digital books will take over everything and libraries will DIE!" Here's why I think it's not a concern.
Physical and digital books can co-exist. It doesn't have to be one or the other. I think historically people have been freaked out that physical books are going out of style (due to radio, tv, etc.) but it's never happened. There seems to be a demand for both, so I think physical books will stick around.
A more interesting thought is that I don't think libraries will be much affected if physical books are phased out. After the initial change, things would be basically the same. Librarians deal with information packages, whether in the form of books, digital media, DVDs, electronic journals, or the like. Even if we completely switched over to digital books, we'd still need a collection development librarian to select the books, a cataloger to make records and add appropriate metadata and reference librarians to help patrons find the information they want. Libraries fill an information need and serve as a necessary community resource. In this exciting digital age, we need libraries more than ever! : D
Physical and digital books can co-exist. It doesn't have to be one or the other. I think historically people have been freaked out that physical books are going out of style (due to radio, tv, etc.) but it's never happened. There seems to be a demand for both, so I think physical books will stick around.
A more interesting thought is that I don't think libraries will be much affected if physical books are phased out. After the initial change, things would be basically the same. Librarians deal with information packages, whether in the form of books, digital media, DVDs, electronic journals, or the like. Even if we completely switched over to digital books, we'd still need a collection development librarian to select the books, a cataloger to make records and add appropriate metadata and reference librarians to help patrons find the information they want. Libraries fill an information need and serve as a necessary community resource. In this exciting digital age, we need libraries more than ever! : D