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For colleges it's a very different story, imho. Legolas Send a noteboard - 11/09/2009 06:24:47 PM
I'm on my fifth year of college (not all of it has been full time, I've transferred schools, taken semesters off, etc) yet I've never checked out a book from any of the three libraries I've had access to. This isn't a result of lack of availability; my school has a 7 story library. It's not a result of laziness, either. I have a good GPA, and work hard.

This may have to do with your major - something computer science, isn't it? I can assure you that in the humanities you most certainly need the libraries - whenever you have to write a paper, a project, etc. And I'd think it's rather hard to write a master's thesis in any major without library books, or at least printed scientific magazines. Many scientific magazines have put their archives on sites like JSTOR, but not remotely all.

That's for the actual work itself; personally I've also used my university library for reading about things that weren't in the curriculum but that I found interesting. I guess that's a matter of preference.
The fact is, library books just aren't needed. Loving books for the nostalgia factor, tactile feel, and all that kind of stuff is fine for personal use, but that shouldn't factor into the decision making process of a school. A library is supposed to be about learning and education, and every one I've been in has been used as little more than a place to sit and type on a laptop. Or take a nap. Or get a coffee. As I mentioned earlier, my school has a seven story library. It's enormous, and yet I always have a hard time finding a place to sit. Why? Because it's jam packed full of books no one ever needs.

You're probably right that looking towards the future, more space will be needed in libraries for sitting and working at computers, or group works, and less for physical books. Libraries may find it's a better use of space to put many of the less important books in their stacks or depots, from where they can still be fetched when needed. But selling them on a large scale? That's not a good idea.
I definitely think school libraries could do better than to fill themselves with expensive books, but I'm not really sure what they should do with themselves.

High school libraries certainly could. College ones, not so much.
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Prep School deems books an "outdated technology" - 11/09/2009 04:00:08 PM 1367 Views
I find this awesome. - 11/09/2009 04:27:54 PM 776 Views
Call me archaic, but... - 12/09/2009 04:08:36 PM 765 Views
I think they should have done both. - 11/09/2009 04:36:53 PM 1115 Views
Ditto *NM* - 12/09/2009 03:39:19 PM 400 Views
I have to go with Tom on this one. *NM* - 12/09/2009 04:09:04 PM 439 Views
Nicely put. *NM* - 15/09/2009 07:15:39 PM 356 Views
what heresy - 11/09/2009 06:02:54 PM 765 Views
I think this is probably a good decision. - 11/09/2009 06:14:28 PM 983 Views
For colleges it's a very different story, imho. - 11/09/2009 06:24:47 PM 1011 Views
Re: For colleges it's a very different story, imho. - 11/09/2009 06:41:20 PM 879 Views
You're betraying your lack of humanities (ha!) here. - 11/09/2009 07:25:12 PM 921 Views
Re: You're betraying your lack of humanities (ha!) here. - 12/09/2009 02:48:34 AM 755 Views
*gives you a scanner and a keyboard* Have fun. - 12/09/2009 04:57:58 AM 827 Views
Re: cool, thanks for the free scanner, but... - 12/09/2009 11:01:22 PM 957 Views
Right. And how many books have they digitized? - 12/09/2009 11:30:59 PM 742 Views
Re: About 8 million - 13/09/2009 02:09:09 AM 897 Views
The internet can evolve, yes, but it has a long way to go. - 11/09/2009 07:45:10 PM 901 Views
They still have physical classrooms, and they're whining about "outdated technology"? Pfft. *NM* - 11/09/2009 06:32:25 PM 426 Views
You say that sarcastically, but for the most part it's true. - 11/09/2009 06:48:35 PM 798 Views
You write that and its from the point of view of lecture - 11/09/2009 07:15:21 PM 834 Views
That, my friend, is precisely my point. *NM* - 11/09/2009 07:23:21 PM 415 Views
Appalling. - 11/09/2009 07:16:13 PM 914 Views
Apparently - 11/09/2009 07:22:50 PM 872 Views
Yeah, you can actually. Have you tried curling up with an eBook reader? - 11/09/2009 09:05:16 PM 857 Views
Keeps you warm better than a book *NM* - 12/09/2009 12:51:04 AM 378 Views
it's still not the same. - 12/09/2009 03:45:10 PM 833 Views
Ignorance. - 15/09/2009 06:08:15 PM 1099 Views
Just because you're unnaturally attuned to "new" things doesn't mean everyone is. - 13/09/2009 12:59:19 AM 768 Views
Your post was beyond stupid. - 15/09/2009 06:01:11 PM 843 Views
Re: Prep School deems books an "outdated technology" - 12/09/2009 01:00:48 PM 958 Views
Some Prep School, and some students, hence "Some Prep School. " - 12/09/2009 02:04:38 PM 876 Views
bah, who needs to learn how to write a bibliography - 12/09/2009 03:47:32 PM 677 Views
Not really. - 12/09/2009 11:33:46 PM 801 Views

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