Why Libraries Aren't Dead

Libraries? Who goes there anymore? That's what I get a lot when friends find out how often I frequent a library. And by often I mean, at all. With how much I utilize the internet for research and reading they find that a Library seems antiquated, useless and outdated.

That's pretty much just a fantasy. Libraries are extremely useful for pretty much anyone that needs access to information. Now it's true, they won't always have particularly modern and newer information. For things like the news and for very general overviews the internet is often a superior tool.

I've heard people complaining that the library has a "limited" amount of information compared to the internet? That's true. A library will have only a fraction of the available information on the Internet. There are a few ways though that the library makes up for that.

Firstly everything in a library has been read over, published and looked after carefully. The information can be considered reliable and cited a lot more plausibly than any old site on the internet can.

Secondly, libraries have older information. Information published long before the internet was even conceived of. Some of this is available online, but there are billions upon billions of words that have never been uploaded onto the internet. Many old newspapers and reference books, genealogies and outdated law codexes and dictionaries are found in libraries that will not be on the internet for a long while yet, if ever.

Thirdly books are organized a lot more easily than the vast amount of nonsense on the internet. They come in sections and on shelves, and you can just walk straight up to them. You can even reference and find books related to everything you need using a Libraries database. Here is a hint to: books list their own sources, which give you more potential sources of information.

Finally, a library is a physical place which hosts numerous other benefits in addition to organization. You have Librarians who are experts in getting you the information you need and you also have tables set out. I'll always prefer four or five books set out on the table with a laptop or a notebook to five or six open tabs.