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Opinion

Libraries need to adapt to technology

Eva Kaminskayte
Opinion Columnist 

There are few things I love more than wandering about the library looking for books with funny titles or books so old that they look like they will disintegrate if I dare pick them up. I can just sit back in a section of the library and gaze at the volumes wondering about what amazing discoveries they contain. 

I'm not actually reading them, mind you, just sitting and looking.

Libraries have that beautiful scholarly presence that demands silence and respect, but while I love the idea of a massive library holding thousands of volumes of potentially useful information, I haven't cracked open a library book in ages. 

The only time I go to the library is when I want to experience the deafening silence of a deserted wing or when I'm meeting with a group to work on a project. I haven't used an actual book for schoolwork since Google entered my life back in high school. 

Last year, the University of Texas at Austin got rid of its undergraduate collection and sent the 90,000 volumes out to its other branches, The Christian Science Monitor reported. Now, the libraries have 250 desktops and 75 laptops that can be checked out. Although I'm a bookworm and an avid collector of old classics, I think that this is a step in the right direction when it comes to research.

During peak hours at the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library, it's hard to find an unoccupied computer on the first floor. 

People are typing up papers, printing out hundreds of pages of math problems or researching topics with their favorite search engines. You won't see anyone waiting to use the books, but watching people run at available computers is like watching lions fight over a wounded gazelle. 

With high-speed Internet and a way to access sought-after information in a fraction of a second, why would anyone want to go back to the ancient way of researching?

We are a generation of students who can copy, paste and search our way through term papers in one night. This system is faster and more convenient for everyone. 

Schools save money by not having to purchase books, students are able to find more information in less time, tree-huggers can save their precious trees and professors can catch plagiarizers more easily. 

Considering how much money college students throw away on textbooks each semester, doing away with books is a great idea. All the information that is needed for class is online, so there's really no point in wasting money on a hardcopy.

Is there a downside to this system? Maybe, but I can't see it. 

If a library replaces books with comfortable new chairs where students can gather to work on their assignments and new computers where they can get any piece of information they need, then isn't that progress? 

After all, a library's purpose is to provide information, and if all the information can be found online more efficiently, then what's the problem? Technology is making books obsolete, and since so many already embrace the efficiency and accessibility of information online, then will losing the books really hurt the learning process?

It seems like the only thing that will be lost is the atmosphere. 

Kaminskayte, an opinion columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at e.kaminskayte@gmail.com