Now you know… books are here to stay

The emergence of eBooks has questioned whether a palpable book will become irrelevant in the future.

Technology puts many traditional products out of use, but it does not look like it can overcome the power of books.

“The problem right now with electronic books is if most people are going to read a significant amount of material, they don’t want to do it looking at a computer,” said Judith Vaughn, librarian, Billington Library.

“Yet getting a quick overview of a topic from a reference guide via computer is more useful than the actual book.”

If the library’s computers all crashed, books would be the safety net.
Vaughn said when speaking a foreign language, it is better to have written information rather than an audible device.

“You can read it because you have time to process it,” Vaughn said.
Some students believe that textbooks would be much easier to have online, but not novels.

“I find it more relaxing to sit with a book than look at a monitor,” said Matthew Chenowerth, student, Leavenworth.

Those in the college bookstore say there is no evidence to assume textbooks will become obsolete with this new wave of technology.

“With [eBooks] already being out there, I am not seeing a difference in students looking elsewhere for textbooks,” said Heather Shuey, assistant manager, College Bookstore.

Shuey turns students away from eBooks because of their online limitations. Some have expirations. Others have printing restrictions and do not allow annotations or side notes.

Some of the most valuable information can be found in online journals. The storage capacity in a computer vastly exceeds a library.
“When I first came, we had five electronic databases,” said Mark Daganaar, director, Library.

“We now have [more than] 80.”

Daganaar can see both the positives and negatives in working with eBooks.
“The best material for the [eBooks] include reference books and technical books,” Daganaar said. “One of the drawbacks is having too much information to process what you really need.”

There are many databases on the Billington Library page from the college website, and they also include trial versions.

Recently, the library website has begun to put actual literature copies on microfilm and presents it page by page. So far, they have an actual diary of a prisoner of war from World War II and have plans to post every issue of The Campus Ledger as well.

Daganaar doubts older generations will accept electronic reading because it lacks comfort.

“I have three different kinds of headphones because after a while, every single one of them begins to hurt,” Daganaar said.

Vaughn does not believe her role as a librarian will change at all, or the roles of any future librarians for that matter. “Students who are searching for something in the library could use the assistance of a librarian,” she said.

A student’s knowledge of the Internet is primarily on a social level. Librarians have a worldly view when it comes to the World Wide Web and can access features many students cannot.

Computer usage has gone up so drastically, the library opens up its (staff) computer room when it is not in use so students may use it.

Daganaar believes the process for a technological takeover takes an ample amount of time.

He said, “When people say ‘Everything is electronic now,’ it’s really not.”

Contact Corey Thibodeaux, staff reporter, at cthibode@jccc.edu.