This may have to do with your major - something computer science, isn't it? I can assure you that in the humanities you most certainly need the libraries - whenever you have to write a paper, a project, etc. And I'd think it's rather hard to write a master's thesis in any major without library books, or at least printed scientific magazines. Many scientific magazines have put their archives on sites like JSTOR, but not remotely all.
Yeah, I don't need it as much because I'm Computer Science. That's definitely true. The only reason people in the humanities need libraries, though, is because the teachers say they need libraries. Don't think for a minute, though, that 99% of the humanities students out there don't write their papers straight from Wikipedia. You're probably right about the theses for now, but the only reason we need books for "credible sources" is because that's the understood method for dispensing important information for now. You publish your work. There's no reason that work can't be published on the internet though.
Still, I agree. For now, someone writing a serious paper probably would need reference books.
That's for the actual work itself; personally I've also used my university library for reading about things that weren't in the curriculum but that I found interesting. I guess that's a matter of preference.
Sure, but it's not the library's primary goal to supply you with interesting reading. It's there to educate you. I don't doubt that some people still want books, I just don't think that should be high on the school's list of priorities when making decisions about its library. If a library could educate students better with no books, it should get rid of them, in spite of the fact that some people (like yourself) will miss them.
You're probably right that looking towards the future, more space will be needed in libraries for sitting and working at computers, or group works, and less for physical books. Libraries may find it's a better use of space to put many of the less important books in their stacks or depots, from where they can still be fetched when needed. But selling them on a large scale? That's not a good idea.
Perhaps that would be a better option for now. It seems to me that you can't adequately replace library books with another solution for the time being, but they just seem such a waste. So very few people at the average school actually get any use out of them. It doesn't seem worth the millions of dollars it costs to purchase, store, and care for all those books.
Prep School deems books an "outdated technology"
11/09/2009 04:00:08 PM
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I find this awesome.
11/09/2009 04:27:54 PM
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I think this may mark the first time you and I have completely agreed on a subject. *NM*
11/09/2009 05:54:49 PM
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I think they should have done both.
11/09/2009 04:36:53 PM
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I thought about making a post, but it would be a poor version of this one. I agree completely. *NM*
11/09/2009 07:21:29 PM
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I'd be shocked, except that I'm not sure why a HS needs a library in the first place.
11/09/2009 06:01:44 PM
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Most high schools have libraries.
11/09/2009 07:13:37 PM
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I'm not surprised, I've seen enough American movies and TV shows to realize that.
11/09/2009 07:23:15 PM
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Re: I'm not surprised, I've seen enough American movies and TV shows to realize that.
12/09/2009 02:36:33 AM
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I think this is probably a good decision.
11/09/2009 06:14:28 PM
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For colleges it's a very different story, imho.
11/09/2009 06:24:47 PM
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Re: For colleges it's a very different story, imho.
11/09/2009 06:41:20 PM
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You're betraying your lack of humanities (ha!) here.
11/09/2009 07:25:12 PM
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Yes. No one writing directly from wikipedia should BE in college.
11/09/2009 07:30:47 PM
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Re: You're betraying your lack of humanities (ha!) here.
12/09/2009 02:48:34 AM
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*gives you a scanner and a keyboard* Have fun.
12/09/2009 04:57:58 AM
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Re: cool, thanks for the free scanner, but...
12/09/2009 11:01:22 PM
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They still have physical classrooms, and they're whining about "outdated technology"? Pfft. *NM*
11/09/2009 06:32:25 PM
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Appalling.
11/09/2009 07:16:13 PM
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Yeah, you can actually. Have you tried curling up with an eBook reader?
11/09/2009 09:05:16 PM
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Just because you're unnaturally attuned to "new" things doesn't mean everyone is.
13/09/2009 12:59:19 AM
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Re: Prep School deems books an "outdated technology"
12/09/2009 01:00:48 PM
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I agree, but students going to a prep school probably don't have financial problems. *NM*
12/09/2009 11:31:53 PM
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Some Prep School, and some students, hence "Some Prep School. "
12/09/2009 02:04:38 PM
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bah, who needs to learn how to write a bibliography
12/09/2009 03:47:32 PM
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You're telling the wrong person; he has a form he wants them to observe.
12/09/2009 05:20:34 PM
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