The Death of the Library? A Lunchtime Twitter Conversation

April 22nd, 2009 • Communities, Toronto Social Media

Yesterday, as lunchtime approached, I was reflecting on two things: a) how hungry I was; and b) a comment made on Monday night about the potential death of the library due to the growth of augmented reality, and the ability to have the information we need at our fingertips. As content moves into a digital form, the book, as a unit with a limited lifespan (due to decay, etc) seems to be one on the decline.

I thought this was worthy enough to have a discussion over, and so I posed a question out to my Twitter community, which read:

Interesting thought out of last night’s #refreshevents: what do we really lose by the death of the library?

As Twitter is a largely digital society of people, I expected answers leaning towards very little, or nothing. What I got was actually pretty surprising. Out of the 41 replies that I received on the topic, more than half of them defended the experience that a library offers, or the benefits that come from having a shared space like that. They included:

First thing that comes to mind is access to books for kids. I remember signing out 10-12 books at a time in my younger years.
Jon Lim

The best smell in the world, and a kick-ass numeric cataloging system. Otherwise? Not much. Digital persists more tenaciously through replication and indexing.
Noah Zerkin

if you get rid of libraries, then how do people who can’t afford the internet learn?
Share Sigma Chi

nothing compares to sitting down with a good book. Libraries let us have access to free literature. Digital versions are not free.
Clarisse Mussi

Certain content is much better in book format as it needs to be read curled up in a big comfy chair.
Adam Thody

Interesting stuff for sure. Of course, then there was the other side, or people who may have not have taken things quite as seriously. Excerpts include (left anonymous; if you want credit, just ask):

…You don’t need to keep a shrine to dead trees to offer services to a community.

…What was the library’s URL again?

…We also lose the notion of ‘Naughty Librarians’ Dear God No!

…Books are overrated. I can learn everything I need from the back of a cereal box. For example, did you know Trix are for kids?

Again, interesting stuff, but perhaps not as… academically appealing as some of the previous reasons.

Paige Dzenis brought up a great point I thought on the difference between print and digital:

There’s studies about how we interact with paper and digital differently; paper invites you in, digital becomes an extension of self, so the relationship (interactivity and engagement-wise) we enjoy when reading books etc on paper is hard to replicate on a screen

I think that’s incredibly valid, and one of the hardest things left for digital to tackle. The Kindle is a step in the direction of having a tactile reading device, but doesn’t quite tackle that gap. If we completely remove the paper experience, maybe people would learn how to adapt digital to fit their needs, but that’s an uncertainty that we can’t answer.

So what do I think? The library is a location that isn’t going to disappear. Between the fact that for many it’s the first contact in a community for many newcomers, a host of resources directly available for free, and helpful staffers who can point you in the right direction, the library serves a useful role for our society. It will certainly have to adapt to meet some changes – more eBook access, smart recommendations on site, an updating of content, access to different types of media – but I think the space is too valuable for us to lose.

What do you think? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

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