Libraries in the 21st century have changed
drastically. They have moved from fiction and non-fiction in print to now
digital resources that can be found online on many libraries’ websites. School
libraries in particular have changed the most because most subscriptions to
academic/scholarly journals have changed from bound works that to digital works
only. “Digital is the future of information” (Harris, 2014.) Not only is
digital readily available but you don’t have to even go to a physical location
to find resources for your research paper or to check out books.
Public libraries these days have
e-books readily available that can be read on most devices from an e-reader
like a kindle to tablets like the iPad even on most cell phones. Digital
resources in colleges and universities do require patrons to be students at the
school if they want to access the electronic resources remotely, although most
colleges/universities do allow community members to browse their databases on
site.
While I truly believe that going
digital is the way of the future for libraries “because it is faster, easier,
more connected, and more flexible” (Harris, 2014), there are challenges that can
still occur for all libraries to plunge into the digital world. Cost is a
challenge for most libraries. Subscriptions to periodical databases alone can
cost a libraries in the thousands, which small libraries wouldn't be able to
afford. Also, most books that aren't bestsellers are not readily available in an
e-book version which makes it difficult if you want to read The Catcher in The
Rye on your Kindle. Overdrive is a resource that libraries can use if they want
to offer digital works to their patrons but since not all books are available
in digital, patrons will still have to go to libraries to check out regular
books.
Works Cited:
Harris,
Christopher. "Fact Or Fiction? Libraries Can Thrive In The Digital
Age." Phi Delta Kappan 96.3 (2014): 20-25. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
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