Reading #3 Summary

The reading begins describing how without libraries most of the legendary artist, scientist, Leonardo DaVinci’s work would have been lost. In the Middle Ages books were to expensive, so they were precious and kept locked up, with the invention of the Gutenberg’s printing press books became more and more accessible. Later on from 1883-1929 the affluent business man Andrew Carnegie funded the building of 2,509 libraries all over the world. However the actual purpose of libraries and need for them is changing. Information is now more than ever available at the fingertips of most people via the internet. People are moving faster, multi-tasking everyday. They watch television and surf the web at the same time, eat lunch on the run and the demand for increasingly faster access to information and communication is growing. Books need to become more than a product; they need to become an experience in order to keep up in this new world. Libraries are no longer needed for information, we have the internet for that, they will become the center of culture, like museums, in order to survive. This article was very interesting because it really makes some good points. In the past libraries were essential, they managed to preserve our history and save it for today, when we can now access it online. In this new age of instant, free, access to information from any computer with internet access, the actual need for a library is fading. The libraries need to adapt and embrace the new technologies that are taking over and not fight back, because if they don’t they will disappear.