Posted inOpinion

Libraries Aren’t Irrelevant Yet

As more and more people get their information and do their research online, often from the comfort of their own couches, the future of public libraries seems very much up for the debate these days. Should libraries ship some of their books off to storage facilities and bring in more computers, as the New York Public Library is attempting to do? Should they follow San Antonio’s lead and go bookless altogether? Should we devote more public resources to libraries to renovate them and make them more “relevant,” whatever that actually means, in the digital age? Or should we just say throw in the towel and privatize them all?

Posted inArt

What Makes a Library a Library?

The latest controversy striking the tumultuous world of libraries (a very shocking place) is the announcement of a bookless library to open this fall in San Antonio, Texas. The new space will look and function more like an Apple store than what we would traditionally think of as a library, but how much does that matter when it comes to providing public access to information?