Welcome to the scattered thoughts of a haunted writer with too little time. I can't guarantee anything profound or particularly innovative here, but I hope I can share my journey and commiserate with other authors, artists, and anyone else who knows the manic joy of chaos and creativity.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Now what about libraries?
Here we go kids. The great debate over the future of the traditional library vs. the digital library has taken off in the "pages" of the New York Times. Several interesting people weighing in on the topic. What do you think?
I agree with the guy who said libraries need books until every book is digitized. Interesting topic. (I love reading books electronically, but that doesn't meant I won't read a book if it's only in print.)
I think there's going to be room for both, like now. Even the little kids today are growing up with picture books in their hands as well as e-readers. I think and hope they'll learn to love both.
My first thought is that economically disadvantaged kids would be disproportionately (and adversely) affected. Not everyone has computers or e-readers in their homes. I think there will always be a place for physical books. I too see digital books as adding one more way to read and access information, not a replacement for what we have.
Interesting topic - it really makes one think. We of the "before technological advances" appreciate books more so than the students and children of today. Being old-school but also knowing we are living in the technological age that we do, I feel there has to be a place for both. Too many folks of our generation who can't really give up using real books for teaching, but on the other hand, we all know that eventually, the paper books will be a thing of the past. I don't see it happening in the next few years but perhaps in the next hundred or so that we won't have any books in print or if we do, they will be books that could never be digitized or put in a time capsule or something. I wouldn't want to be without books in print but I could be adaptable to reading digitized books at the same time.
If we want our kids to learn, we have to keep up with the times and if that means upgrading the school libraries so they are now electronically equipped, then that is what we must do.
I agree with the guy who said libraries need books until every book is digitized. Interesting topic. (I love reading books electronically, but that doesn't meant I won't read a book if it's only in print.)
ReplyDeleteI think there's going to be room for both, like now. Even the little kids today are growing up with picture books in their hands as well as e-readers. I think and hope they'll learn to love both.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought is that economically disadvantaged kids would be disproportionately (and adversely) affected. Not everyone has computers or e-readers in their homes. I think there will always be a place for physical books. I too see digital books as adding one more way to read and access information, not a replacement for what we have.
ReplyDeleteInteresting topic - it really makes one think. We of the "before technological advances" appreciate books more so than the students and children of today. Being old-school but also knowing we are living in the technological age that we do, I feel there has to be a place for both. Too many folks of our generation who can't really give up using real books for teaching, but on the other hand, we all know that eventually, the paper books will be a thing of the past. I don't see it happening in the next few years but perhaps in the next hundred or so that we won't have any books in print or if we do, they will be books that could never be digitized or put in a time capsule or something. I wouldn't want to be without books in print but I could be adaptable to reading digitized books at the same time.
ReplyDeleteIf we want our kids to learn, we have to keep up with the times and if that means upgrading the school libraries so they are now electronically equipped, then that is what we must do.
Thanks for posting this - E :)