Change can be exciting. It can also be scary, and sometimes you wonder exactly where it is all leading. I have mentioned lately that I have been under stress due to changes in my work environment, and it is no secret that I work in an academic library. We have a new administration and it would seem that they are determined to drag us (for good, bad or otherwise) into the 21st century! So there have been lots of changes, and I have no doubt there will be more to come.
As part of our reorganization the library had a consulting firm come in and take a look at our work processes and flows and see how things could be simplified and streamlined. I won't go into the gorey details, but suffice it to say that lots will be changing. I am not a professional librarian--I work in the financial section of the library (my degree is in Art History--go figure), but I suspect many libraries are going through changes similar to ours. I have mixed feelings about it all. One of the things the consultants seemed quite particular about is (and I am rephrasing here) that the move for libraries should be from paper to to online and digital wherever possible. I have already seen truckloads of periodicals go out the door in favor of e-journals. The consultants even mentioned favorably ebooks as well. Hmm.
I suspect part of the motivation for all this is that we are now catering to "Millennials" as this generation of high school and college students is now termed. You can read about Millennials here (sorry this article is three years old, but you'll get the idea). Some interesting, though not surprising, things about these students (that I read in the article): to them computers are not technology (they just ARE), the internet is more important than TV, their learning is closer to Nintendo than logic (trial and error approach), they prefer typing to handwriting (so do I though), staying connected is very important (oh yes, I see this all over campus--does everyone own a cell phone but me?!), they have zero tolerance for delays (thanks Amazon, look what you have created--they want it all...now!). Really some of these things I expect too, but I suppose I am coming at it all from a different perspective. All this translates into--libraries and schools need to change in order to engage these students.
Personally I am all for progress. But I have to say I cringe watching so much paper (and by that I mean periodicals and books) end up in the recycling bin. Surely academic libraries approach this problem differently than a public library as our patrons vary so much. All these changes have made me begin to wonder what the implications for the book format are. While I am happy to be able to go to Project Gutenberg to read a short story, I hate the idea of everything only being digital. It is wonderful that long out of print works might now be available online somewhere, but I will never be able to give up my books. Do you think Millennials will be happy to read books online? I know they prefer to do their research that way, but I hope reading for pleasure will still be from cracking open a paperback and flipping those pages. If it is any indication of what is to come, this past weekend I watched my 7-year old niece lay out her little paperback readers and pick them up one at a time and read the stories to her dad. When she had to leave for a while she was worried I would move them. Of course books would be the last thing I would ever tell her to put away! No matter how much technology changes or improves our lives, I sincerely hope that the joy of a tangible book--something to look at, flip through, carry around, set on our shelves and most importantly--enchant its reader--will never leave us!