Mark's Notebook


	And this is the simple truth - that to live is to feel oneself lost. He who accepts it has already begun to find himself, to be on firm ground. Instinctively, as do the shipwrecked, he will look around for something to which to cling, and that tragic, ruthless glance, absolutely sincere, because it is a question of his salvation, will cause him to bring order to the chaos of his life. These are the only genuine ideas; the ideas of the shipwrecked. All the rest is rhetoric, posturing, farce. - Soren Kierkegaard

The Internet didn't kill the library card

San Francisco Chronicle

Tuesday 4 October 2005, 10:00 am
Keywords: Computer Topics , News Articles

By C.W. Nevius

In the past five years, despite the overwhelming presence of the Internet, libraries are experiencing record attendance.

The new library is a sprawling, open, friendly place where people go to surf the Web on a Wi-Fi connection, sip a latte and check out a movie. There are still books, of course, but nationally the most popular items to be checked out of libraries are DVDs.

New libraries like Santa Clara's Central Park or Livermore's new Civic Center Library have gathering rooms for groups, coffee shops and loads of computers.

And the Internet? It turns out to be the library's best friend. Visitors use the library computers, and seniors come to learn computer skills in workshops and classes. So was everyone wrong about the threat of the Internet? Wouldn't be the first time.

Librarian Cindy Brittain keeps a copy of a news story at her desk. It details the concern that television is going to be the end of libraries. It is dated 1953.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/10/04/NEVIUS.TMP