Two Cents on Libraries

Can you imagine yourself in a library? 

It may be in your local library- where you can find the art work of the community displayed for the community. Now your sitting down at the coffee shop inside, because what's a good book without a cup of Joe. 

Now think about the library in your school. All the way back to your elementary school library.

It's the yearly book fair with bright colored book titles displayed on tables dressed in cloth. 

The purpose of jogging your memory is to take you back to a place in time when you connected with a space within a library. 

The library, as I know it, and as I will remember, has shelves lined with books organized by the Dewey decimal system. A safe place where you can explore any subject with an open mind. There is something about holding a paper book, and physically turning a page. You exert an action, involving more than your thumbs. And in return, you gain access to a definite amount of knowledge stored like an electronic USB in your mind. You can flip forwards to check how many more pages to go, or flip backwards to orient yourself at your current place marker. The experience of holding a book up to the light, with two hands stressing the pages flat, torquing the wrist at the right angle does not compare to reading on a back lit surface. 

Libraries are being designed without books. Maybe they're viewed as a waste of space. Maybe they realize the value in a cpu over a physical book. And in the economic driven society, most public libraries are funded by a combination between local, state, and federal government. 

I realize books consume a lot of space, energy, and will never give you a monetary return on investment. However, I would like to argue the majestic qualities of ink on paper. I think a creative solution can be applied as a solution to a futuristic problem, between the tangible and intangible by combining the computing capabilities with paper. For heavens sake, please don't get rid of the precious paper books. Use it as a stand, or a table before you rid of it. 

I foresee books, of any page length, shape, or size to be an antique. Only time will tell.