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Re: For colleges it's a very different story, imho. Aemon Send a noteboard - 11/09/2009 06:41:20 PM
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.


Yeah, I don't need it as much because I'm Computer Science. That's definitely true. The only reason people in the humanities need libraries, though, is because the teachers say they need libraries. Don't think for a minute, though, that 99% of the humanities students out there don't write their papers straight from Wikipedia. ;) You're probably right about the theses for now, but the only reason we need books for "credible sources" is because that's the understood method for dispensing important information for now. You publish your work. There's no reason that work can't be published on the internet though.

Still, I agree. For now, someone writing a serious paper probably would need reference books.

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.


Sure, but it's not the library's primary goal to supply you with interesting reading. It's there to educate you. I don't doubt that some people still want books, I just don't think that should be high on the school's list of priorities when making decisions about its library. If a library could educate students better with no books, it should get rid of them, in spite of the fact that some people (like yourself) will miss them.

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.


Perhaps that would be a better option for now. It seems to me that you can't adequately replace library books with another solution for the time being, but they just seem such a waste. So very few people at the average school actually get any use out of them. It doesn't seem worth the millions of dollars it costs to purchase, store, and care for all those books.
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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 881 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 834 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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