[losteric]

# rant: disagree with comments not votes!

I disagree with that sentiment.. Are books a waste of money? In-person public speaking events? Museums?

The internet is a global Library of Alexandria, but it's absurd to suggest we no longer need smaller repositories of knowledge or physical copies/originals... Especially as the internet is increasingly fractured, censured, monitored, and otherwise limited.

They serve similar but not identical purposes. Libraries have always been more than the books, just like books are more than the facts contained within.

[icebraining]

I think it's wrong, but it's not absurd. Let's argue, not shout down.

It's true that the Internet is often fractured, censured, monitored, and otherwise limited, but the same can be said of libraries, unfortunately; an example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_Awareness_Program

[losteric]

Who's shouting down?

Online foreign counter-government literature can be globally censored by a national censoring, corporate-critical websites can be taken down by invalid copyright/trademark notices while books cannot be pulled without thorough vetting, and most websites out there slowly decay into dust - far faster than books.

My point is not that books and libraries are superior - it's that they are different from the internet, both tools convey knowledge with unique strengths and weaknesses. I do think it's absurd to simply write them off as "a waste of money", an irredeemable tool that was waiting to be made obsolete.

We will rebalance our usage just like we rebalanced radio after TV came out and TV after the internet - the end-state is a very interesting question, TBD whether books follow the path of vinyl or VCR, but I think "complete elimination" is the most improbable path.

[sddfd]

>Are books a waste of money?

For preservation and dissemination of information, definitely. They might be useful for education, especially children's ed, though.

> In-person public speaking events?

Don't need a library for that, there are many other places this can be done.

>Museums?

Libraries and museums are different.

> Especially as the internet is increasingly fractured, censured, monitored, and otherwise limited.

As if that does not apply to libraries: Once it is legal to censor an item online it will also be removed from libraries.

[olegkikin]

That's some weird straw man argument. He didn't say books are a waste of money, he said paper books and libraries (physical buildings) are irrelevant, he explained his position.

I agree with him. Libraries are one of the least efficient ways to deliver quality information to to the masses, especially up-to-date information. They are slow, expensive, require driving, paper books slowly rot, buildings occupy useful space.