In talking to my mom – a retired elementary school librarian
– recently, she mentioned a friend of hers – a non-retired school librarian – who was upset that the school she
works for is planning to shrink the library by getting rid of the majority of
print books and focusing mainly on digital.
This is heartbreaking. It’s not just that I’m older and not
willing to acknowledge the ebook revolution – in fact, I make a nice chunk of
change from ebook sales. The reason I think this is a terrible idea is that it
takes away a very fundamental way for us to discover new things. It greatly
limits our ability to browse.
Browsing is one of the best ways to discover new things; new
authors, new subjects, new artists, new musicians. In the last decade or so, targeted
marketing has been on the march to replace browsing. Targeted marketing is the
opposite of browsing. Targeted marketing says, ‘Oh, so you like horror. Well
here are some horror novels similar to the ones you already read, so you’ll
probably like these, too.’ Old-fashioned browsing says, ‘Hey there – here’s the
horror section, but when you’re done looking here, keep sauntering through the
aisles and you might find something you didn’t know about, and who knows? You
just might find another passion or three.’ Browsing in real, physical space
gives you a 360-degree view of what else is out there, while cyber-browsing
gives you tunnel vision.
 |
| Though admittedly, this is a pretty cool tunnel... |
Our computers, smart phones, tablets, can track our internet
traffic and use that to determine our interests. That’s all fine and good and
makes a lot of sense from a commercial point of view. I’ve got nothing against
it...
as long as there is still a way
for us to discover things we didn’t
know
we’d like. Sure, you can discover things on the internet. You can spend time
going down the Wiki-hole, where one search leads to another search, leads to
another search, leads to another until the next thing you know there’s a crust
of drool on your chin and your kids are nourishing themselves by chewing on the
leather of your boots. But still...
Real browsing
involves all of your senses. It’s active. It’s tactile.
Internet browsing is mostly passive. You move your fingers a
little, and stuff appears in the narrow field of vision that is your screen.
Libraries –
real
libraries – need to be filled with
real
books. They need to be there in the stacks so that we can walk slowly through
the aisles, running our fingers along the spines, gazing at the possibilities,
all the endless possibilities of adventure, love, intrigue, laughter... Sometimes
our bodies, our souls, yearn to be surrounded by books, yearn to breathe in the
knowledge, the wisdom oozing from the between shelf upon shelf of colorful,
enticing covers. We need a place where everywhere we turn there are books,
books, books!
 |
| Books! |
There can never be an app for that.
So
please
libraries...yes, add digital, but don’t use it to replace the physical. Because
if someday all the power shuts down and the last bit of juice is drained from
the last Nook and Kindle, there will
still
be the fortresses of libraries to protect us from ignorance and boredom.
with a magic trick.
