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Re: [ARSCLIST] hometown libraries (was Zits cartoon strip)
Yes, Don..... I hope to use those resources when I come to Virginia in
a year or two to trace my roots, hopefully back to Wales. And, I should
mention that our local library not only gives free classes in computer
and Web use, but it has banks of computers for patrons to use to browse
the Web. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
But, my wife and I enjoy the freedom of having a book that we can pick
up or put down or just look at if we so desire, no pressure. There is a
romance of books that can't be matched by a CRT or LCD. If we could do
everything through a computer screen, we'd be able to get rid of our
printers, too. Many times, I prefer having a "hard copy" as opposed to
staring at the limited laptop screens or the cold desktop display. No,
I think (One Man's Opinion) that the printed media is here to stay.
Also, things go in cycles, and what's popular now in a faddish sort of
way (everybody's doing it) with iPods, etc. may change or come and go
with the next tide of what's new.
If the Internet fails us (the next terrorist threat) we've still got
books just as we've still got that "obsolete" reel to reel media that
keeps playing back. In the movie, "Logan's Run", after the current
"civilization" was starting to fall apart, it was a visit to one of the
last existing print libraries tended by Peter Ustinov that helped our
hero and heroine to go back with Ustiov to lead the remaining thirty
year old population (the maximum age allowed by the computer) to a new
future . In the original book, the reason for the failure of the
society was because the master computer was failing (shades of HAL). I
like to think that a wise librarian (where are they in this debate?)
will lead us to future salvation no matter what media is used.
Rod Stephens
Dnjchi@xxxxxxx wrote:
The downtown Roanoke (VA) Library has its Virginia Room with histories,
pictures, and genealogies for the historian. Folks come from miles away to use its
resorces.
Don Chichester