This brought back memories of the Calgary library my parents took me to when I was a kid, almost 50 years ago. It was a squarish building, built in cedar log style, with the second level raised up over a semi-submerged basement. On Saturday mornings, in the winter, we would go there all bundled up in our parkas and heavy boots (this was pre-Global Warming), and then leave our winter clothes at the door to descend to the very warm basement for weekly story time.
It wasn’t the same when they opened up the new branch library 10 years later as just another glass storefront in the local shopping mall.
The other day my 20-year-old daughter (home from college) and I went to the Tempe library. As a member of the first fully digital generation, she sees no reason to ever again buy a physical recording of music or even a physical book. She sees the clutter that books and CDs and videotapes and DVD have created in her parent’s life, and wants no part of it. She’s perfectly happy to download almost all the information in her life. As we approached the building, she asked me, “What will happen to libraries when everything is digital?” I mumbled something about people still needing a place to visit to share knowledge, but one thing I know, it will never be the same.
If that ever really happens, just shoot me.
Digital books stink, because you cannot ever easily quickly see “everything” at a glance at once. There is LOTS of scrolling and searching involved, whereas you can flip to a page quickly. And you can’t see the “whole context” surrounding 1 page quickly. Yet why bother printing yourself an entire book? It’s a pain, and you’ll probably find you have a bum printer along the way. Never mind how its bound or not; speaking of “mess”.