Friday, September 12, 2008
Physical and Digital Research
The library is both physical and digital. You can conduct research physically inside the library building using books and other print materials, or, you can do research completely digitally using only a computer. When you are using the library website and electronic resources you are "inside" the digital library. More and more of library collections (books, periodicals, government documents, maps, etc.) are becoming digitized. Do we still need a physical library? In the future, when all books are scanned electronically and become available through the web, will we need library buildings? What are the advantages and disadvantages of physical and digital research?
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9 comments:
Although I have become fairly adept in utilizing the various forms of the electronic media available, I have to admit though when it comes to books I'm a purest. Oh I have a fairly eclectic variety of literature on my computers but my library is old fashioned paper. My wife and friends have said our/your house is insulated with books. Well we have a 100+ year old house in frigid MT. Is an extra 6-8 in. such a bad idea?
Libraries and storage of knowledge in general will always be the old fashioned way. There have been and will continue to be advances in storage and retrieval forms of knowledge and digital storage and retrieval has many advantages, a few would include; automatic searches with cross ref. hyperlinks, less physical space, ability to hear and increase text size (a favorite of mine), physical holding not always necessary, copies of any length are fairly easy to come by and corrections are easily made. That being said there is many disadvantages as well incl.; the majority of people just can't or won't read much more than a page of text without printing it out, so very little paper is saved and the purpose for digitizing a text becomes a straw man argument. In the past it was thought all printed data would be digitized by now, instead we have more printed matter than ever before. Our libraries will never become completely digitized; there just isn't much interest in getting it done. Authenticity of texts and the rights of authors/publishers are easily compromised with digital formats. digital books from libraries are certainly easier to steal. The ability to read a book depends on our eyes which last approx 60+ years. The ability to read a digital book takes hardware that lasts?? What happens to a storage device with a terrabyte of books on it gets damaged? It's hard to "hack" a traditional book. a library of digital only media definitely doesn't look, feel or smell nearly as satisfying.
Once everything has become electronic, I think the use of libraries will be outdated. They will no longer need them and they should use the space for a computer lab. Especially since the only way to get this material will be electronically. However, until that happens, and after the problems have been worked out, the need for a library is still here,
I believe that one day we will be able to access all of the information that is held in a library over a computer. I see no downfall with this because you could just search for what exacitly what you are looking for on the internet and you will be able to find it. In a library you would have to search out different sources to get what you wanted. Andrew Koski
I think a large building that is always quiet with countless hidden rooms, chairs, desks, and other nooks and crannies is and always will be a valuable asset to any community. I think it is safe to say that the amount of books accessed within libraries everywhere has drastically decreased over the last decade+. If all books were digitized, I cannot say how many of my most favorite fiction novels I would never have read. However, as far as research is concerned, It is insanely easier to "google it" (whatever the subject may be) and come up with more sources that one can use in a fraction of a second. Perhaps someday, when the world's love for our libraries is lost, they will no longer be necessary, but I hope I don't live to see that day.
I think most of the time it is convenient to go to your computer to look up something. But books have been around for SO long, and in the event the entire internet crashes or something extreme of that nature, we will still need our hard copies of books where a lot of information on the internet originated. Some prefer reading a book to searching on the internet, and sometimes the internet is not available to take with you everywhere. It is very handy to have a book physically with you and open to where you left off and continue reading wherever you please.
We are being able to do works in electronical way which is easier and convenient day by day.Example:we can research digitally rather going to library bulidinggs and reading books.But does that mean people have abondoned going to library for acquiring knowledge? of course not. Reading books in a library is like riding a bicycle no matter what other automobiles have been invented. It has its own uniqueness. Going page to page through a book and underlining the sentences you like is really pleasurable activity, which can't be done through the digitalized technique.
We don't need a physical library, but I think many would disagree. It has a lot to do with things that people are used to. A lot of people are still very accustomed to getting their information via a "hard copy" in an actual library, whereas the newer generations are much more comfortable in getting their information completely electronically. I think that very soon all books, magazines, etc will be scanned and available online (as many are today), but whether or not we deter from the actual presence of a library on a solid piece of ground is another question. I completely agree with a lot of the other comments regarding the ease of changing writings that are electronic but I think a big part of this is the social aspect of who we are. A big part of who we are as humans is our social behaviour and that is the primary reason why we will continue to see physical libraries in the future for a long time.
Mike Pasque
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