The 20th Thing: Books 2.0

“What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation,” he wrote, confessing that he now found it difficult to read long books

-Nicholas Carr.

The blog exercise asked what we witness at our library. Relating to the above quotation, I witness a stream of teenagers who spend their afterschool time on the internet with no purpose other than to look at booty shots and social network sites. I am not sure exactly what set of skills is being acquired by their doing this. I have another story to tell....for several years two middle schoolers skipped school to spend their time on computers at the library. They spent the whole day playing games and chatting. A call to their school brought absolutely no concern. Now they have returned as young adults....they never finished high school and the only jobs they can get are flipping burgers. All the time they spent on the internet.....what good has it done them??? I see too many kids who are rudderless wasting their time on seedy websites. I see too many adults who don't have the basic skills necesary to fill out a job application.

I've watched library checkout skew to DVD's over books. It's now close to 50 per cent. Many people utilize the library as a free video store. They never check out a book...not for themselves and not for their kids. I've watched kids be turned loose in the library for entire days while their parents are glued to social networking sites, and get irritated when the kids start crying or want something to eat. How sad.

The many sites mentioned in Books 2.0 are worth a look and offer opportunity for those who still read books to gather together in their name online. Bless them. In a few years they will probably be regarded as cultists for appreciating the written word in ancient book form. Some of the sites seem to duplicate info found in the library press with regard to book reviews.

The articles mentioned were interesting. It remains to be seen what will evolve with the future of the book and of public libraries as we presently know them.