Electronics replaces paper

For many purposes, books are no longer necessary. That is, for entertainment or learning one need not find or carry around a pile of bound paper. The internet contains a vast landscape of information and e-books are ubiquitous. So do will still need places to borrow paper books from—libraries? Or librarians?

Two authors we’ve recently read have impressed us with their insatiable desire for knowledge, especially their hunger for books. Both Richard McKenna (The Sand Pebbles) and Louis L’Amour (many novels of the West; but see Education of a Wandering Man) grew up in the Depression, when work was hard to find and books were luxuries. Each found a way to read voraciously anyway, largely through the services of libraries. Not only were library books free, but the selection was deeper and wider than most bookstores could manage. What these authors managed to put together in the way of a self-directed education is truly impressive.

Nowadays, most of the novels one would pick up in a library are available as e-books. A stack of paper that would be impossible to carry is represented in your device’s memory and fits in your pocket. And for learning, there are not only e-books, but essays and videos streaming freely to your computer. Taking the trip to a building with endless shelves and a check-out system isn’t really necessary.

(With exceptions. Our astronomer needed the resources of the Cambridge University Library to read a mathematical paper in French from 1812, and the Seattle Public Library provided a relevant volume of the collected works of James Clark Maxwell from 1901. Most of you won’t need that sort of thing.)

So, with no need of books, why do we need the places books are stored in—libraries? And librarians? Can’t the self-directed student learn without them?

Almost certainly not—for several reasons. A few are

• Getting started. At the beginning, by definition you don’t know what’s out there, and someone who knows the land (the librarian) is extremely helpful to find the trailhead.
• Searching. Google is great if you’re looking for what everyone else wants, but not so effective otherwise. When one of our consultants was studying the philosopher Sir Karl Popper, it kept trying to sell him popcorn poppers. No doubt more people eat popcorn than read (or wish to read) The Logic of Scientific Discovery, but it’s not what he wanted.
• Context. Some of the great writing is clear and stands on its own, but much needs context and explanation. Attempting the Divine Comedy without help would be enormously frustrating and confusing.
• Threshing. The amount of information on the internet defies metaphor—and much of it is simply wrong. Someone with a bit of background can keep you from wasting time on the chaff, or learning lies.
• Serendipity. Browsing along a shelf of titles we’ve often run into something interesting that we weren’t looking for.

Add to this the sheer convenience of the library as a way to get access to modern electronic knowledge.

No doubt McKenna and L’Amour could have performed their self-education today without any outside assistance. But they were unusually determined (reading philosophy in a lumber camp!). There are more efficient ways, and they’re open to you. What use have you made of your opportunities?