September 9, 2009
-
Electronic Libraries?
And speaking of things digital, there is a story in the Boston Globe about the Cushing Academy doing away with its library of hardback and paperback books in favor of a digital library.
"This year, after having amassed a collection of more than 20,000 books, officials at the pristine campus about 90 minutes west of Boston have decided the 144-year-old school no longer needs a traditional library." The academy's administrators have already given away more than half of it's library holdings. They intend to replace them with an assortment of electronic book readers. The article specifically mentions Amazon's Kindle and a counterpart made by Sony. Others may follow. They see the future as digital.
“When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books,’’ said James Tracy, headmaster of Cushing and chief promoter of the bookless campus. He believes that the "old pulpy devices that have transmitted information since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 1400s" limit the size of the library and how many people it can serve. He intends to replace the 20,000 paper books with more than a million ebooks.
Of course not everyone on the campus is in favor of this change, but the administration says that the books aren't being used often enough to justify the expense of keeping them around. And many students say that while they use the library as a quiet place where they can study, they almost never browse the book stacks.
Is this the beginning of a new trend?
Comments (5)
sadly, it prbly is....
I hope not. While ebooks would be a great addition to any library, I don't think they are ready to replace it.
Enter exhibit A - the recent Kindle fiasco.
@radicalramblings - I'm not sure what Kindle "fiasco" you're talking about. It is true that Amazon was "reposessing" certain books that were sold illegally and reimbursing the unsuspecting buyers, but that practice has been stopped in favor of letting unsuspecting buyers keep their stolen property.
It is also true that the Kindle doesn't have a color option, but neither do any other e-readers on the market. Color is in development and will be on the market in about two years. That will certainly be a boon to text book publishers. And all ereaders have a problem with ruggedness. They need to be able to take a real beating before they are ready for the student population.
But where is the fiasco?
@thereluctantsinger -
You're right. Deleting books that people purchased legally through a legal company, without notice, and deleting all of their personal notes in the process isn't a fiasco. I don't know what I could have possibly been thinking. Everyone knows that if you purchase a physical book at a store and it turns out later that the bookstore printed the copies illegally, it can just magically disappear from your bookshelf without warning. No difference in electronic books I suppose.
@radicalramblings - Well I'll admit that it did create a public relations and media nightmare for Amazon, but what you don't seem to be aware of is that Amazon really didn't have much choice at the time, because of the way agreements with the publishers and rightful copyright holders were structured. They would have been subject to legal action themselves for illegal distribution of that material had they not taken the action they did. All those agreements are now out the window, and similar matters are now being handled differently. As for people's personal notes, there weren't that many to begin with, and those who were affected can have their notes recovered through Amazon's server backups.
I would also point out that Amazon gave each individual a full refund of their purchase price, before the problem ever became known to the media. I'd like to see you get a refund if you unknowingly buy a stolen car and the police repossess it and return it to its rightful owner.
But more than that, this incident doesn't in any way hinder the use of digital libraries. Your own public library probably offers ebooks for loan right now. And guess what: they self destruct when the loan period expires, because the agreement with the publishers is that they can not give copies away. They can only loan them just as if they were hardcopy books. Furthermore, they can only lend a certain number of copies out at one time.
Oh, by the way, I will forgive your attempt at sarcasm where none was required. Most people would simply have left a proper comment without the unnecessary ridicule and sneering comments, but I suppose we do have to be a little understanding and tolerant of our youth. They do have to learn, however, that attitudes like that can only result in them becoming friendless and growing old alone.
Comments are closed.