But where are the books??? (ok, so there are a few "decorative" looking ones along the back wall . . .) Seems the definition of a quiet place to research and read has gone digital.
@newbank@newbank@pamknowler@corinnec@happypat@rickster549
I appreciate your shock at this lack of functional books in a room clearly labeled "library" and @cwbill I like your idea of bringing my own! What this image has caused me to stop and think about is that we have moved in many ways from print to digital for both reference -- seeking information -- as well as recreational reading. Perhaps the pandemic pushed this even more than it had already been going. In my world of picturebooks for children, I believe that print versions will exist longest. But one thing I do know is that librarians as a whole are no longer the stereotyped "sh!" people of the past, but forward-thinking with adaptable mindset and quite frankly, the professional library associations have nimbly moved to meet the needs of the here and now. I donated to our local public library with my donation earmarked for downloadable audiobooks, the epitome of digitized material because nothing tangible exists. In this particular building I have been sharing this week, you saw the image of a reader in a cozy space built within this gigantic place, so perhaps recreational readers are preferring spaces like that than this, and this is intended or laptop users to sit and do research? All this gives me pause as I currently live in the midst of a sea of boxes of books. Our university closed one campus during the pandemic and I had to move 200 boxes of books and nine rolling book carts home and it looks like I live in a book storage unit. And this is beyond my home library I was photographing in April when the pandemic kept us homebound. The library that @jgpittenger and @jgpittenger refer to in their comments: http://365project.org/jyokota/challenges-and/2020-04-15
I appreciate your shock at this lack of functional books in a room clearly labeled "library" and @cwbill I like your idea of bringing my own! What this image has caused me to stop and think about is that we have moved in many ways from print to digital for both reference -- seeking information -- as well as recreational reading. Perhaps the pandemic pushed this even more than it had already been going. In my world of picturebooks for children, I believe that print versions will exist longest. But one thing I do know is that librarians as a whole are no longer the stereotyped "sh!" people of the past, but forward-thinking with adaptable mindset and quite frankly, the professional library associations have nimbly moved to meet the needs of the here and now. I donated to our local public library with my donation earmarked for downloadable audiobooks, the epitome of digitized material because nothing tangible exists. In this particular building I have been sharing this week, you saw the image of a reader in a cozy space built within this gigantic place, so perhaps recreational readers are preferring spaces like that than this, and this is intended or laptop users to sit and do research? All this gives me pause as I currently live in the midst of a sea of boxes of books. Our university closed one campus during the pandemic and I had to move 200 boxes of books and nine rolling book carts home and it looks like I live in a book storage unit. And this is beyond my home library I was photographing in April when the pandemic kept us homebound. The library that @jgpittenger and @jgpittenger refer to in their comments: http://365project.org/jyokota/challenges-and/2020-04-15