E-books?
You may have seen articles about a boarding school library that recently got rid of all its physical books (except for a few). E-books are wonderful, but why throw out the baby with the bath water? Here are some comments that occur to me:
1. Check out the Cushing Academy website and read this unbelievable article within it, penned by their headmaster: http://www.cushing.org/21c/open-content-curricula.shtml
2. Here's one of the first reports on the school's decision from the Boston Globe: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/04/a_library_without_the_books/
3. See this article that ups the count of Kindles at Cushing to 65 (the original 18 must not have been enough, but 65 would cost $16,000+): http://www.usatoday.com/LIFE/usaedition/2009-10-27-nobooklibrary27_st_U.htm?csp=34
4. Supposedly, someone at the school 'spot-checked' the circulation for one day last spring and only 48 books had been checked out--does that mean 48 books had been checked out that day? Why did this school that's over a hundred years old only have 20,000 books, and were they buying recent books that the kids are interested in? Why did they only 'spot-check' the circulation on one day?! The methodology is suspect. I found a discussion that discredits this statistic (see the comment near the end by Joan): http://www.teleread.org/2009/09/04/cushing-academy-gets-rid-of-all-its-books/
5. See another article by cultural critic Roger Kimball that calls Cushing a 'B-list prep school': http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2009/10/03/barbarians-at-the-gate-cushing-academy-edition/
6. One final message board with some excellent responses: http://education.zdnet.com/?p=3035
Like most school librarians, we're proud of our digital collection at MUS, but we know that print books are still thriving and being read all the time. If you doubt the future of books, go to a Barnes and Noble store, stand in line at the public library, or visit our library during 7th period.
