I read about a library without books sometime in the late 1990s, I don’t remember what college or university in New York had no room in its library for a computer lab.
so he opened one in another nearby building he owned and called it a branch library.
You are reading: Library with no books
why?
because it had librarians.
In principle, it is not the presence of a collection of books that defines a library. a library simply requires librarians.
In recent years, however, libraries have experimented with bookless libraries based on digital technology. that is, they have books, but not printed books.
how is it likely to work? I’m not very impressed from what I’ve read.
academic libraries without books
the university of texas at san antonio opened its library of applied engineering and technology in 2010.
claims to be the first completely bookless academic library. It follows the lead of most bookless libraries at Kansas State University (2000) and Stanford University (2009).
In addition to a growing collection of e-books, it boasts thousands of e-zine titles.
with a capacity for 80 users, it offers ten desktop computers, five large lcd screens, a printer, a scanner, group study alcoves and group study rooms. if students or teachers need books for anything, they can go to the main campus library.
here is a library without books without another campus library:
Florida Polytechnic University at Lakeland began its existence in 2014. Its library has no printed books. its manager, dr. kathryn miller observed, “because we are a new university, we had the option to go fully digital. digital resources are part of the university’s mission.”
a first-year student enthusiastically welcomed the all-digital library. “When you get a print book, you spend time reading to find what you need, but with digital, you can jump right in. That so much information is available at your fingertips is something that other libraries cannot provide.”
That sentiment does not bode well for literacy.
It is possible to use the table of contents in a printed book to select obviously useful parts and ignore the rest. I don’t find it easier to do it with an e-book.
If you don’t bother to spend time reading, you won’t find everything you need. It doesn’t matter if they can’t find it in print or electronically. How is someone supposed to know what information he needs unless he reads a lot?
The best and most useful information, especially on basic topics, resides in the expensive proprietary databases to which libraries subscribe. most offer access to the full text of articles.
These two libraries are dedicated to root fields. information quickly becomes outdated in those fields, so a fully digital library makes sense. a library without books would not work in other disciplines.
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Look what happened when a school library tried it.
a school library without books
In 2009, Cushing Academy, a prep school in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, near Boston, decided to get rid of all of its books.
donated or scrapped the entire collection of 20,000 volumes.
claimed that all content would be kept, but in digital format, after all, printed books seemed to be an obsolete technology.
through amazon’s kindle platform, promised access to millions of books. e-books would replace printed books as surely as the codex replaces scrolls.
not only removed the stacks, but also the reference desktop. instead, it spent tens of thousands of dollars on laptop-friendly cubicles and large flat-screen TVs.
Five years later, he began to revive printed books. what went wrong?
- The director apparently made the decision without consulting the faculty. that’s a good way to damage working relationships.
- not all the books some faculty members used in the classroom are available digitally. never in history has any new technology been applied to all the content available on older technologies.
- not everyone can easily use a kindle. It’s not just a generational thing. some students need printed material, especially those who have trouble reading in the first place.
- library outreach and social programs suffer without physical books. how can a library observe banned book week if it has banned all its books?
public libraries without books
the tucson-pima county public library system opened a branch in a neighborhood where most residents did not have access to computers.
At first, the branch only offered access to computers. it remained without books for about six years, but the community asked for a full-service library. now that branch has added books and other aspects of a physical collection to the computers.
newport beach, california considered dumping books from a branch library in 2011. public outcry soon forced the plan to be abandoned.
bibliotech, san antonio
judge nelson wolff of bexar county, texas decided to try something different.
the county seat library system, san antonio, has 29 branches, but the city has a policy of not annexing territory.
the rest of bexar county, a large area, does not have a library system of its own.
The county pays a large subsidy to the city so that its residents can use the city’s library system. wolff thought the city was asking for too much money and decided to establish a new library, without books.
wolff got information from the utsa library of applied engineering and technology, but didn’t include anyone from the public libraries on his team, “since I thought they were stuck in the past.”
The new bookless library, called biblottech, began in September 2013 in a converted building on the city’s south side, an economically poor area where about 70% of residents lacked internet access. ten years earlier, its citizens had protested because it lacked a bookstore.
Bibliotech has since opened another all-digital branch in a low-income housing project on the Westside. plans a third branch in a poor area on the east side.
I find it strange that an idea to expand library access in the county has not yet opened a branch outside of the city. however, it helps bridge the digital divide between rich and poor, a necessary service.
can it work elsewhere?
make space, omaha
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The idea seems to catch on in San Antonio, and a similar bookless library called Do Space opened in 2015 in Omaha, Nebraska.
do space is a non-profit community center. It offers 219 desktop computers, a printing station with 3d printers and a 3d scanner, a laser cutter, comfortable armchairs, private conference rooms equipped with touch screen technology and free Wi-Fi.
metropolitan community college offers classes and educational programs on the second floor.
Although it calls itself a technology library, do space is not part of the omaha public library. It is operated by the Community Information Trust. Its executive director, Rebecca Stavick, used to work at a branch library, where people had to wait up to an hour to use a computer.
Like much of the rest of the country, Omaha has a digital divide. many people do not have a computer at home. That, along with so much competition for the library’s computers, made it difficult for them.
do space therefore fills a need. like a library, it offers almost all services except free printing. Those services include standard library programs like workshops, classes, and clubs for all ages.
People can not only use computer technology there, but also learn how to use it and fix problems with their own devices. they can check out equipment like tablets and laptops, but only for use in the building.
I haven’t found if your staff includes traditional reference librarians. I hope so.
In any case, is there space because the omaha branch libraries did not have enough computers? anyone using do space still has access to full service libraries
some reflections on libraries without books
The digital revolution has changed not only the way we live, but also the way we think. but it hasn’t changed us in the way non-library users imagine.
Libraries have long ceased to be primarily a collection of books. Librarians have long since ceased to be primarily custodians of books. They have long been at the forefront of adopting new technologies.
Neighborhood libraries function as community centers. people use libraries not only for education and, let’s not forget, for entertainment. the library’s classes and workshops also cater to the social needs of patrons.
From preschoolers to doctoral students, libraries provide support for education. PhD candidates can benefit from a wide range of digital resources. preschoolers must learn to read from print books. For one thing, manipulating pages provides important practice in fine motor skills.
Browsing hyperlinks does not offer the same chance of chance as browsing physical book shelves.
When someone needs information, librarians help them find it. and they’re just as good to find online as they are in print. much information is available only in print. much other information can only be accessed through the hundreds of databases to which libraries subscribe.
Experiments like bibliotech and do space provide a great service by making computer technology available to people who might not otherwise be able to afford it. But both San Antonio and Omaha have full-service libraries.
The authors of some of the articles I read for this publication seem to have a dream that fully digital libraries will keep libraries open by leaving behind outdated technologies like print books. For anyone who understands what full service libraries provide, that’s not a dream, it’s a nightmare.
sources: a university library without books? yeah it’s a thing / brooke metz, usa today college. september 1, 2014 bexar set out to turn the page on the idea of books in libraries / john w. gonzález, my saint antonio. january 11, 2013 cushing academy library runs out of books / david abel and chris girard, boston.com. [2009] reintroduction of print books in the cushing/mark melchior academy library. massachusetts library association. October 15, 2016 San Antonio Bookless Library Still Unique / Lamont Wood, Crain’s San Antonio. November 21, 2016 this library without books could be the library of the future / danielle corcione, worthy. undated utsa opens nation’s first bookless library on college campus / christi fish, phx friends of ua sirs. September 15, 2010
photo credits: empty library stacks. some rights reserved by brewbooks florida poly u library. shelves unknown source. wikimedia commons public domain. library hidalgo do space foundation. metropolitan community college, omaha nebraska
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