Jim Davis Ozark Bioregion, USA Planet Gaia
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----- Original Message ----
> From: Jim Farmelant <farmelantj at juno.com>
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org; marxism-thaxis at lists.econ.utah.edu
> Sent: Saturday, September 5, 2009 2:14:39 PM
> Subject: [lbo-talk] Welcome to the library. Say goodbye to the books. (The Boston Globe)
>
>
>
>
> Welcome to the library. Say goodbye to the books.
> Cushing Academy embraces a digital future
> By David Abel, Globe Staff | September 4, 2009
>
> ASHBURNHAM - There are rolling hills and ivy-covered brick buildings.
> There are small classrooms, high-tech labs, and well-manicured fields.
> There’s even a clock tower with a massive bell that rings for special
> events.
>
> Cushing Academy has all the hallmarks of a New England prep school, with
> one exception.
>
> This year, after having amassed a collection of more than 20,000 books,
> officials at the pristine campus about 90 minutes west of Boston have
> decided the 144-year-old school no longer needs a traditional library.
>
> The academy’s administrators have decided to discard all their books and
> have given away half of what stocked their sprawling stacks - the
> classics, novels, poetry, biographies, tomes on every subject from the
> humanities to the sciences. The future, they believe, is digital.
> “When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before
> books,’’ said James Tracy, headmaster of Cushing and chief promoter of
> the bookless campus. “This isn’t ‘Fahrenheit 451’ [the 1953 Ray Bradbury
> novel in which books are banned]. We’re not discouraging students from
> reading. We see this as a natural way to shape emerging trends and
> optimize technology.’’
>
> Instead of a library, the academy is spending nearly $500,000 to create a
> “learning center,’’ though that is only one of the names in contention
> for the new space. In place of the stacks, they are spending $42,000 on
> three large flat-screen TVs that will project data from the Internet and
> $20,000 on special laptop-friendly study carrels. Where the reference
> desk was, they are building a $50,000 coffee shop that will include a
> $12,000 cappuccino machine.
>
> And to replace those old pulpy devices that have transmitted information
> since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 1400s, they
> have spent $10,000 to buy 18 electronic readers made by Amazon.com and
> Sony. Administrators plan to distribute the readers, which they’re
> stocking with digital material, to students looking to spend more time
> with literature.
>
> Those who don’t have access to the electronic readers will be expected to
> do their research and peruse many assigned texts on their computers.
> “Instead of a traditional library with 20,000 books, we’re building a
> virtual library where students will have access to millions of books,’’
> said Tracy, whose office shelves remain lined with books. “We see this as
> a model for the 21st-century school.’’
>
> Not everyone on campus is sold on Tracy’s vision.
>
> They worry about an environment where students can no longer browse rows
> of voluptuous books, replete with glossy photographs, intricate maps, and
> pages dog-eared by generations of students. They worry students will be
> less likely to focus on long works when their devices are constantly
> interrupting them with e-mail and instant messages. They also worry about
> a world where sweat-stained literature is deemed as perishable as all the
> glib posts on Facebook or Twitter.
>
> Liz Vezina, a librarian at Cushing for 17 years, said she never imagined
> working as the director of a library without any books.
> “It makes me sad,’’ said Vezina, who hosts a book club on campus dubbed
> the Off-line Readers and has made a career of introducing students to
> books. “I’m going to miss them. I love books. I’ve grown up with them,
> and there’s something lost when they’re virtual. There’s a sensual side
> to them - the smell, the feel, the physicality of a book is something
> really special.’’
>
> 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 wouldn’t want to ever get rid of any of my books at home,’’ he said.
> “I like the feel of them too much. A lot us are wondering how this
> changes the dignity of the library, and why we can’t move to increase
> digital resources while keeping the books.’’
>
> Tracy and other administrators said the books took up too much space and
> that there was nowhere else on campus to stock them. So they decided to
> give their collection - aside from a few hundred children’s books and
> valuable antiquarian works - to local schools and libraries.
> “We see the gain as greater than the loss,’’ said Gisele Zangari,
> chairwoman of the math department, who like other teachers has plans for
> all her students to do their class reading on electronic books by next
> year. “This is the start of a new era.’’
>
> Cushing is one of the first schools in the country to abandon its books.
> “I’m not aware of any other library that has done this,’’ said Keith
> Michael Fiels, executive director of the American Library Association, a
> Chicago-based organization that represents the nation’s libraries.
> He said the move raises at least two concerns: Many of the books on
> electronic readers and the Internet aren’t free and it may become more
> difficult for students to happen on books with the serendipity made
> possible by physical browsing. There’s also the question of the
> durability of electronic readers.
>
> “Unless every student has a Kindle and an unlimited budget, I don’t see
> how that need is going to be met,’’ Fiels said. “Books are not a waste of
> space, and they won’t be until a digital book can tolerate as much sand,
> survive a coffee spill, and have unlimited power. When that happens,
> there will be next to no difference between that and a book.’’
> William Powers, author of a forthcoming book based on a paper he
> published at Harvard called “Hamlet’s Blackberry: Why Paper is Eternal,’’
> called the changes at Cushing “radical’’ and “a tremendous loss for
> students.’’
>
> “There are modes of learning and thinking that at the moment are only
> available from actual books,’’ he said. “There is a kind of deep-dive,
> meditative reading that’s almost impossible to do on a screen. Without
> books, students are more likely to do the grazing or quick reading that
> screens enable, rather than be by themselves with the author’s ideas.’’
> Yet students at Cushing say they look forward to the new equipment, and
> the brave new world they’re ushering in.
>
> Tia Alliy, a 16-year-old junior, said she visits the library nearly every
> day, but only once looked for a book in the stacks. She’s not alone.
> School officials said when they checked library records one day last
> spring only 48 books had been checked out, and 30 of those were
> children’s books.
>
> “When you hear the word ‘library,’ you think of books,’’ Alliy said. “But
> very few students actually read them. And the more we use e-books, the
> fewer books we have to carry around.’’
>
> Jemmel Billingslea, an 18-year-old senior, thought about the prospect of
> a school without books. It didn’t bother him.
> “It’s a little strange,’’ he said. “But this is the future.’’
> David Abel can be reached at dabel at globe.com.
>
>
> © Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
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