BigShinyThing

This summer, all 90,000 volumes were transferred to other collections within the campus’s vast system in a radical rethink of what constitutes a modern place of reading. Last week a new public high school in Vail, Arizona became one of the first to opt out of supplying actual textbooks altogether in the hope that students will be more engaged by digital learning. All students have been assigned laptops instead and will read and submit most homework online.

The library says of the change, “While most people have been hugely supportive of this idea, some have been grieving over this iconic loss of the book as the means of scholarly communication.” To ease the transition, the administrators have removed the word ‘library’ from their vocabulary when referring to the Flawn Academic Center. When classes resume on 31st August, the space will be filled with comfy chairs for lounging, barstools for people watching and booths for group work. In addition to almost 250 desktop computers, there will be 75 laptops available for checkout, wireless Internet access, computer labs, software suites, a multimedia studio, a computer help desk, a repair shop and a cafe. In short, it will be a PC Paradise and not a library (literally ‘a place for books’) anymore.

The university argues that the change is simply one of practicality. “Libraries are about information and books were simply a way that information was packaged. But more information is being packaged online and we have a duty to provide access to [it],” says Judy Ashcroft, director of the Instructional Innovation and Assessment division at UT. Certainly a clinical attitude from someone with a clinical job title. The full story was reported in Christian Science Monitor this week.

This virtual book-burning isn’t just occurring in the States. Earlier this month, in the East End of London closed its doors for the last time. The library had been open since 1892 serving its multifareous community and many historic playwrights, scientists, and artists used it. The libary facade even holds a blue plaque fo Isaac Rosenberg, as the only surviving building associated with the artist and painter. The playwright Bernard Kops was brought to the building as a child and immortalised it in a play with a poem beginning:

“How often I went for warmth and a doze
The newspaper room whilst the world outside froze
And I took out my sardine sandwich feast
Whitechapel Library, Aldgate East”

The library will be replaced by an ‘Idea Store’ which will stock CDs and DVDs as well as books. One libary user told The Guardian of the change, “They’re throwing away a rich and important history, without even realising what they’re doing. It’s symptomatic of an unreflective, uncritical, consumerist culture. I find it really depressing.”

After all, how easy is it to re-read, reflect and relax with a website? Apart from this one, of course.