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What Will Become of the Library?


Society & Culture  (tags: libraries, internet, computer age, budget cuts, education, humans, society, sadness, ethics, family )

Carrie
- 1128 days ago - slate.com
A library without books was once unthinkable. Now it seems almost inevitable. Libraries will only survive if the communities they serve want and need them to.



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Comments

natasha s (714)
Thursday April 24, 2014, 3:36 pm
Love libraries+the smell of the books when you walk in. Every week i drop in one very close to me+am thrilled to say it's always jam packed in there--not a seat to be had. No way this one is closing--thank god. I also find many other libraries around to be very busy so i guess it depends where one lives. It will be a very sad dark day when/if they become obsolete but i highly doubt it. Thx Carrie
 

Past Member (0)
Thursday April 24, 2014, 4:17 pm
I have always loved the library and spent a lot of time there growing up, the library is still a treasure and one we definitely need. We must save our libraries.
 

Ted W (135)
Friday April 25, 2014, 2:39 am
Noted! Where I live there isnt much of a library (rural Texas) but when i was young I tiook advntage of what library was here!! Thanks Carrie! :))
 

Lona Goudswaard (86)
Friday April 25, 2014, 8:30 am
Thanks Carrie for this very interesting article. Libraries being closed and books disappearing from sight is a global phenomenon and one that makes me very sad. I admit to having an e-reader, but only because there is a definite end to the shelf space I have where books are already double stacked and I travel a lot. But I could never do without books. Whenever I enter an 'old-fashioned' library, especially a large and old one at a university, I feel humbled and in awe. No room filled with computers has ever been able to do that. The physical presence of a book gives the content an extra dimension. The feel, the smell of the paper, the size and weight, the colour... all add to the enjoyment of a book. And shelved books add to the enjoyment of a library. I don't mind that libraries start to offer more and more things besides books, that is necessary for their survival, but please, don't take all the books from sight or away completely. Without books a library simply isn't a library.
 

GGmaSAway D (191)
Friday April 25, 2014, 9:34 am
A free internet has helped the decline of physical books...an Internet that's no longer free may extend their lives. The poor, seniors, those disabled won't have the money for Internet, so will have to go back to reading physical books.
 

Lyn Z (300)
Friday April 25, 2014, 5:47 pm
I like holding a book & turning the pages (even if I do fall asleep sometimes while reading)
 

Past Member (0)
Saturday April 26, 2014, 9:46 am
The library has always been my home-away-from-home. I can download books onto my iPad, but I have to buy them, and my feeble old eyes can't handle staring at a computer screen as long as they used to. To paraphrase Charleton Heston, "You can take my library book when you pry it from my cold, dead hands." OK, slightly overstated. But if real books are good enough for Captain Kirk, they're good enough for me.
 

Elizabeth M (65)
Saturday April 26, 2014, 6:09 pm
Noted with thanks Carrie.
I love the libraries, and hope beyond hope that we do not loose them all. I love to hold an actual book and feel the paper, and just find it easier to read and relax.
 

. (0)
Sunday April 27, 2014, 11:55 am
When the written word disappears on paper, the culture, and society will suffer.
 

Past Member (0)
Monday April 28, 2014, 9:02 am
Here is a relevant story on Care2:

http://www.care2.com/causes/5-ways-books-improve-our-lives-and-make-us-better-people.html
 
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