Fodder for the LIS people in the audience

[delphipsmith]

[Warning: Marginally bitter rant ahead]

Yet another entry in the "libraries are dead" debate. I note parenthetically that certain people's statements at EduCause have taken on zombie status and WILL NOT DIE, viz. and to wit, making it even unto the hallowed halls of the New York Times and being referenced as supporting evidence by this jerkwad *ahem* sorry, James Tracy of Cushing Academy. Hell, let's just put all "those old pulpy devices" out of their mizry and burn 'em right now. Pffffft. Wonder what CA's enrollment will be four years from now.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against digital. But there is flat-out no way the digital repository(ies) out there are sufficient to replace print, Google Scholar and the Gutenberg Project notwithstanding. I pity those CA students. They'll be leaving prep school with a completely distorted view of research, literature, and Western civilization in general.

Oh wait -- it's a prep school (tuition $32K per year, $44K for boarders -- plus that $1500 "technology fee" which probably goes to fund their new all-digital "library"). They probably leave with that anyway.

Comments

[ennyousai.livejournal.com]

I agree that there's a distorted view of the importance of digital. I think it's useful, and definitely an important component, but when you look at *all* of the material out there in print, it's just...no. Going "all digital" is just not feasible.

[anna-bird.livejournal.com]

AGH AGH AGH. As a bibliophile, yes, I'm biased. I love books. But I love new technology, too. And I don't see how anyone (i.e. Cushing moron) can just say "Okay everyone, we've decided this format is obsolete, time to switch READY GO" and not be universally guffawed at by colleagues.

But my biggest problem with this is the blithe assumption that all students have devices that can access e-texts. In my library, the ebooks must be accessed using a college ID or a campus computer. So if a student doesn't have the funds for internet or a computer or an e-reader, are they just out of luck if libraries go all-digital? (Granted, I could see this becoming less of a problem. Since text books are so expensive, students might decide it's cheaper to invest in a laptop/e-reader and use e-textbooks than shell out for something they'll sell back in four months. BUT THEN AGAIN: most of our institutional ebooks only allow five simultaneous users! The argument could go back and forth forever!)

We do have kindles/e-readers for circulation at our library. There's currently a six-to-twelve month waiting list, I believe.

(Hey, what if there's an internet or website outage? No need to call IT for that physical book... Okay, okay. /luddite)