News Report #2

David Abel, The Boston Globe
09.04.09
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/04/a_library_without_the_books/?page=1

Later this year, Cushing Academy, a New England prep school, will become the first school in the country to abandon books completely. Campus officials have decided that after 144 years of accumilating a collection of more than 20,000 books, the school no longer needs a "traditional library." Instead, the academy will spend $500,000 to create (tentatively named) a "learning center." This "learning center" will include: three large flat-screen televisions, laptop-friendly study carrels/desks, a coffee shop (where the reference desk once was), and 18 electronic readers (Amazon Kindles and Sony Readers). James Tracy, headmaster and chief promoter of this drastic change, feels that books are an "outdated technology," deeming them the "scrolls" of this generation. However, he does not feel that this action will discourage students to read, moreover "a natural way to shape emerging trends and optimize technology." The headmaster feels that with these technologies, students will have access to millions of books, as opposed to being limited to what the library carries. He also feels that his "learning center" will be "a model for the 21st-century school." However, there are concerns that students will have more trouble focusing with the constant distractions that technologies, more specifically the Internet, are known to have (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.) There are also concerns about the durability of these electronic readers, and what that will cost down the road when students find out that books can withstand a lot more rough handling. Regardless, teachers at the school have already planned on having their students to all their class reading on electronic books next curriculum.



Okay, so, I like to think of myself as pretty technology-savvy and pretty encouraging/open-minded of new technology replacing the old, making things easier, more efficient, etc. But I found my inner old man becoming irritated as I read this article and found that Cushing Academy's bookless library being praised as "...the start of a new era" and "model for the 21st-century school." Of course, the logical side of me says "hey, you know they may be right... This could be a break-through for academia," because, to be honest, I really can't come up with any proof that Cushing's "learning center" won't spawn any more knowledge than a traditional library. However, I am all for the traditional library. The article had a quote that sums up how I feel best: "...Alexander Coyle, chairman of the history department, is a self-described 'gadget freak' who enjoys reading on Amazon’s Kindle, but he has always seen libraries and their hallowed content as 'secular cathedrals.'" I still remember the joy of having my very own library card (for school and the public.) I prided myself on keeping it in mint condition and there were hour-long periods dedicated to browsing our school's library searching for a book we wanted to take home. I even remember visiting a friend a few years ago at NC State University and sitting in a certain section of its library looking around and only seeing endless rows of computer screens, large flat-screen TVs (the kids were playing Xbox on them) and it all felt very sterile to me... like, there was no warmness of published ink. To quote the article, it was "a world where sweat-stained literature is deemed as perishable as all the glib posts on Facebook or Twitter." I don't fear that this will happen to all libraries, because I am sure it will in time, but I feel sorry for the future generations who will look at his/her parents' old books like our generation did with their vinyl records -- on second thought, I don't, because they will be sipping coffee from $12,000 cappuccino machines (seriously? wtf.)