10 Ways Libraries Matter in a Digital Age

I think you meant to say “Librarians” instead of “Libraries” on some of the items in the list…This is actually a pretty important distinction. Libraries themselves don’t do a whole lot, so the “Up with Libraries” message is just weird.

I’m sure I will be echoing what others have already said on this thread, warning us about making false comparisons with the Internet, when I say that I personally don’t understand the use in drawing these particular comparisons. Librarians need to understand our competition, yes, and we need to know how to make our offerings of community, knowledge, etc. MORE attractive than the similar offerings people encounter on their home computers. That’s simple market sense. But wondering about our “place” in a world where there’s an Internet is simply irrelevant. If people someday decide they don’t need libraries anymore, human life will continue on. There may be fewer educated people in the world. There are ghastly few already. There may be less access to classifiable knowledge. Parents may have less access to books for their children, but they will buy iPads. Very little else about the world is going to change, except for the librarians and library school students who are already facing the prospect of fewer jobs.

We must abandon the attempt to justify our place in a world that is clearly skeptical of its need for us. We must instead strive to understand market forces. A few hundred years ago, libraries were “needed” by people as the “only” place they could turn to for free access to knowledge. A few hundred years before that, public libraries didn’t even exist. Life went on then, and will go on without libraries again should that unfortunate possibility come to pass. We must all grow up. We are no longer “indispensable.” We are no longer a “sacred institution.” We are just another provider of a service that is coming under steep competition from other market forces. It’s time to accept our fate as competitors for people’s time and educational interest, because chances are high that we will never attain “indispensable” status again.

I agree that it is not libraries vs Internet, FB, etc. It is still the human factor, the physical face-to-face. I am a 25 year employee of the public library, 64 years young (and not retiring yet!), and yes, I am on Facebook. Our library sponsors a Teen Book Club serving public and home-schooled teens ( male and female, African-Am. and Caucasian.) Remember everyone telling you that in the future you will remember the things you did with family and friends and not how much money was spent on you? Same thing with my teens. They interact with me and others and know we care. Again, not “us” (library) vs. technology. Who knows about the future with the advent of Nook and Kindle….it’s “all good” as they say!

Interesting discussion.

I thought the 2001 article was too defensive when I read it ten years ago. Unfortunately, the updated reasons are too defensive also. It seems to consist of taking a “bad” aspect of the Internet and comparing it to a “good” aspect of a physical library. Too many straw-people! Also, many of things that the current reasons imply that the Internet cannot do; it obviously does. Anyone here about Facebook and the Arab Spring? Of course, the media overplayed this, but it still brought people together.

I started in academic libraries in 1977, and I marvel at the magic that libraries can do now with the wise use of the Internet, electronic information, mobile apps, etc. Literally, our library has helped faculty doing research in Antarctica from a campus library in Wisconsin! As I said, it is magic when compared to library service not that long ago.

Nothing is perfect … physical libraries or the Internet. Our jobs are to make them both better, not to draw false comparisons.

The library isn’t there to push a point of view or product. Librarians work to understand each individual need and find the best responses based on relevant available resources. This might mean refining an Internet search, selecting books and media, or picking an eBook reader. The library has nothing to gain from anything other than the success of its users.

Excellent responses, but the list misses key tensions in the much broader debate. Just as the civil rights movement was a struggle for a public definition of citizen rights, the resurgence of individualism reasserts the primacy of the private space. My dissertation (which is not yet complete) teases out some of the ideological challenges of both approaches. Briefly, might I observe that the first two and fourth items in this particular response represent central objections to libraries in the first place. Reasserting “threats” to ideological individualism makes the case for libraries harder to support. We should certainly make the assertions and stand firm on them, but should also acknowledge that our support modern libraries as liberal institutions present fundamental arguments against the institution as well. The broad tension is between participation and privilege, or between public and private spheres. Relying on the Internet, corporations push fee-based services that provide philosophically attractive alternatives to public institutions—so we better have some sound arguments rooted in similar ideas. Anyone interested in a terrific early Federal context might look at Larson, “Internal Improvements” (2001).

You cannot replace the human resource. There are only so many synonyms, Boolean searches, etc. that one can do before hitting the frustration mark. This is where the librarian comes in. “Can you help me find something on…?” No computer can be as creative, innovative, or as helpful as a human being. The librarian can help a patron find information on whatever (s)he desires, whereas a computer can only spit back what is programmed into it. The librarian is a valuable human resource that should not and cannot be eliminated.

I’d be interested to learn whether the Milford, CT, Public Library still displays the 10-year-old poster that provoked the BoingBoing ‘discussion.’

I’m glad you’re creating an updated version.