College Libraries Without Books

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday August 23, 2005 @08:02PM from the wishing-they-had-done-this-earlier dept.

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."

1 of 465 comments (clear)

It's about time! by elucido · 2005-08-23 20:12 · Score: 1, Troll

We should have done this 5 years ago. The sooner we move to digital libraries the better, why? Simple. No one likes physical books anymore, they are heavy, they are difficult to store, theres a limited amount of them, and overall people are less likely to read when they have to use the old system.

I think online libraries are the future, and if we really want to help people we should offer free access to these libraries to anyone in the third world with internet access. This is good news folks.

Now the only way to make this better is to allow anyone from any college anywhere in the world to access one giant online library of combined college networks.