The Internet Has Made Libraries Obsolete

[HardOCP News]

I think most people will agree that the internet has made libraries obsolete but, if you want to get technical, the internet has also made getting an education obsolete too! Who needs a degree when we can just good everything?


We can, and should, still love books, but we should not be sentimental about libraries, because they are a means to an end. Access to information is now widely available via smartphones: three quarters of us have one, it was one in five in 2010. Library and information services have to be designed with that reality in mind.

 

[Deleted member 134608]

Libraries don't need to die, I think they just need to change what they lend. They can setup Makerspaces to lend (in-place) tools and items that some individuals normally couldn't afford.

 

[Armenius]

I'd agree... once internet access becomes free.

 

[athenian200]

That's all fine and good until something goes wrong with the Internet. If the Internet goes down or something goes wrong with the cell towers? What if a terrorist uses an EMP or blows up a few cell towers? What if a hacker breaks into a huge archival website and erases a ton of information from existence, perhaps even destroying their backups through some kind of obscure software exploit?

I can think of about a million things that could go wrong with having the Internet as the only source of information, especially given that libraries are free to the public and you have to pay for Internet on your smartphone. Libraries don't just lend books anymore, they're often the only public computers/Wi-Fi available for free in a small town. Data plans are prohibitively expensive for many people.

 

[Ragenrok]

My wife loves the Library for her dayhome children, takes them on frequent walks to there and lets them pick out a book to read during quiet time. She hates the idea of tablets for children for day to day so it will be a long time before she ever gets rid of paper books for them lol.

 

[raz-0]

I have no problem supporting my town's library. I like libraries in general, and librarians as a group tend to please me with he way they give the middle finger to the system on so many subjects regarding information and privacy. They can do so because the library exists in it's own niche in the US with a certain degree of protected status. I don't wish to see that go away, especially with the current trend of declaring all sorts of knowledge "unsafe" and in need of being regulated.

 

[Quix]

What's a library?

 

[DPI]

What if a terrorist uses an EMP or blows up a few cell towers?

"Look out The Terrarrrrisssts!"

 

[Skripka]

What's a library?

A place where the 99.9995% of research materials and books and historical records that are out of print, and never digitized, are stored for perusal.

Seriously I'm only aware of ONE major national library that has made serious digital archiving inroads getting their collections PDF'd or otherwise scanned to be easily searched and browsed in its entirety. And that is the BnF, aka the French National Library.


Anyone claiming "libraries are obsolete" doesn't read much beyond the Twilight series...and has ZERO bibliographic knowledge.

 

[HardUp4HardWare]

What's a library?

Safest place to avoid terrorist attacks.

 

[PiSquared]

Who needs a degree when we can just good everything?

Google doesn't replace years of spelling lessons.

 

[Eiolon]

I've been working in a library since 1998. This is a problem we face all the time, especially as content becomes digital. But we work hard to evolve with how we supply content and experiences. Our library is not a traditional library. Yes, we have books, we have movies and computers to use. We also have digital content subscriptions, you can check out Roku's pre-loaded with hundreds of movies, check out the latest video games, even the consoles themselves; we have a movie studio so people can make movie productions, 3D printing lab, we are getting a few Oculus Rift's and are working with augmented reality. We hold events like our own version of Comic-con, Star Wars day, Harry Potter day, etc.

Libraries won't die. They will evolve, as long as the directors behind them are willing to move with the times. If you get those old school librarians in place that don't want to move to a Kindle from a book then they are in trouble.

 

[Armenius]

I've been working in a library since 1998. This is a problem we face all the time, especially as content becomes digital. But we work hard to evolve with how we supply content and experiences. Our library is not a traditional library. Yes, we have books, we have movies and computers to use. We also have digital content subscriptions, you can check out Roku's pre-loaded with hundreds of movies, check out the latest video games, even the consoles themselves; we have a movie studio so people can make movie productions, 3D printing lab, we are getting a few Oculus Rift's and are working with augmented reality. We hold events like our own version of Comic-con, Star Wars day, Harry Potter day, etc.

Libraries won't die. They will evolve, as long as the directors behind them are willing to move with the times. If you get those old school librarians in place that don't want to move to a Kindle from a book then they are in trouble.

I want to go to your library .

 

[ShagnWagn]

I've only been to a library once in two decades. I'm not sure what function they serve to the community other than hardback books and free internet service for those who can't afford it(?). I heard they let you check out movies for free(?). If the internet ever goes down, all we have to do is restore it from the NSA's storage. They have a full copy of everything I figure.

 

[Armenius]

I've only been to a library once in two decades. I'm not sure what function they serve to the community other than hardback books and free internet service for those who can't afford it(?). I heard they let you check out movies for free(?). If the internet ever goes down, all we have to do is restore it from the NSA's storage. They have a full copy of everything I figure.

I remember seeing a picture somewhere of someone downloading an entire archive of the internet from Mega, but now I can't find it...

 

[Dr. Righteous]

When I was a kid it was pretty hard to get any homework done with out 1 of 2 things. A set of encyclopedias or constant trips to the public library to have access to them and other resources. Lucky for me some family friends (an old couple) gave us a complete set of World Book encyclopedias. They were from the 50s; but hey; we got 'em. My parents would have never purchased a set for us.
I remember I had an assignment to list all the tree species in north America. Pulled out the T volume; looked up trees. There was the list. I remember thinking "WOW, this is so easy!!"

 

[amddragonpc]

S A V E T H E L I B R A R I E S

 

[cyclone3d]

I'd agree... once internet access becomes free.

It will never be "free". Everything costs somebody something.

If it is "free" to everybody... all that means is that the government has raised taxes and is providing super sub-par service and wasting the rest of the money on extravagant houses, vacations, cars, planes, etc. for those in office.

 

[Jagger100]

We can replace firemen with a few keystrokes, what's not to love.

 

[schizrade]

Libraries won't die, they will just morph. The fun stuff at the front of house will support the archive in the back. The Nevada Historical Society is a good example of this. It is a Museum/Research Library, fun stuff in the front, library in the back.

 

[AK0tA]

I did a short stint in our town library and it was one of the best jobs most rewarding jobs I ever had. I remember those latch key kids coming in and raising hell and I took those kids and got to know them, then I got them into the books that interested them. It literally changed their lives, they would have never read that stuff on the internet it took a human to get them interested. Imagine that.

Libraries are evolving with the times and will do just fine. I for one would much rather have a hardback book in my hands than my kindle.

 

[PeaKr]

and besides, libraries violate copyright law.

 

[RLI]

Libraries were about giving people access to information and, more for the non-academic libraries, entertainment. Back in the day, that meant books, newspapers and magazines. Over time it seems like how they did the job replaced why they did the job in people's perceptions. Yet even our small town library was more than that. When I was a little kid, they had typewriters, an overhead projector, a film projector and a slide projector and I think they had a record player too. Then later a copier and a fax machine. They did story hours, summer library programs and other programs as well for the adults. When I wanted to read the last book in a series but the library didn't have it, they put out a request to the other libraries which was passed around until they found one and I ended up borrowing a copy from the other end of the state.

Now it's books, newspapers, magazines, DVDs, CDs, computer games, online databases, ebooks, in-library computers, wireless,
ebook readers you can check out, audio books, e-audio, e-videos. Larger libraries in my area are setting up permanent maker spaces with video editing, stop motion animation, green screen and sound booths, 3D printers and programs on a range of other topics and interests. Smaller libraries have rotating kits they can borrow to set up temporary spaces for 3D printing, Lego Mindstorms, stop motion animation, larger scale document scanning and even sewing machines. A group of libraries are working on scanning local history materials and trying to figure out hosting, backup, searching and lending. Not bad for something that started out as a bunch of donated books kept in someone's house.

As far as the internet goes, for some people the access at the library is all the internet they really have. Even if they can afford it, in some places you can't get decent high speed or even medium speed internet access except for at the library. These tend to be places where, even along the major highways, you can't always get a good data signal on your phone. Not to mention data limits on phone plans. And you can forget anything above really slow DSL at home. The infrastructure just isn't there. There's even a couple of patrons who haul their respective console and desktop into the library to be able to get the patches for their games since their home internet is so slow. And I thought huge Day 1 patches sucked for me.

If a library has become obsolete it's either from the library not wanting to change or not having the support to change. Anything from the "get off my lawn" brigade who still think libraries just loan books and you should walk uphill both ways in the snow to get them to the "internet has it, don't need libraries" crowd that'll throw the baby out with the bathwater to the people that think libraries are kept open by magic fairy dust and you should only replace PCs every 10-15 years (been there, had to support that).

 

[sfsuphysics]

Libraries are obsolete because you can Google everything? *sigh* Probably written by someone who's only use of a library is so they can plagiarize material for a school report, and yeah sure for those people there's now Wikipedia that they can copy and paste from

 

[Deadly Ramon]

Libraries won't die, they will just morph. The fun stuff at the front of house will support the archive in the back. The Nevada Historical Society is a good example of this. It is a Museum/Research Library, fun stuff in the front, library in the back.

It's library in the front, fun stuff in the back in Steven Lynch's case circa 1989:

 

[Spidey329]

Libraries don't need to die, I think they just need to change what they lend. They can setup Makerspaces to lend (in-place) tools and items that some individuals normally couldn't afford.

Yeah, that'd be nice.

I still go to a few local libraries to get some quiet distraction free work done. They're always packed. Free internet, quiet and comfortable seating areas, computers to use (if you need it) ... They very much still have a use.

 

[lostinseganet]

The Internet and access to it is not free. Books are necessary for those who cannot afford the Internet.

 

[Hornet]

When I was in university, I used the library frequently for technical books that are too expensive to be purchased personally. It's still a useful place for us to access books that we only need for certain reference, stuff that are much more technical than what we can randomly find on the internet/wiki

 

[mep916]

My daughter and I still go to and check out books at the library every couple weeks. They stay current on most non-fiction releases I'm interested in but don't want to own, so still a very valuable, useful resource imo. The majority of staff are elderly volunteers, don't think it's a HUGE strain on our local budget, although I'd have to look it up I guess.

 

[Deleted member 126051]

No. Too much is still locked behind some form of paywall.
As such, libraries are low/no cost alternatives past these paywalls.

 

[zalazin]

Not just looking at libraries but Books themselves.Most modern digital media has not lasted as long as predicted. DVDs and cds die Hdd and ssd fades and lose data. Hell,paper clay, stone tablets and copper scrolls outlast modern tech and don't require tech to be used. Not all new is good......

 

[Nytegard]

I wouldn't go to my library as it's in the dirt poor/crime ridden section of my town. Growing up here, even if the next town's library was 5 minutes away, you weren't allowed to check out books. Fortunately though, in the 20 years since I was last in a library, supposedly that's changed.

 

[westrock2000]

Fantastic place if you like to "borrow" DVD/Bluray/CD/Audiobook

You should see the stacks of movies people rent for 7 days at my library (Fort Worth). And when the Beatles were selling all their albums on iTunes for $100+, I said fuck it and went to the library for free. Got every one of them.

 

[kumquat]

Go spend a little time at your local library, and you'll realize how wrong you are. The library is full of free periodical and newspaper access, classes, tutoring, free personal help, free internet access, free music and movies, community events, tax help, voter registration, job searching help, resume preparation, language labs, art exhibits, notary services, fax services, you name it. Access to tons of free material and resources that you cannot get online for free, and access to a great deal of personal and local services that cannot be performed online.

 

[Chaos Machine]

God forbid a solar flare hits us or some country decides that nuking the atmosphere would be ag great way to Kickstart a war the sum of mankind's knowledge needs to have a physical presence. A
Hell, a cd is only designed to last 50 years.

 

[Stiletto]

The homeless need places to masturbate.

 

[KazeoHin]

For some reason, I read "The internet has made liberals obsolete"

And I was pondering the breakthrough thought-process that lead to such a headline...

 

[rezerekted]

So, where's these millions of books I can read online for free? I know where to get out of copyright books but that is all and wikipedia replaces the encyclopedia but libraries have much more than that.

 

[krotch]

My local library has PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One games. Sign them out for the free.

 

[MagiK_]

Sorry the internet is fine, but I still want my Media locally. BluRay and DVD on my own storage for me to watch at my convenience even if I don't have a net connection.