Who's Using the Books?
We have over 20,000 books in our library. We also have a high speed network connection and approximately 80 computers available for students to use. We subscribe to nearly 50 online subscription databases, delivering periodical articles, encyclopedia entries, health and consumer information, statistical data, literary criticism, and biographies. We have a web-based online library catalog, which guides students to books in our collection. The catalog is easy to use (when the server isn't down), but getting students to use books is a never-ending challenge.
Students are reading fiction for pleasure, but our non-fiction collection doesn't get nearly the amount of circulation as it should. We have such a good print collection, but in the age of google and reliable high speed connections, the natural temptation for most students is to search the web for information. It's so hard to convince students that the books might have something that the electronic sources don't. Often we resort to a requirement of at least a book or two on a research project.
It's easy to see how libraries got into this situation. It's more challenging to see a way out that will really get students to appreciate books for their unique characteristics. The printed page is not dead, just overlooked. Who knows, maybe the electronic future will find computer displays emulating characteristics of the printed page. I just heard a story on NPR about how Siemens developed a paper-thin display. What if you could create an electronic book that actually looked and felt like a real book? I'm sure it's possible, and this would surely help to blur the lines between print and electronic resource. After all, who would have thought 20 years ago that movies could be created digitally and shown in a movie theater, where they would look as good as film? Now Hollywood has standardized a means of digital delivery of feature films, so lines are blurring left and right.
We have over 20,000 books in our library. We also have a high speed network connection and approximately 80 computers available for students to use. We subscribe to nearly 50 online subscription databases, delivering periodical articles, encyclopedia entries, health and consumer information, statistical data, literary criticism, and biographies. We have a web-based online library catalog, which guides students to books in our collection. The catalog is easy to use (when the server isn't down), but getting students to use books is a never-ending challenge.
Students are reading fiction for pleasure, but our non-fiction collection doesn't get nearly the amount of circulation as it should. We have such a good print collection, but in the age of google and reliable high speed connections, the natural temptation for most students is to search the web for information. It's so hard to convince students that the books might have something that the electronic sources don't. Often we resort to a requirement of at least a book or two on a research project.
It's easy to see how libraries got into this situation. It's more challenging to see a way out that will really get students to appreciate books for their unique characteristics. The printed page is not dead, just overlooked. Who knows, maybe the electronic future will find computer displays emulating characteristics of the printed page. I just heard a story on NPR about how Siemens developed a paper-thin display. What if you could create an electronic book that actually looked and felt like a real book? I'm sure it's possible, and this would surely help to blur the lines between print and electronic resource. After all, who would have thought 20 years ago that movies could be created digitally and shown in a movie theater, where they would look as good as film? Now Hollywood has standardized a means of digital delivery of feature films, so lines are blurring left and right.
posted by Armin Heurich at Saturday, October 15, 2005
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