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College Libraries Without Books
Groo writes to tell us CBS News is reporting that books are a thing of the past at a University of Texas library this fall. The University will be converting the library to a 'social gathering place more akin to a coffeehouse.' This push is done in response to the increasing use of online research as a part of undergraduate studies. According to the article the missing books will be replaced by "colorful overstuffed chairs for lounging, barstools for people watching, and booths for group work. In addition to almost 250 desktop computers, there will be 75 laptops available for checkout, wireless Internet access, computer labs, software suites, a multimedia studio, a computer help desk and repair shop, and a cafe."
Guess I'll have to take a trip back to the old alma mater some day to take a look at this thing. Back when I was there, Flawn Academic Center was still called the "Undergraduate Library", though it was already undergoing the early stages of this transition. The UGL (nicknamed the "UGLy") was the least user-friendly of the libraries on campus, and people tended to hang and study in the larger and more cozy PCL. The FAC was then transitioning to more computer labs and such.
"No, no, no. Don't tug on that. You never know what it might be attached to."
Have they guaranteed that every piece of printed matter in the library is available in electronic format, equally easy to access, before doing this?
The books were just moved to other libraries on campus.
From TFA:
"This summer, 90,000 volumes were transferred to other collections in the campus's massive library system."
Ludwig Wittgenstein
The actual press release from UT:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/about/news/fac.html
Even though the undergraduate library apparently had 90,000 volumes there, NO ONE I KNOW used it as an actual-book library. Practically all the useful real books are at the main campus library (Perry-Castaneda), not the UGL. First floor of the UGL had magazines. Second floor had a pretty large and useful computer lab. Third floor had mostly media for checkout (CDs, DVDs, etc.). There were some shelves of books there, but very, VERY rarely did I ever need one of them. The fourth floor was cordoned off and had some art pieces in storage that would go to the Ransom Center elsewhere on campus.
It makes a lot of sense to move those few volumes that were actually at the UGL to the other libraries. This creates a lot more room at the UGL/FAC for study areas, which were pretty lacking.
So, while the blaring headlines make it sound like a big deal, from the point-of-view of a UT student (going on five years now and counting, woo hoo), this isn't that big of a deal.
Books are simply more comfortable to read. With a computer, it's you that has to move around it to be in the right place to read. With a book, you can carry it around, drop it, tilt it any which way you please, read it in bed, read it on the crapper. The book is completely silent, and is pretty resistent to a lot of things that would destroy a laptop. Books can also fit way more information on one page at a higher resolution.
You can have all of the computers, lounges, etc. without throwing out the books which remain one of the best methods for intense focused study.
True, for some reason I absoloutely hate to read long texts on a computer screen. It's fine for short PDF files but as soon as I am dealing with a 50+ pages I like having an oldfashioned paper book in my hands rather than sitting in front of a desktop computer or even a laptop which at least is protable. Even computer printouts are inferior to a book since the book will usually be more compact.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
What they are talking about is not removing the books from the UT library system. What they are talking about is, basically, converting a single undergraduate library into a student center, because undergrad libraries are no longer necesary in most places.
See, back in the Bad Old Days, undergrads were sort of like roaches. You wanted them out of sight, and you certainly didn't want them anywhere important. So they weren't permitted in the stacks at university libraries. Instead, you filled out a form and gave it to a librarian, and they brought you the book you requested. Fill out the form wrong and get the wrong book? Fill out another form. All this to prevent those scalliwag undergrads from mussing the stacks.
In the 50's, Harvard had what was (at the time) a revolutionary idea: don't just keep undergrads out of the stacks- quarantine them! They built Lamont library, the nations first undergraduate library. The shelves were filled with the sort of intro-level books on topics that undergrads were likely to research for their classes. There was a recreational reading collection, and rooms for group study. The undergrads got to browse the books and had a place to gather. The grad school and departmental libraries didn't have to interact with undergrads. Everyone was happy.
Since those heady days, things have changed a bit. Many university systems have replaced cantankerous old librarians and card catalogues with computer-indexed search systems, and English majors employed part-time to damage the bar code scanner. Many schools have open stacks now, and have opened all their libraries to undergraduates. Furthermore, the growth of collections means that more and more a dedicated undergraduate library can't house all the books that an undergrad might need. Now you have your collection divided between the grab-bag of books in the undergrad collection, the in-depth books in the departmental or grad school collection, and the overflow books available by request from the warehouse featured in "Raiders of the Lost Arc".
In such a situation, some schools (apparently such as UT) have found that the undergrad library is more of a bother than a help as a library. Undergrads still go there to study, but increasingly the books that they want are in other parts of the library system; for books that might be useful to both undergraduates and grad students and faculty, you either have to duplicate efforts or force grads and faculty to wander over to the undergrad library. So there's a logical solution: convert the undergrad library to what it really is- a student center for undergrads, oriented somewhat around studying and writing papers- and move the books back into the general library system, which everyone is already using anyway.
This has little or nothing to do with "taking the books out of libraries" as near as I can tell. UT will still have its giant collection of real books that you can check out and read when the power goes out, or on a plane for 12 hours, or in the bathroom without your eyes bleeding and falling out of your head. They will continue to buy new books as they are published, and maintain the old collection. No need to push the bibliophile panic button just yet.
Moving the books to other libraries and dedicating the space to student gatherings/ studies is not that bad of a thing. Considering that there seems to be a need of group study areas, this might help with that.
We already have computer labs, laptops for check out, and wifi in there. So really, the main addition are the colorful chairs.
[insert generic slashdot meme]
Seriously; UT literally has dozens of libraries that aren't going anywhere. The library in question has always been more of a study and group-work meeting place than a library for years now; its right next to the Student Union, the West Mall. Since neither of those places is getting any bigger, and the student population gets larger and more decentralized, having meeting places like these are more and more important.
Even in 1996, the first floor was magazines and study area, the second floor meeting rooms and computer lab, the top floor was an art gallery and ball room! Not much room for books in the first place.
What I can't understand is why these comments have to come at the expense of Ring TFA.
The books are being transferred to one of the other gajillion libraries we have at UT. As a UT student, I think it's a good move to diversify a bit. Better to have one of the libraries dedicated to furthering students' skills of online research while the other seventeen libraries on campus continue the paper tradition.
For crying out loud, people, THINK!
I know the books weren't destroyed or anything - I have RTFA.
However, I'm addressing the computer screen vs. paper books debate. I had a bad case of Lyme Disease this winter - actually, I still have it just not as bad. Anyway, one of the neurological problems was that I had a problem with different contrast levels - i.e. reading bright letters on a dark background or vice versa really SUCKED. Sucked as in gave me a massive headache after 5 min or so. Books were much better in this respect.
-b.
I had to go back and re-read TFA after reading this post. On first reading I had thought the books were being transferred to other nearby shools rather than within the same school. This, of course, becomes a complete non-issue if the books are still readily available to students at that school.
However, this has gotten people to talking about the differences between gathering info on a computer and gathering info from books. I have to point out that regardless of which method is "better," the vast majority of the books in question are simply not available for free "checkout" in electronic form. Project Guttenburg is awesome and would be my first stop for classics, but it would be a pretty big mistake to think 20th and 21st century authors are irrelivant.
Until students can get a huge cross-section of copyrighted authors available to them online, we have to keep the print libraries.
TW
They aren't throwing out a single book.
The University of Texas "Undergraduate Library" has an interesting history - basically, the library was developed to allow undergraduates to browse stacks - before then, only graduates could do so - undergraduates had to use the card catalog to find exactly the book they wanted and give it to the librarian.
This was in the 1950s-1960s.
But since then, almost every library is open to every student - making an "undergraduate library" a bit of a redundancy. Already, the "Undergraduate Library" was not the main library on campus - that honor went to the Perry-Castaneda Library a blocks south. (It's a Biiiig campus)
That's where all 90,000 books will go.
It's actually a better deal - instead of looking in the directory at the PCL and finding out that the book you want is at the OTHER library (something that's happened quite a bit to me!) the books will be in one place. Already the "Undergraduate Library" - or as it's now known, the Flawn Academic Center, was used primarily as study-group area (because it had a big lobby) the housing of the campus computer store, and one of the largest computer labs on campus.
So, to recap: No books will be thrown out, they'll be put where they ought to be - with the other books, in the other, main library on campus. This is a win-win.