On Sat, Sep 05,
2009 at 01:39:07PM -0700, Mr. X wrote:
> Technology constantly changes making digital items obsolete and unreadable by next generation readers. Much like computer magnetic tape/reel information from the 60's while it exists in storage cannot be accessed since no machines exist which still can read that data.
>
> peace,
>
> Jim Davis
> Ozark Bioregion, USA
> Planet Gaia
>
>
> http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/historical-materialism/7346550
>
>
>
> ----- 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 ???When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before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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-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com