By Elise Brege
According to Alison Flood’s “Bookless Library” published by The Guardian, the Florida Polytechnic University has discarded every single page, book cover, and bookshelf from their campus library in favor of stocking approximately one hundred and thirty-five thousand ebooks. Kathryn Miller, director of libraries, states, “‘Our on-campus library is entirely digital. We have access to print books through the state university system’s interlibrary loan program. However, we strongly encourage our students to read and work with information digitally’” (Flood).
Florida Polytechnic University and their library directors advocate that their electronic library will prepare their five hundred new students for high-tech industries because it develops their students’ ability to read, research, and utilize similar digital documents and formats that will be implemented in their future careers in science, technology, mathematics, and engineering.
The university’s new ebook library is also a productive model of book accessibility, personal availability, and cost efficiency. In terms of accessibility, Florida Polytechnic University provides $60,000 dollars of funding for their students to read any ebooks that their library does not own. The university’s library also bases their new purchases directly on their student and faculty’s book preferences. If a specific ebook is unavailable in the university’s library, and this book is requested twice, it will automatically be purchased and accessible for future use. Economically, this system is also more cost efficient because the university is only financially responsible for the books faculty and students use.
Although bookless libraries are a rarity because of legacy print collections, Florida Polytechnic University is not the only institution experimenting with this form. “America: Library Journal also cites a bookless publication library in Bexar County, Texas, a school library in Minnesota, and two NASA Libraries” with the same ebook format (Flood). With the rising Digital Age, shifts in Publishing, and the advantages of an ebook library system, a conversation about physical books and ebooks in our libraries is necessary.
I admittedly chose Flood’s article because it made my eyebrows raise in shock and my stomach drop. I could not believe how aggressively this university forced their students to learn, read, and engage with this formatted material. After reading the article, I was able to understand the library director’s perspective. She wants the best for her university’s students and believes she can help them develop a technological skillset that they will constantly use in their future careers as they interact with data only found online or digitalized.
However, the old English major in me still felt a little dizzy. I have memories of reading, studying, relaxing, and even playing in libraries as a child in kindergarten all the way through college. If I had enrolled in this Florida university, it would be like they were replacing what I once considered a haven and home with 11,000 square feet of cold, sterile emptiness. Sure, they have computers, desks, and reading spaces, but this archway feels like something out of a science fiction novel. My reaction to this image and technology is not rooted in any malice for progress. I have loved listening to novels while working and reading an ebook on the metro, but there is a key difference possibly for me and maybe others. If I fall in love with a book that I have recently read in an nontraditional way, my first instinct is to buy this book, hold it in my hands, and add it as a physical part to the collection of books in my own personal library. Technology has made it more easy, convenient, and cost efficient for me to continue engaging with books through nontraditional methods, but the physical presence of owning a book and having it be physically accessible is very important to me.
This exact topic was a discussion brought up in our Fundamentals of E-Publishing class, and since then, it has been quietly gnawing at me. Why do we feel such a strong connection to a physical book? Besides the possibility that the format promotes better accessibility, connection, and focus on the material, I believe the answer might be even more instinctual. The books that change our lives become a part of our identities because they influence our perspectives and change our futures. We view those novels as parts of ourselves and use them to help define who we are or want to be, so having that book in real physical space—as real and touchable as any other physical surroundings of our lives—might be part of this answer.
Ultimately, I enjoyed reading this article and look forward to possible discussions about these two formatting tools for literature because each format is important and beneficial in their own way. As things progress, I hope a balance of the two formats emerge.
Citation:
Flood, Alison. “Bookless Library.” 29 August 2014. The Guardian. 09 September 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/29/bookless-library-new-us-university-florida-polytechnic-digital
According to Alison Flood’s “Bookless Library” published by The Guardian, the Florida Polytechnic University has discarded every single page, book cover, and bookshelf from their campus library in favor of stocking approximately one hundred and thirty-five thousand ebooks. Kathryn Miller, director of libraries, states, “‘Our on-campus library is entirely digital. We have access to print books through the state university system’s interlibrary loan program. However, we strongly encourage our students to read and work with information digitally’” (Flood).
Florida Polytechnic University and their library directors advocate that their electronic library will prepare their five hundred new students for high-tech industries because it develops their students’ ability to read, research, and utilize similar digital documents and formats that will be implemented in their future careers in science, technology, mathematics, and engineering.
The university’s new ebook library is also a productive model of book accessibility, personal availability, and cost efficiency. In terms of accessibility, Florida Polytechnic University provides $60,000 dollars of funding for their students to read any ebooks that their library does not own. The university’s library also bases their new purchases directly on their student and faculty’s book preferences. If a specific ebook is unavailable in the university’s library, and this book is requested twice, it will automatically be purchased and accessible for future use. Economically, this system is also more cost efficient because the university is only financially responsible for the books faculty and students use.
Although bookless libraries are a rarity because of legacy print collections, Florida Polytechnic University is not the only institution experimenting with this form. “America: Library Journal also cites a bookless publication library in Bexar County, Texas, a school library in Minnesota, and two NASA Libraries” with the same ebook format (Flood). With the rising Digital Age, shifts in Publishing, and the advantages of an ebook library system, a conversation about physical books and ebooks in our libraries is necessary.
I admittedly chose Flood’s article because it made my eyebrows raise in shock and my stomach drop. I could not believe how aggressively this university forced their students to learn, read, and engage with this formatted material. After reading the article, I was able to understand the library director’s perspective. She wants the best for her university’s students and believes she can help them develop a technological skillset that they will constantly use in their future careers as they interact with data only found online or digitalized.
However, the old English major in me still felt a little dizzy. I have memories of reading, studying, relaxing, and even playing in libraries as a child in kindergarten all the way through college. If I had enrolled in this Florida university, it would be like they were replacing what I once considered a haven and home with 11,000 square feet of cold, sterile emptiness. Sure, they have computers, desks, and reading spaces, but this archway feels like something out of a science fiction novel. My reaction to this image and technology is not rooted in any malice for progress. I have loved listening to novels while working and reading an ebook on the metro, but there is a key difference possibly for me and maybe others. If I fall in love with a book that I have recently read in an nontraditional way, my first instinct is to buy this book, hold it in my hands, and add it as a physical part to the collection of books in my own personal library. Technology has made it more easy, convenient, and cost efficient for me to continue engaging with books through nontraditional methods, but the physical presence of owning a book and having it be physically accessible is very important to me.
This exact topic was a discussion brought up in our Fundamentals of E-Publishing class, and since then, it has been quietly gnawing at me. Why do we feel such a strong connection to a physical book? Besides the possibility that the format promotes better accessibility, connection, and focus on the material, I believe the answer might be even more instinctual. The books that change our lives become a part of our identities because they influence our perspectives and change our futures. We view those novels as parts of ourselves and use them to help define who we are or want to be, so having that book in real physical space—as real and touchable as any other physical surroundings of our lives—might be part of this answer.
Ultimately, I enjoyed reading this article and look forward to possible discussions about these two formatting tools for literature because each format is important and beneficial in their own way. As things progress, I hope a balance of the two formats emerge.
Citation:
Flood, Alison. “Bookless Library.” 29 August 2014. The Guardian. 09 September 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/29/bookless-library-new-us-university-florida-polytechnic-digital