<p>By training, I am both a librarian and college professor. I am also an inveterate book collector for certain things near and dear to my heart, especially Tolkien and other early fantasy writers. So books and libraries have both professional and personal meaning to me.</p>
<p>I do not think libraries will become obsolete, but the nature of their holidings will continue to shift, even more drastically than they have to this point. As others have noted, current serial publications and journals and probably government documents will be available primarily on-line as will many contemporary scholarly studies. We will have expanded access to "unique" sources like dissertations and historical documents that are now difficult to access. We have already made the effort to transfer many heavily used and fragile historical sources to microform in order to preserve them more effectively. Sources like these will increasingly be shifted to an on-line format. Indeed, it is imperative that many of them be preserved in some alternative form or fashion since some are in danger of crumbling away. </p>
<p>However, in the humanities or any field that replies heavily on retrospective holdings, I can't see all these materials shifting online. It will be a long, long time until we see this kind of blanket coverage for archival material and older scholarly studies where only a limited number of copies presently exist in libraries.</p>
<p>Nor do I see the recreational book withering away, whether in or out of the library. Like the paperback, the online book will supplement rather than replace the traditional hard copy. Plus, too many people prefer the book format. It's possible that someday there will be a technological gadget that so closely resembles the current book that even the curmudgeons among us will shift over to it. In other words, the line that presently exists between the physical book and the online book will become increasingly blurred. But, in my mind, a physical book is still a book even if it has online bells and whistles built into it. But, to go beyond purely academic use, any such gadget will have to be small and durable enough to withstand a summer day at the beach or being used in other strange locations. ( I refuse to believe that I am the only person who occasionally reads a paperback in the bathtub!) </p>
<p>The special collections department is not going to wither away. In fact, with the advent of the computer and sites like e-bay, more and more people are into book collecting. </p>
<p>In my mind the holdings of a college library are still very important. It does make a difference to a student how many titles the library has. This whole shift to the online format will take years to accomplish. And this is particularly the case for the humanities and the social science people who are heavily monograph dependent.</p>
<p>I would hate to think libraries are becoming extinct! My family goes 2-3 times a week during summer months since we are all voracious readers. I've noticed, on the contrary, alot of expansions going on in all our local town libraries. I'm sure alot is due to increasing their internet access, music and video/DVD collections but whatever brings people into the library is excellent. I love the feel and smell of books and would never consider exchanging them for a computer screen. I work on a computer all day long, the last thing I want to do is curl up with it to read a good book!</p>
<p>Mr. B. - what will libraries of the future look like?</p>
<p>Well, The College of New Jersey is putting the finishing touches on its new $35M library so they are hoping that it resembles theirs.</p>
<p>The expectation is that the library will become the academic center of campus. Of course, the entire building is wireless. There will be 100+ study rooms with numerous other nooks and crannies made to order for "hanging out".</p>
<p>The first floor is styled much like a Barnes & Noble or similar popular bookstore and will include a cafe/coffeehouse. There are multiple-levels with a very inviting atrium and hundreds of windows creating a light/airy environment.</p>
<p>It includes a 100+ seat auditorium and will be open 24 hours per day.</p>
<p>The college is wagering that rather than becoming obsolete, the library will become the center of the academic "universe".</p>
<p>I think the main problem with the last "wager" is that THE center of the academic universe is actually becoming the student's own computer link to the web. While I too think there will be a need for libraries for a long, long time, I doubt they will ever be center of academic life for undergrads except as "virtual" central nodes of information; but even then students who use information services available on their campus will scarcely know that they are being provided by the library.</p>
<p>Understanding our culture, where we have come from and where we are going, the actual job of libraries, is not possible with all electronic sources unless and until every bit of written material is scanned. Thankfully, I have passed off the value of digging into old documents to gain perspective into our political, social, and economic lives to my 19 year old son who loves his computers but realizes that significant information can only be found in the stacks. Information on the web is very limited at best. Don't get me wrong, I love it but the internet is a communications network in its best form. It is changing our lives but it will be a long, long time before it can beat a good "international" library with interlibrary loan.</p>
<p>Libraries are things schools brag about. So they continue to build them. A couple of weeks ago I visited a well-known university in South Bend, Indiana where the tourguide plugged the library as the "largest college library" in the country. It may have had the largest in square footage at some point but no way in h*ll did it have the largest collection, even in the midwest. </p>
<p>More to the point, from all the activities that this guide described, and how much fun all the students were having celebrating before, during, and after the games, it's not entirely clear why any student would ever be found alive inside the library -- though they might well have approached that building because of the large and well-known mural on one exterior wall, and the statue in front of the building, each with a nickname that's important to the most significant Saturday afternoon activity on that campus every Fall.</p>
<p>U. Chicago just announced a major addition to its Regenstein main library. An article said the expansion was drived by the need for more book space, especially looking forward 25 years. They considered off site warehouse storage like Harvard does (the Harvard Depository is 30 miles away. It takes 1-2 days to retrieve a book.) They decided to keep the expansion local because the library is a social scientist or humanities researcher's laboratory. </p>
<p>I've used Regenstein. It's a really good library. I think the best in the midwest, however (and certainly in my own area of specialization), is at Illinois. I think it's really important to be able to see the books. Catalogues are overrated. So you need to get to the stacks and let serendipity do what it can do. Having things in remote storage really ruins the fun!</p>
<p>Yeah, one thing I really like about Indiana's library over Minnesota's (where I got my education, as I say, even if I didn't get my degree there) is that Indiana's specialized collections are mostly all in the one main library building, so a researcher can see the WHOLE collection under one roof. That's nice.</p>
<p>I agree with marite, going into the stacks can produce wonderfully serendipidous(?) moments. Books are much easier to navigate and reading on a computer screen is very hard on my eyes.</p>
<p>Many major libraries are storing little used books in off-site warehouses, saving stack space for newer acquisitions and more often used books. Also, the advent of movable stack shelving allows far more optimum use of exisiting space.</p>
<p>Also, libraries are community spaces where students congregate for a quiet space to study, browse recent periodicals, read their local newspaper, work in study groups and take that needed power nap. The hours I spent in the Orton Hall library are among my fondest undergrad memories.</p>
<p>Actually I like the specialized libraries a lot. UW had a hugely decentralized system with most major deaprtments having their own departmental library. In a big school it was nice to have a place that served as a central meeting point for people in the dept. Also all the books were on open stacks just perfect for casual surfing. The librarians were focused and experts in the area. It sort of becomes like a small college within a very large one when you have the classes, labs, and library all in one cluster.</p>
<p>Scotch, this may change as more books are put on line and the access to graduate research increases. I have always encouraged a variety of sources including magazines, journals, books and the internet...but for many schools having a site licence for the Harvard Classics, or the Economist might make more sense than owning more than one hard copy for their libraries. If you were a mid sized college with three million volumns your next years budget might be better spent on electonic research ....because it can allow access to more info on a dollar for dollar expense...especially when you are at the new facility level.</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong...when I applied to college, library size was very important...but with the internet and books on disc....It might make sense to put an electronic reseach room in the new student union than to put off the union and use the space to house an even larger library on campus.</p>
<p>Hoping that electronic books will replace paper ones is like hoping that electronic documents will save trees. It isn't going to happen. The internet is the best broadcast medium ever devised. That is why it was set up. But if I am going to use electronic documents, I will print out what I need to read and study. Until better equipment is developed for reading or until the human race evolves in different ways......</p>
<p>My D just ordered her textbooks and for some classes the electronic version of the book was available for half price...but then you can't sell it or trade it or highlight it. I read most of my magazines on line now, but will admit a well writen printed book is a joy to hold.</p>
<p>Books in PDF format can easily be broken to allow somebody to print it multiple times. You could make more money selling that for $30 each eather than a regular text book.</p>