Do you like books? I do, I love everything about them. I love their weight, the texture, their portability, the resilience they have against all elements, and yes, even their smell. Who doesn’t like to curl up with a book and listen to the quiet rustle of the pages as you become engrossed in its story?
Well, it turns out that a 144-year-old school in Massachusetts thinks that books are old technology now and need to be done away with, and they’re proving their point by turning their library of at least 20,000 books to a book count of zilch. Why would they do this? Apparently it’s to make room for the rows and rows of computers and digital catalogues they want to install instead, along with a supply of Kindles for their students. Someone at the school thinks books take up too much room and the way of the future is with computers, so they decided to take down all the shelves, donate the books to other libraries (who are sooo last century) and schools, and tech it up. This someone is the headmaster, who says that when he sees books he sees outdated technology.
I can’t even begin to describe how bad of a move this is and why exactly books have been around for so long, and it’s not because computers hadn’t been invented yet. It’s because they work, and they are flawless and don’t need IT support or anti-virus software and they don’t just stop working because their parts are old and tired.
The source article is from the beginning of the month so the academy may already be halfway done with their Great Book Escape, which is costing them about $10,000. But what’s ten-thousand down the hole when you can have a bunch of shiny electronics to pave the way of the future for a bunch of drones, er I mean students?
[Source.]
