Conversation in 2025…
Introducing…
Hi! Everybody, my name is Will Future, today’s date is April. 19th 2025. Due to a funding cut, the library of the XX University was just being lost yesterday, and we are being told that “we do not necessarily need a library for the future.” Sure, right now, electronic books are ruling the world, instead of bringing printed books everywhere, people will just go online and buy ebooks, since the range of the books is gradually increasing, it is actually worthy to test as for whether we truly need a library in order to pursue our career or not.
Everything is gone…
After the removal of the library, all that I can see is a place that is pretty much empty, and the giant and elegant front door of the library has become the entrance of wasteland. Besides such wasteland, I can see one senior standing with his crutch. Staring at the rest of the library, I can feel his melancholy mood spreading around his face. “It is just a library, it is not a big deal!” I said. “You don’t understand, this place used to be a place for me to dream…” slowly, he turns toward me, “want to know what library functions in the past?” “Sure!” I said.
Then it is the conversation…
“In the past, we used to have a section for special collection, in that place, we got some historical collections such as every version of the Newspaper, special oral recorder that everybody can use to record their story, and share it to the public for free. Yes, I do agree with you that those data might be able to transfer to another place for the purpose of better preservation, still, without the library, everything has to reset and those special collection materials might be undervalued elsewhere, because, in the past, people could always find those materials since all that they need to do is go to a library and search for it, now, without the search engine, I don’t know if we could ever see those special collections again.” He turns toward the other direction, I could see that there are tears coming down from his eyes.
1.
“Yes, you are right. Also, for me, a student from XX University, my university’s library used to be a place for me to get some research materials for my research paper. and yes, those things can be done online, especially with the consideration of those large number of electronic books. But without the library, I won’t have the privilege of owning a special study space pretty much 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; therefore, I lost a place for me to use when I really need to focus on my study. More importantly, without the library, I lost a place for me to escape from the daily trivial life and get in touch with some wonderful authors by reading their books, and to personally feel what they are talking about.” I said.
2.
He said, “I still remember that in the past, I have seen a TED Talk regarding the future of the library, just as Melanie Florencio pointed out about the future trend of library in TEDx CreativeCoast back in 2014, if we lost the library, we ‘lost a Maker Space, a place for the community members to actually connect with each other, a place for people to actually learn, interact and enjoy themselves…’ because to us, a library does not only mean a place for people to stock books, but it also is a place for people to meet with each other and interact with normal person or librarians. Nowadays, a lot of those young people tend to get anti-social because they could get everything they want from their computer, their groceries, books, or even their foods, and thus, there is hardly any requirements or any reasons for them to go out anymore. Yes, this is definitely an advanced process for the entire human being, still, it could be seen as a pathetic mega-trend.”
Oh…
He is right, without the library, we basically lost an important part of our daily life. Money could be remade, but once the connections between people are lost, it is, and it will be, considerably hard for us to remake those links. Because a significant part of operation reason for the library, besides being a place for book stocking, is to connect people together, and with the loss of library, we…
