The digital age has transformed information access in ways that few ever dreamed. But the afterclap of our digital wonders has left libraries reeling as they are no longer the chief contender in information delivery.
The author gives both sides—the web aficionados, some of them unhinged, and the traditional librarians, some blinkered—a fair hearing but misconceptions abound. Internet be-all and end-all enthusiasts are no more useful than librarians who urge fellow professionals to be all things to all people. The American Library Association, wildly democratic at its best and worst, appears schizophrenic on the issue, unhelpfully. “My effort here,” says the author, “is to talk about the elephant in the room.”
Are libraries obsolete? No! concludes the author (also). The book explores how libraries and librarians must and certainly can continue to be relevant, vibrant and enduring.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/mark_herring/6/
Table of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Part One
1. Introduction
2. Everything Is Still Not on the Internet
3. Searching the Web
4. Quality Control, or Lack Thereof
5. Rotting from Within?
6. En Masse: Mass Digitization
7. Copyright
8. Ebooks Uber Alles?
9. Depth and Ubiquity
Part Two
10. Reading and Literacy
11. Privacy
12. Piracy
Part Three
13. You Are Here
14. Are Libraries Obsolete After All? Two Scenarios
Epilogue: Reviving the Spirit of Andrew Carnegie
Chapter Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index