It is still exciting to go to the library.
Do you remember your first trip there? I remember the grown-up responsibility to take good care of the books I had borrowed and how heavily it weighed upon my little shoulders. It also felt like quite a privilege. But I sometimes took grief for my addiction to reading. My siblings called me a "house plant," because I stayed inside and read a lot. And I know that there are millions of us out there who love libraries and the treasured books the warm-faced ladies lent us.
As institutions, they were forced to modernize, to compete for information gatherers' loyalties. Over the years, as institutions libraries have often felt threatened by other information media. But this time there may be good reason for concern, even optimism.
With a hat-tip to Maud Newton, this feature caught my attention. Guardian Unlimited published this article along for us to think about: "Libraries begin uncertain new chapter" is the headline. To quote from the story:
Chris Alden Wednesday February 22, 2006Tags: library books Information Age
With internet companies such as Google becoming more involved in digitising content, what role does the public library have in today's web-driven society? When John Dolan, the new libraries champion for England, began trying to drag the library service into the digital age, the dictionary of internet terms was a very different book. "Blogs" hadn't been invented, "geek" was still a term of abuse, and as for "Google", it had been in business for just two months.With internet companies such as Google becoming more involved in digitising content, what role does the public library have in today's web-driven society? Chris Alden Wednesday February 22, 2006 The Guardian When John Dolan, the new libraries champion for England, began trying to drag the library service into the digital age, the dictionary of internet terms was a very different book. "Blogs" hadn't been invented, "geek" was still a term of abuse, and as for "Google", it had been in business for just two months. . . . Dolan reckons it's important for people to see the pace of change as an opportunity for communities to create varied e-content."We've just celebrated the 250th anniversary of Dr Johnson's dictionary," he says. "That was a turning point in an era that resulted in many, many books being published. What we've got here is turning points, rapidly advancing ones, in the creation of a huge amount of resources. "In the virtual library you're also providing the opportunity for people to debate, join dialogue, to disagree. And that's the joy of the library: rather than a straight provider, it's a place of debate and democracy."
My "topical post" today at South by Southwest is about the current debate over security at our seaports.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment