Ammo for Luds: P-book purge at University of Texas undergrad library
The University of Texas at Austin is banishing paper books from the undergraduate library–sending them to libraries elsewhere on campus. According to today’s New York Times:
By mid-July, the university says, almost all of the library’s 90,000 volumes will be dispersed to other university collections to clear space for a 24-hour electronic information commons, a fast-spreading phenomenon that is transforming research and study on campuses around the country.
The TeleRead take: Why can’t the undergraduate library at least keep around a wide variety of titles of the more popular dead-tree books–not just reference works? Most existing works are not sold or lent as e-books; this includes not just many older books but also certain modern best-sellers. Examples: the Harry Potter series and Tom Clancy’s output.
UT-style purges of paper books are ammunition for Luds such as Michael Gorman and Geoffrey Nunberg. I’d love to see a well-stocked national digitial library system in existence in the TeleRead vein, but even after that happens, libraries should count on paper books being in use a long time. We’re talking about evolution rather than instant revolution.
More details from the Times:
Students at Texas, interviewed as they studied or lounged at the library tables, said that they would welcome extra computer space and that they got most of their books anyway at the far larger Perry-Castañeda Library. But some said they liked the popular selection at the undergraduate library and feared the loss of a familiar and congenial space.
“Well, this is a library - it’s supposed to have books in it,” said Jessica Zaharias, a senior in business management. “You can’t really replace books. There’s plenty of libraries where they have study rooms. This is a nice place for students to come to. It’s central in campus.”
“Just reading the first paragraph made me go ‘Whoa!’” said my friend Roger Sperberg, a veteran production expert in the publishing industry, who sent in the Times link.
I agree–and not just as the author of half a dozen p-books.
Got any similar examples of overdone enthusiasm for e-books and other digipubs? Pass ‘em on. E-book boosters can add credibility to the cause if they avoid the extremism of the Luds.
Remember, it isn’t the medium that counts most of all in books. It’s the content.
At least the Texas undergraduates can find the missing p-books elsewhere on campus, including those for which electronic editions don’t exist. I feel sorry for anyone in the future without similar alternatives.
Related: UGL to be converted to information center, from the Daily Texan.
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