Libraries' evolving role in the digital age

¶ … Libraries

Changing Role of Libraries

Changing Role of Libraries in Today's Society

Changing Role of Libraries in Today's Society

Changing Role of Libraries in Today's Society

From the time when the recorded history began, all kinds of artifacts of symbolic, religious, social, and educational have been assembled together and protected in the libraries in the form of books and documents. Sumerians were the one who developed and brought into actual formation of a library. People of Mesopotamia, several millennia before, revolutionized the means of communication by using symbols and pictures which represented specific units of speech. According to Derrida (1996), the humans have undergone an "archive fever" which means the urge to preserve all kinds of information regarding the history, facts, experiences of people, etc. This impulse gave rise to libraries like temple libraries which contained organized and arranged books and this was done by trained personnel. Libraries in the past and even now have been the preserving place for printed material in the form of books, documents, maps, folders etc. Along with printed material, libraries also contain visual and audio artifacts which are considered important by the society.

Libraries play an important part in educational institutions even now, and contain in abundance, text material, technology, literacy material etc. The role of librarian since the inception of libraries has been to archive, organize, searching the card catalog, mediate and distribute the various forms of texts and artifacts to people to come to visit the library. These basic roles and responsibilities of a librarian have not changed until two decades before (Bennett, 2006). The role of librarians changed when the sole print-based managements system of text added technology to it.

Introduction

With the rise of digital technology, a discussion regarding the existence of the library is in the ascendant. Some have said that a digital library will replace a real library, buildings, facilities, printed collections, and librarians will disappear, while others advocated that libraries should promote their roles in various aspects and enhance their importance. Academic libraries, for instance, must pay more attention to the activities related to students' learning needs. In this sense, academic libraries have evolved into a place comprising social and technological components. Libraries have to show that they have the ability to be used in extreme technological environments to come (Bennett 2006). As a learning place on campus the library is located in a central area and occupies a large space. For a long time the library building has had both substantial functions and symbolic meaning, as a place in which people enjoy reading, check instrumental data, use Internet computers, and at the same time appreciate artwork and heritage, and meditate.

Nowadays more and more teachers and students also use libraries to discuss and share thoughts with each other. The libraries have become "a forum for students to collaborate, enjoy fellowship, engage in healthy debate, create and challenge ideas, and experience learning and discovery in a multitude of meaningful ways. Good design supports these activities" (Shill, Tonner, 2003). Throughout the world, countries spend billions of dollars on new and renovated libraries for educational institutions. What sort of places are these? When we look at university students' learning behaviors we may gain an idea about how their learning experiences in an advanced technological environment are improved when electronic resources are considered imperative for learning (Van Orsdel, Born. 2002). Academic libraries play an important role because they have a lot advantages over the virtual ones. They were basically designed as a repository to gather access and protect print collections. The libraries were designed and planned in such a way that the main concern was to preserve the materials and to provide it to people with efficiency properly making the catalogs and labeled sections (Freeman 2005).

But things have changed in the past two decades. Shill and Tonner (2003) conducted a survey regarding the academic library projects done across the U.S. during the time between 1995 and 2002. These projects were fairly evenly divided between new buildings and expansions and renovations, and the number of completions was reasonably stable over the period. There was a significant general enlargement in the size of the library. The authors point out that the majority of the libraries were situated in regions where the students came frequently. An obvious inclination was not seen towards significant inclusion of other divisions in library facilities. It was found that few libraries occupied space in buildings constructed mainly for additional reasons. The foremost impetus for constructing and enlarging libraries in the last two decades was to offer additional shelving for printed materials (Bennett 2003). Now, however, the key issues regarding library space are no longer size and budget. Instead, the issue is the influence of the newly created space in the library on the users' learning motivation, attitude, and behavior.

Changing Role of Libraries

Impact of Technology

The debate concerning the impact of technology on the role of libraries continues. How long will it be before libraries disappear, when there are signs that many librarians are ready to discard printed materials for good (Van Orsdel & Born 2002)? When asked the questions regarding the need of libraries when everything is going digital, the respondents tended to answer in the negative, because the educational institutions needed more space to enhance their strategic aims and objectives (Weise & Tooey 1999). Bazillion and Braun (2001) assert that the whole educational mission is the basis when designing and building a library. Library administration and designers should rethink this. According to Himmelfarb, "libraries are in the throes of a revolution" (Himmelfarb, 1997), "Bazillion (2001) sees this revolution as a result of "the convergence of several recent developments in education." He summarizes these developments:

1. The introduction of internet-based teaching and learning has revived the teacher's knowledge and enhanced participation of the students in learning;

2. The changing role of librarians as educationalists of the new technology;

3. Changes in the design and geography of the libraries in the last ten years;

4. The taking up of worldwide computer-access softwares by various educational institutions.

A Web-enhanced library catalogue, offering access to full-text materials via electronic resources, is a good example of Web-enhanced information gathering, which also includes e-books, e-journals, and items via the interlibrary loan service. The new libraries which have integrated technology in them have become popular amongst students since they enable the students to study in the form of groups using applications like Web 2.0 (Beard & Dale 2009).

The movement of publishers toward putting digitized tomes online for purchase, rental, download or storage may force a change in the nature of circulating libraries (Shapiro & Varian 1999). Their changing role in the digital era finds libraries not just in the business of book lending, but also in the commerce of offering rights to use, counsel, instruction, and concrete help to their users (Bazillion 2001). Moreover, the development of online courses will certainly influence the architecture of library buildings. To perform most effectively in these courses, students come to the library to be educated in relevant skills in the use of computers and Internet facilities, and to obtain advice about reference materials that can be found in the library.

Librarians still have duties to instruct students in information literacy. Librarians dealing with specific subjects have been working with academics in the past (Dale et al. 2006), and now it is time that they must create latest coalitions with other contemporaries to become new learning technologists (Kope 2006). Although it is difficult to predict how exactly technology might shape library space, more and more libraries have provided technology-supported group study rooms and project development spaces, which have been constructed to be effortlessly responsive to current technological advancements. In this easy to access and communicate learning environment, energetic group discussions and intense conversations accompany learning and sharing (Freeman 2005). Library design must take into account all such issues that might affect library use. In this sense, technology is certainly a giant factor.

Today's students belong to what Oblinger and Oblinger (2005) have called the internet generation. They are not only experienced with Web browsing and usage, but also can work simultaneously using material combinations like laptops, print volumes and mobile phones, and are pleased to work in technology- rich spaces -- such as the "techno booths" provided at Bournemouth University (Beard & Dale 2009). There are even those who question whether, with off-site, full-time access to subscribed databases and an Internet resource, a library is even needed for the campus. Many libraries have cancelled print journal subscriptions in favor of electronic versions (Montgomery & King 2002). Bennett (2006) suggests that the main advantage the digital libraries offer is time, and queries why anyone would wish to abandon this productivity gain by entering a library building. Frischer (2005) reports that the UCLA research library has placed the digital catalogue of its collection online, removed the card catalogue, and are using the space regained for computer workstations. So far, only a few libraries have taken the next logical step of removing all journals and books from the library and replacing them with an online digital library.

Most believe that journals and books are still welcomed by some users. In contrast to printed journals, electronic versions cannot guarantee the permanent availability, due to publishers' policies. Therefore libraries must retain printed journals until they are sure that their e-journals can be held in perpetuity. Medical libraries may be a pioneer and extreme case to be considered. The Welch Medical Library has decided to work towards becoming completely digital by 2015. By that time all the information required by the students would be available to them in the digital form and they would not require text books to conduct their research. The library as we know it will transmute into a "knowledge centre," which will work as a repository and hub of the library's educational program in information literacy (Freeman 2005).

Library staff will then act as consultants, collaborators and trainers. The traditional library will largely become a repository for materials on the history of medicine (Oliver 2005). Due to their limited resources, few universities are willing to go this far, however, and there is some evidence that improved library facilities are associated with significant increases in student usage (Shill & Tonner 2004). This seems to have occurred most noticeably where libraries have made the most concerted effort to foresee the maximum effect of advanced technologies (Freeman 2005).

Advantages of Traditional Libraries

Overall, it is clear that Lancaster's paperless society (Lancaster 1999) is not upon us and that libraries that react appropriately will not become deserted, as claimed by Carlson (2001):

Some people still prefer libraries over web-based virtual libraries because traditional libraries:

Are secure unlike the web-based libraries

Provide a quiet and calm place where one can read or do research without a chaos around Are free to use

Offer a physical space where people can interact physically and discuss things

Offer authentic research unlike the internet where the information is not so authentic (Demas 2005)

It is also clear that libraries must continue to grow with new technologies which are not equivalent to the Internet. Frischer (2005) gives two directions: (1) two-way, demonstrations of virtual reality models for the teachers and students; and (2) digital publication of scientific 3-D models of mathematical equations, complex molecules, distant galaxies, or ancient cities. Indeed, this is not an unimaginable picture. Technology is secure and enriches the process of transforming libraries.

The Hybrid Library

Libraries may currently be in a transition period. Current design trends include increased use of glazing and cultural artwork, better noise management, and improved access for those with disabilities, and improved provision for information technology (McDonald 2000). This is an opportunity for library staff to think about the future -- what will impact on the library and how. In this era of internet, space and design will have lot of significance (Frischer 2005). But Boone (2002) asserts that people who plan and design libraries cannot ignore the significance of traditional libraries, and in order to integrate technology in the area of library it is very important to use both methods in one place.

Based on his vision, ideally a library building is like an interface in which people can talk to others and to the materials. That is, libraries provide a physical space for teachers as well as students to interact with each other and also access all sorts of information for free (Boone 2002) McDonald (2006) observes that libraries have not been replaced by computer centers, and Martin and Kenney (2004) agree that the libraries nowadays do not accommodate only technology and technology-based services. They are actually formed by the new technologies. This is the fact whether they acquire the web-based library or not and agree with Trussell (2004) that "electronic access to current and historical information must have priority over the housing of historic physical volumes."

According to Freeman (2005) library is perfect place to integrate the technology because in this way the benefits of the traditional library system are enhanced. The benefits of both, the technology and the traditional library can be achieved this way. Books are not going to disappear, because the great majority of people still prefer reading printed books than electronic versions. Despite enormous efforts to digitize books, it is very unlikely that we will obtain everything that is available digitally. And of course we will continue to wish to preserve some manuscripts and rare books in their original form. According to Borgman (2000), there will be hybrid libraries, archives and other information institutions in future. For instance, hybrid workstations benefit not only digital producers but also libraries themselves, because they may ultimately operate as storage area of quality digital material" (Frischer 2005). Library design must give users something they do not have in the office or at home, namely community. Frischer (2005) cites ARL statistics showing that although total circulation in research libraries fell considerably due to the emergence of the internet, during the time between 1991 and 2003, however at the same time the number of group presentations jumped 61% in the same period. A problem must be considered. As McDonald (2000) points out, that the augmented use of current technology has increased the demand for space required for the library buildings and thus has increased the overall costs.

Ironically, it has often stimulated demand for traditional services. In other words, IT may not decrease libraries' personnel resources, space and budget. On the contrary, it will pay for itself when the libraries aim at effectiveness of use. The "information commons" is a popular method for incorporating technology and information material, though there is not yet one clear concept to fit all. According to Bazillion & Braun (2001), it simply indicates linking up information technology, information material, and support of staff. Bennett (2003) defines information commons as "spaces where learning is the principal activity and where the focus is on facilitating the social exchanges through which information is transformed into knowledge." Beagle (1999) regards it as a place where "the coordinated and extended set of study and workspaces offer & #8230; an array of options ranging from traditional individual study to collaborative conference areas." Brewer et al. (2004) perceives it as offering "community spaces for inquiry-based learning and out-of- classroom activities." The information commons also relates to the claim by libraries of responsibility for cultivating information literacy (Bennett 2006).

However, Kuh and Gonyea (2003) found in their research that information literacy is not necessarily increased directly from the access to the libraries. As Bazillion (2001) points out as to what sort of facility is required which can increase the information literacy? On the other hand, the information commons is typically a highly social place where people can interact openly and eating is probably permitted. All these are designed to encourage people to share thoughts with their peers and use diverse technologies.

Influence Of Pedagogy

In the view of pedagogy, library spaces play an interesting role. Bennett (2005) says that a library needs to be a place which has a domestic touch to it so that people feel at home and comfortable. It is believed that students will be more motivated and learn more efficiently when the socially constructed environment is warm and friendly (Karagiannidis & Kinshuk 2002). According to Freeman (2005), other than the classrooms, there should be a place for the teachers and the students where they can interact with each other and develop analytical skills in themselves which comes only from extensive reading and research of different materials present in the library. For this skill to be developed, it is imperative that the people go to the libraries and spend time there doing actual research using different texts rather than just searching for the exact information that they require for their assignment, homework, project, general knowledge etc. (Freeman 2005).

The group study area is a common feature in academic libraries nowadays. This is evidence of responsiveness to constructivist pedagogies advocating collaborative learning. Barr and Tagg (1995) describe change in the pattern in which education and learning takes place. In this current technology driven society, instruction it is not important any more, instead it is the learning which is important. Therefore, an environment which provides such thing as learning environment to the people, then the goal is achieved. Bennett (2005) called for library staff to join faculty in supporting this universal change in pattern regarding technology driven libraries to evaluate the performance of the library. He asked them collectively, about the performance of the new library system as far as learning is concerned. He was concerned about the learning that resulted from the new system rather than the frequency and ease of use. He asserts that the main task of the library is not to provide information only, rather the learning that results from that information (Bennett 2006). Deep learning requires participation in communities, and libraries have a large part to play in this process (Brown 2002). Changes in students' learning patterns were among the major dominant motivating factors for designing and renovating libraries in the 1990s (Bennett 2003). In summary, library space blueprint is related to situating information resources in the societal perspective of learning. This is the central part of a physical library which "occupies geographically and symbolically, the centre of a community established to support the advancement and perpetuation of knowledge" (Tella, Owolabi & Attama 2009).

University faculty and library staff must hold fast to the principle of pedagogy when they reflect on the space factor in library design. Advancing students' learning performance is after all the highest priority, no matter how progressive the technology or how rich the library.

Social vs. Communal

As mentioned earlier, a library is a place where students can communicate with others face-to-face or via facilities. That is, according to social model, a library is a place where people communicate and share their thoughts and knowledge in order to form new knowledge. However, a communal library is different from a social library. According to communal model, a library is a place where a person can have a quiet place and can learn on his/her own from the information that is available in the library without any kind of social interaction with anyone.

Everyone is supposed to be able to find the materials or get someone to answer their enquiry. "The issue with the social model of academic library is the fact that library is supposed to be a quiet place where one can study, analyze and learn on his/her own, which is very important (Gayton 2008). Gardner and Eng (2005) reported 81% of the people who visit the libraries are because of the reason that they need silence around them so that they can study with full concentration alone (Demas 2005). Peterson (2005) found that library design remained a work in progress, with "quiet" floors being changed to "silent" floors and vice versa. The automated booking information system in most of the public libraries for instance, has been extended to group study rooms. This has led to the increase in library use. On the one hand, the findings of Oluwadare (2006) stated that majority of the students visit the library in order to read and not engage themselves in other academic activities.

But on the other hand, in a study conducted by Bennett (2007a) revealed that students visit the libraries because they want to interact with other people and discuss their ideas with them and learn through communication. According to Cataldo et al. (2006), libraries should cater to both the individual users and the groups of people, which mean that flexibility must be available for all kinds of library visitors.

E-books

E-books are the most recent electronic fascination and something many of the self-styled library digiterati are already hailing as a sort of "Great White Hope" that will restore library's relevance in a digital world. Certainly there can be no doubt that e-books have caught on with the general public. Amazon and Barnes & Noble have both reported more e-books are being sold than paper books. The growth in the e-book market has been so strong; it has led some publishing pundits to predict that an 80% e-book world for straight narrative text is coming in 2 to 5 years) (Sandelands, 2010). Whether we agree with those sorts of wild predictions or not, there is a general consensus in the publishing industry that the e-book era has definitely arrived and has already begun changing the way books are produced, sold, and read in some pretty fundamental ways.

E-books have also been generating similar levels of excitement among the library community. There are now dozens of programs on them at every conference, all jammed with hundreds of eager librarians - just as in the heyday of virtual reference - only more so. All this interest is attracting the usual complement of vendors hoping to take advantage of the excitement (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005). Still, there is definitely a palpable excitement about the potential of e-books - leading many among us to envision a bright future where millions of patrons will come flocking to library websites to download the latest copies of bestsellers, romances, mysteries, and other popular titles - just as they now use library's print collections. However, evidence suggests that libraries will have some serious issues with e-books (Sandelands, 2010). It is highly unlikely that our local public libraries will be transformed into a sort of free Netflix for digital books anytime soon.

Publishers do not really seem to want libraries involved in the e-book market. Four of the six major U.S. publishers - Simon & Schuster, MacMillan, Hachette, and Penguin - will not sell front list e-books to libraries, period. Two of them - Simon & Schuster and MacMillan - won't provide libraries with any e-books at all; HarperCollins limits libraries to 26 e-book circulations - and then the library is required to buy a new copy (Sandelands, 2010). Add to that strict geographic restriction on which library patrons may access library e-books, complex digital rights management schemes making it difficult for library users to download books, and the fact that libraries are commonly forced to purchase e-books at full retail price or more. It is becoming pretty obvious that library e-book lending is not something publishers want to encourage. And it's not just libraries. Both publishers and authors have come down hard on Amazon's new Library Lending Program that allows Amazon Prime members to borrow one e-book per month from a list of about 75,000 titles (Sukovic, 2011). None of the Big Six would allow their titles to be included in the program, and a number of other publishers and authors whose titles were included in the Amazon program without their permission are threatening legal action.

Publishers and authors have a very real concern that giving away free copies of e-books could cannibalize potential sales of those same titles, and that too much free material in the marketplace devalues the prices they can charge for their books. Frankly, publishers and authors have every reason to be concerned. They need look no farther than the implosion of the music industry for what can happen when too much content becomes available for free - except in that case, it was pirates providing the content, not libraries; still, the overall effect was the same (Kurt, Kurt, Medaille, 2010).

Libraries have not taken all of this lying down. Libraries have countered publisher claims that they damage the marketplace by pointing out that libraries help create customers by introducing traditional library patrons to an author's work for free, and then, once they get hooked, they go on to purchase additional titles. Library Journal even came out with a survey showing that most of the e-book borrowers are basically regular readers who issue books from the libraries and then when they feel the need of acquiring that book, they purchase is online (Kurt, Kurt, Medaille, 2010).

There is no doubt that giving away content for free is an important driver of e-book sales. "A Book Industry Study Group" (BISG) report from April 2011 indicates that receiving a free/promotional sample chapter was the leading reason why people cited for purchasing an e-book. More than 30% of the respondents stated that they had purchased a book on this basis, while 25% said they bought an e-book after receiving a free or promotional e-book by the same author. Free e-books are a major component of the digital marketplace; in November 2010, the BISG reports that 48% of all e-books downloaded were free; by January 2011 that number had grown to 51% (Sukovic, 2011). This data would seem to vindicate the contention of librarians that giving away material for free helps drive sales.

And indeed it does. There is only one little problem. The free content BISG was referring to was not coming from libraries. The free introductory chapters were coming from the publishers and retailers themselves or, in some cases, directly from the authors. Amazon alone offers 1.2 million titles for free; Barnes & Noble claims to have more than a million free titles. Both of them are dwarfed by the millions of free titles Google is bringing online from its library scanning program (Kurt, Kurt, Medaille, 2010).So while free is good, and free certainly helps drive e-book sales, libraries are no longer the only game in town when it comes to giving away books.

The e-retailers are offering far larger collections of free material than are found in all but in largest libraries - and you never have to bring them back. When it comes to giving away promotional chapters or e-books for free, that is something publishers can now do for themselves and with much greater precision and control over their offerings than libraries could ever supply. For example, publishers could regulate exactly the amount and type of content to give away and to whom to generate the maximum number of sales. While librarians like to argue that they are "partners" with publishers in turning people onto books and authors, the facts suggest that they are really a pretty blunt instrument when it comes to driving book sales, and that publishers and authors now have much better options when they want to give away stuff for free (Sukovic, 2011).

The fact that librarians need to worry about what publishers think at all points out another serious problem with e-books in libraries - libraries do not own them. With print books, libraries have always operated under the "first sale doctrine" - a section of the Copyright Act that specifies that when a library (or anybody else, for that matter) buys a copy of a book, it is ours to do with as we see fit (Sukovic, 2011). We can lend it to whomever we want, as many times as we want, and when we decide we are through with it, we can dispose of it in any way we want, including selling it, giving it away to the local Friends group, or throwing it in the dumpster. There is nothing any publisher or vendor can do about it, unless we violate some provision of the Copyright Act.

Not so for e-books. As of now, anyway, the first sale doctrine does not apply to digital content. So, libraries do not really purchase e-books: Libraries license them from publishers or vendors such as Amazon and OverDrive. And it is the terms of those licenses - not the copyright law, or anything else - that determines exactly what libraries can and cannot do with e-books. Licenses can and do specify to whom the title can be lent (Sukovic, 2011). For OverDrive customers, that means only registered patrons who live within the library's geographic service area. Licenses can also specify how many times an item can be lent - and for HarperCollins customers, as we now know, that limit is 26. Licenses specify the vendor used to download e-books and the e-readers on which they can be read - as we learned when Penguin recently yanked its entire "Get for a Kindle" links from its content on OverDrive (Sukovic, 2011).

And licenses can specify exactly what happens to e-books libraries spent good money on when deciding to switch vendors or stop e-book service altogether - as the Kansas State Library discovered when it tried to move its content from OverDrive to 3M. OverDrive had inadvertently used the word "purchase" in its contract with Kansas State, so it agreed to allow the Kansas State Library to transfer its books to 3M on a one-time basis. However, the state library was forced to get separate approval for each title from the 193 publishers involved. As of this writing, she had only managed to get approval to move half of her e-book titles and 40% of her downloadable audio books (Sukovic, 2011).The remaining titles that Kansas State thought it had bought and paid for will just disappear when the OverDrive contract runs out at the end of this year. OverDrive has since re-written all of its contracts to indicate that all its content is licensed - not purchased - and that the library only has access to it as long as it subscribes to the OverDrive platform.

Should a library want to move to another provider or discontinue its e-book subscription, all of the books it has bought - er, "licensed" - simply vanish into thin air (Sukovic, 2011). Not exactly an attractive business model for libraries. But as long as the first-sale doctrine does not apply to digital works, it is all there is. And if libraries want to give their patrons access to e-books, they are forced to negotiate the terms and conditions with the publishers and e-book vendors who supply them - many of whom have little incentive to accommodate us. Even in the event libraries can negotiate deals with the publishing industry that would allow the libraries to play a significant role in the e-book market, there remain some very real questions about what that role might be.

Traditionally, libraries have provided value for readers in two important ways. Libraries collected books in a wide variety of subject areas and held on to them long after they've gone out of print. As a result, even the most modest libraries generally have bigger and better collection of print books than one can find in most bookstores and, through the wonders of interlibrary loan, libraries could even offer access to millions of titles available in other libraries around the world. So if someone was a reader looking for books outside the limited selection of current titles at his/her local bookstore, his/her best bet - until now - has been to head to the library (Sukovic, 2011).

Secondly, and just as importantly, libraries reduced the cost of reading and information by purchasing copies of books and sharing them among many readers. We cannot really say libraries are free - we all pay for them in our taxes and/or tuition fees. But they certainly are cheap.

But e-books seriously undermine the value of libraries in each of these functions. First, there is the non-ownership problem which only lets libraries provide patrons access to some portion of the vendor's collection as long as annual license and maintenance fees continue to be paid. If a library should falter in paying, its whole e-book "collection" simply vanishes - as if it had never existed. More importantly, no matter how many titles a library offers access to, libraries will never be the "big kahuna" of the e-book world, as had been the case for print (Sukovic, 2011).That role has been supplanted by Google, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and others which now offer access to millions of titles from their sites - all of which can be accessed at the touch of a button. In fact, with more than 15 million titles scanned, Google Books already outranks most of the world's print collections. And, if it can accomplish its avowed goal of scanning all of the estimated 129,864,880 print books that now exist on Earth, it will truly make it Earth's Largest Library by a very wide margin (Sukovic, 2011).Not only that, one will be able to search through the full text of all 130 million titles to find what you want, and, when you do, no filling out ILL forms or waiting around weeks to get it. Just push the button and it will appear on your device immediately. Except for building a handy e-reading device and associated apps, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and the others lag far behind Google, but each provides far and away more e-book titles than are available on any library website. And since e-books need never go out of print, nor are there any significant carrying costs for electronic inventory, we can only expect these "retail" collections to continue to grow in the future.

So patrons will no longer need to turn to libraries to find titles that are a little more esoteric or were published long ago. If they want e-books, Google and the principal retailers can already offer access to a much richer selection of titles, and much more easily and conveniently than libraries have ever been able to offer in print. Of course, there are some legal difficulties - ahem - but most of these companies can afford to litigate, if not to legislate.

And, there is more. A large percentage of the e-books available from Google and other retailers are available for free - just like the library - but better because you do not have to go down and pick them up and you never have to bring them back. Google is offering about 3 million free books in the public domain as of this writing, and that number would likely increase substantially if and when the litigation is resolved. Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble claim to offer more than 1 million free titles each, more than either of them offers for sale, and far more free titles than you'd find in the average library collection. A real treasure-trove - as long as one does not mind if the books were not written very recently.

However, statistics still show that e-books that do make it into libraries seem to circulate pretty heavily, indicating that libraries are still providing a service their patrons value, even with these low price points and the millions of books available for nothing. Nonetheless, it becomes difficult to justify spending public tax monies to further reduce the cost of a service that is already cheap and broadly available. We may be reaching that point.

Clearly, libraries are no longer the only game in town when it comes to providing library services. Amazon, Google, and Barnes & Noble already give away way more free e-books than there are in most library print collections. If it really can be proved that lending books does increase sales, as the ALA and starry-eyed library e-book advocates like to claim, then major suppliers such as Amazon, B&N, Google, and others may make more attractive "lending partners" in the future for publishers and authors than libraries. After all, since these suppliers have the biggest collections, and that is where most of us go to buy e-books now, it would only make sense that we would want to go to the same place to borrow them.

The Electric Library

What would it look like - a library that existed only on the internet without any kind of physical presence at all? How might it work? Or is "might" the right word? Maybe we should be asking what will work and how soon (Sandelands, L. 2010). A library that exists entirely on the web, without shelves or printed books to put on them, or comfortable chairs, or story time rooms, or even rows of public access PCs, or a building to put all of it into. This library would have no physical presence whatsoever. It would come to life at the flick of switch, provide its services to us wherever we happened to be, and vanish just as quickly when we no longer needed it. To get an idea of what this virtual library might look like, and the kinds of services it might provide, we have looked at how libraries were in the past; all of the roles libraries have played, or tried to play, or dreamed of playing in the digital transformation of our society's infotainment infrastructure (Jakubs, 2008).

It has become abundantly clear that it really is not necessary for us to imagine what an electric library would look like at all - because it has already been built. It is here right now, and millions of people are using it every day. The only problem is, libraries and librarians have little or nothing to do with it. Books are provided by Amazon, Google, Barnes & Noble, and Apple - all of whom boast much larger collections than can be found in almost any library, and many of which one can have for free just as if he/she had borrowed them from libraries, except the fact that one does not need to worry about bringing them back (Sandelands, L. 2010). Those books that do cost are generally available at affordable prices that are unlikely to set back the typical reader more than the cost of a six-pack - and we have not yet seen the need to develop public institutions to make that available for free. Cataloging is provided by Google, Amazon, and the other information providers, with little or no regard for the MARC record, AACR2, RDA, the Library of Congress or the Dewey classification systems, and other arcana which have governed the practice of library bibliographic control for years. In fact, most people seem to prefer the richly detailed catalog entries of the online commercial databases to the skeletal data found in the typical library catalog. And that reference to most people even includes many librarians. The readers' advisory services have been taken over by the likes of Goodreads, LibraryThing, Amazon, and dozens of similar "communities" that let readers share their books and their likes and dislikes with their friends online - all for free (Sandelands, L. 2010).

Library reference collections and reference services have also migrated online. Today, when we have a question, we do not ask a librarian; instead we just we type a few words into the Google search box and get back thousands of results, all within a few nanoseconds. Most people find the information they get back good enough to answer most of their questions. In cases where it is not sufficient, they can always consult an expert. But today, that expert is more likely to be a doctor, lawyer, contractor, journalist, tax accountant, psychiatrist, or somebody else with special subject knowledge rather than a librarian (Sukovic, 2011). Finally, most of us are already accessing this vast electronic library via our personal computers, e-readers, tablets, and smart phones. For those few who cannot afford it, there is still the library public access PC, but its days are clearly numbered. As internet access becomes more ubiquitous, people will no more think of coming to the library to log on to the web than they would come to the library to make a phone call or watch television.

So where does all of this leave the real libraries - with real buildings, real collections of paper books, real librarians and staff, and the millions of real people who use them? It is the librarians who came up with the whole idea of equitable access to information, who knew it was important to preserve the written record, to find ways of identifying it and making it accessible. It is the librarians who invented reference services and story times and became the "go to" people when patrons needed accurate information or a recommendation for a good book (Sukovic, 2011).

Librarians have played a very important role in the digital revolution that has transformed the information and publishing industry during the past several decades. Their database search services introduced thousands upon thousands of patrons to the wonders of online searching. Collectively, they have taught millions of people about the internet, what they could do with it, and what to watch out for (Sukovic, 2011). And the public computers present in the libraries have allowed millions of people to access the web who otherwise would never have been able to afford it. And, of course, Google Books would be nothing like itself, if not for the libraries that preserved and cataloged the millions of paper books Google is now busy scanning.

Conclusion

As an ongoing topic for discussion library space has a dynamic feature -- it continually changes in response to ideas for satisfying existing users and attracting future users. It is critical to capture the student perspective when planning a successful library. Claims in the literature of transmutation of the traditional library into a completely digital facility appear to be rash. However, the design of academic libraries has changed dramatically in recent decades as a result of digital technology and new pedagogy formats, and will undoubtedly continue to change.

It is obvious that traditional libraries will not exist in the future. They will have to incorporate new technology in them (the ones which have not been changed as yet). The perfect solution for integrating technology in libraries is the hybrid libraries, which contain both the print material as well as digital one. The print material can be used in order to check the authenticity of the text which is one of the major issues faced in digital libraries. We now know that we cannot just discard the authentic source of information just because we do not have space for it. Thus, a perfect future would be a combination of traditional and technological means put together to form a reliable, ease to use, quick and authentic source of information for people.