Film Writing

I understand Angel about feeling anti-Kindle. I find books to be a welcome relief from staring at a computer screen, and I just like the feeling of being able to hold a book in my hands and turn the pages and all that...however, my stepmom got a Kindle and I must say I can see the appeal. It is kind of cool to be able to download and store bunches of books on one device. And from an environmental standpoint, it might be in the future for reducing paper use.

It is interesting that this school decided to switch to a digital collection, I couldn't imagine going to school without a library with books! But at the same time, it is not so shocking. How many people at UNC have actually checked a book out at the library? I myself have only done it a few times. A couple of the books I have had to look for are in digital collections, too. As we move toward increasing dependence on the internet, perhaps it is only a matter of time before books are phased out...

But I still wonder if books can be completely phased out. It would certainly take time to digitize all libraries everywhere. But it is intriguing to imagine a future with no beloved books!

As violently opposed as I am to the idea of a Kindle, the principal of that school has a point. I'm sure their 20,000 book library was extremely impressive for a high school, but now the kids have easier access to an exponentially larger number of books. If purchasing books and text books on a kindle became even less expensive than it is now, it could be a possible solution to the difficulties many libraries face. Keeping up print media in an academic setting is extremely expensive, especially considering the staff needed to maintain it. Also, the principal has an excellent point when he said, "If I look out the window and I see a student reading Chaucer, to me it's utterly immaterial whether it's a paperback or a Kindle. I'm just glad that they're reading Chaucer." I think that statement is definitely true, especially to me, a future English teacher.

That being said, however, there is 0% likelihood I will ever own a kindle. Yuck.

While this may be efficient I can't help feeling that we are loosing something by taking books out of libraries.  What does this say about our dependence on technology and the internet.  Imagine if this does become the new trend...what will we do with the actual books?  I just think this could have huge implications if it gets followed in example on a large scale.  

Like other people have said, I really like actual books as a medium, but at the same time I do think that this number of books on an e-reader truly opens up resources available to students.  

I think that a large format e reader for textbooks would be amazing. The only problem is that even now, e books are over priced. If they could make college textbooks available for $20 on an e reader that would be amazing. Plus think about how much less weight we'd all have to carry around.

Wow that is pretty strange. I have heard about similar private devices that allow you to download books. While this is pretty efficient, and I can see how it could lead to different people being involved in literature, I think there is something really aesthetically pleasurable about reading a published book. I really hate reading texts from a screen- the electronic glare just can't replace the feeling of pages or light on text.  Although I would support making another resource available in addition to keeping books, I can't possibly imagine replacing them.