UNI88 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 9:06 am
kalm wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 7:48 am
This makes me sad. There’s something magical about reading from a physical book, dog-earring pages, underlining sentences, seeing it rest on a bookshelf.
We are better with public libraries and real books.
Ganny brings up a great question and the answer is yes. Some of it will go away. Libraries will still have access to digital content and zealots will likely try to force their right-wing religious wokehodism on others by censoring digital content.
I too love real books (I could spend a day in Powell's Bookstore) but don't read them anymore because I love my Kindle just as much. I can check out ebooks from a variety of libraries from my phone and have them sent to my Kindle. I can read in bed without a light on and just drop the Kindle when I fall asleep. Public libraries still have a place and they are adapting to the digital world. My library in Illinois recently built a new and larger building as part of that process.
I'm starting to become a relic and I'm not even that old yet. I only just recently stopped physical delivery of a newspaper (was getting the WSJ delivered, in paper form, to the house). Moved entirely to digital. I do miss it a little bit, but it's not like the obsolescence of physical newspapers is shocking to me, it's been happening for the past 30 years.
Same thing with books, but it will take longer. I still buy books, and when I'm cheap I just borrow them from the local library. But, just like with newspapers, I'd be remiss to not notice the smaller number of folks that I come across when I'm in a library anymore. Let's just say, I rarely have to say excuse me to anyone when moving through the racks. Bookstores are better, you do see a lot of people there. And yes, there is still a nice aspect of seeing and holding a book, seeing illustrations or other visual add-ons. I have a Kindle but I don't use it as my primary means of reading. Heck, I even read one of George Martin's Game of Thrones books entirely on my iPhone. My kids all read, especially my youngest (my oldest is a humanities major in college so he's reading a ton), and they prefer physical books right now, but I'm sure they could go all electronic if need be and wouldn't miss it. Give it another 30 years, and I think you could see physical books go the way of newspapers.
But on kalm's one statement, that being that we're better with public libraries, I'm not really sure anymore what public libraries really give to us and why we're better off with them. I don't see many people using them, and the vast majority of what they provide I can get elsewhere. I do like the convenience and thriftiness of reading a book I don't have to buy at the bookstore, and my public library lets me get DVD's or Blue Rays for free so when there's a movie I want to watch but not available for free on a streaming service I can do that. But what else are public libraries doing that really necessitate their existence?