I felt a chill run down my spine when I read the headline of this news article in The Daily Times.
The library at Wor-Wic Community College in has gone totally electronic. There are no books to be found in the library, or it’s better known as the Media Center. So, instead of books, the Media Center has a “collection of full-text online databases covers a wide range of genres and includes a variety of both print and online sources such as articles from reference books, academic journals, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets and statistical tables.”
The Wor-Wic Community College switched to 100% electronic in 1998 and have not looked back since. So, instead of rows of book shelves, there are now rows of desktop computers.
Thankfully, some of the lecturers still encourage their students to source out information from non-electronic materials. And some of the students themselves feel that it’s important not to just rely on non-print resources.
Personally, though I spend quite a fair amount of time online reading emails, news articles and blogs as well as doing research, I still prefer reading from a magazine or book. But I think my percentage of reading at the moment is about 70% on the computer and 30% physical books and magazines.
(via LISNews)
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