Libraries--More Than Old-Fashioned E-Readers

Sitting on the perch in the library, I tend to think about books and libraries...a lot.  Seeing more people talking about and having e-readers, I tend to think about books and libraries...a whole lot.  Will they co-exist side by side with electronic technology or will they go the way of the dinosaurs?

Some time back, I discussed my ambivalence about e-readers in a post saying that while I was all for technology and the convenience of storing numerous books on an electronic device, there were still different issues that needed to be worked out.  I still believe that e-readers are a great technological advance, but at the same time I can't help feeling sentimental about the old-fashioned e-reader--the library.

Sure, libraries take up more space than e-readers--rooms, floors, buildings, even multiple buildings.  Libraries, however, are more than just spaces.  They're places with character and personality, places to inspire and encourage thought.  Just think of some of the most beautiful libraries in the world.  The Library of Congress.  The Trinity College Library in Dublin.  The Abbey Library in St. Gallen, Switzerland.  These are places of art and beauty, not just of knowledge.  These are places that have a sort of spirituality about them that speak not only to our minds but also to our souls.

E-readers can definitely speak to our minds with the knowledge they contain, but can e-readers in themselves touch our souls?  We can buy covers that match our tastes and styles to put on our e-readers, but will they move our spirit in the same way that sitting in a room adorned with architectural splendor and volumes of texts can?  Can e-readers create a hallowed atmosphere of study, producing soft whispers of voices and echoes of footsteps down a corridor of bookcases?

I may sound like an old fogey before my time, but I for one would be very sad if libraries were entirely replaced with e-readers.  Libraries are more than just places from which to find information.  They're a whole world, a gathering place for people in a community.  At a time in which people are so plugged into devices that they may go for days without interacting with a person in the flesh, libraries are one of the few places left today where people can actually meet each other face to face.

Please don't let libraries ever go away.

Guarding the library with a bird's eye view from the perch.

Movies That Encourage Reading

Unless you've been on another planet for the past few weeks, you've probably heard about a new little movie that's opening tomorrow in cinemas called The Hunger Games based on a book of the same title by Suzanne Collins.  The story takes place in a fictional North American country in which one boy and one girl from each of its twelve districts must literally fight to the death in a televised coliseum-style event intended to keep order and control in the districts.

Watching kids fighting to survive may not be everyone's idea of a good movie, but there's no denying that The Hunger Games has captured the imagination of teens (and adults), first through the book and second through the movie.  Or is that first through the movie and second through the book?

Many complain that younger generations today aren't into reading like their counterparts in the past, that their attention span is limited by various electronic devices, that they aren't able to appreciate low-tech technology like a book.

I'd like to argue that teens today are still into reading, and if they haven't read the book before seeing the movie, many decide to read the book after seeing the movie.  This is a good thing--movies that interest teens make them hungry (no pun intended) for more, which leads them to the books.  For teens who have difficulty getting into reading, movies based on books is the ticket (okay, pun intended) to get them into reading.  If they're interested in a book, they're going to read it.

So I say bravo to those movies that encourage reading.  If teens are reading now, they'll be reading as adults later.

Pondering about Panem on the perch.