Empty Libraries

I was wondering the other day if the public library is going the way of the newspaper. Is it in decline or even disappearing?  It seems to me that with the electronic revolution putting books and articles on line for free, and with all those book reading devices, like that "Nook" thing, making book downloads so cheap and easy, maybe the  physical library will become extinct.

Buying books can be expensive, but now most people wait for the discounts on their next book read, buy the latest books from second hand/thrift stores, or purchase them on line form a cheap bookseller like Amazon.com. Does anyone pay full price of a book anymore? The competition from the electronic readers and sellers has sent a message to bookstores and libraries that they will have to give the reader a better reason to check out a book or purchase one there.

Have you been to a library lately? I rarely go because I like to own my own copy, always have. But last time I went to my local library I saw all kinds of strange things going on, unrelated to the old library style "pick a book, sit down and read or check it out and "SHUT UP". Now libraries are "media centers" that vend as many movies or music and other visual material as books. They can listen to lectures. And there are rooms for conferences and crafts, places where people can and use computers or WIFI's for research or fun. Libraries also offer classes in various skills like cooking.

The old traditional library was a quiet place that offered the user one thing-books. One could check out a book or read it there, but silence was always the golden rule in the old library setting. In those days you had two choices to obtain a book or magazine, buy it or use a library. Now the library choices are so varied that the library is becoming a multi media center rather than a places for the written word. I guess the modern library has mutated like everything else these days. It no longer is the library that always was the same.

The good thing is that we'll always need printed books that don't mutate the way those digital books do. We'll always need places to display books, auditoriums for book talks, circles for story time with little children. We'll always need those solid and comforting library buildings that somehow bring sense to, comfort and bind every person to every place.