Today, there is an article in the Boston Globe that is implicitly about the general state of libraries. I am not sure if it appears in the newspaper itself, but here is the link to it online:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/05/headmaster_says.html
The fact that this article is titled, apparently with no sense of apocalyptic irony, “Headmaster says eliminating books in library is working fine” is both frightening and hilarious. Basically, this private high school in central Massachusetts is trying to digitize the entire library. Several of the quotes from the headmaster of this school are just appalling (even more so considering they didn’t ask for a single librarian’s opinion).
Here are two questions to start with: if all library collections are digitized, is there a point to having a building that people go to? And can this digital approach even be called a library anymore?
Everybody watch out, because this might be knocking on Northeastern’s door as we speak.