Libraries are under threat, and those that want to survive will need to modernize. But what does the world look like if libraries change too much, or cease to exist at all? Over at Huffington Post, Lindsey Drager examines what a future without books might look like by defining what libraries do:
What concerns me about this shift in the ontological status of library-hood is what might be lost in transition. Practically speaking, libraries provide access to books certain communities might otherwise not have. To borrow a book from a library is free. Libraries offer services: cultural events, community outreach opportunities, job search assistance, ESL classes, programs for everyone ranging from single parents to ex-inmates to those struggling with homelessness, special-format materials and equipment for readers with disabilities. Libraries make reading sustainable—through the notion of circulation, books can be consumed without printing more copies and using more trees.
