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February 20, 2008
El 336 - Books as history
"The function of the Library of Congress (and perhaps most libraries in general) will change. He envisions his library becoming more liek a museum: 'Just as you to the National Gallery to see its Leonardo or go to the Smithsonian to see the Spirit of St. Louis and so on, you will want to go to libraries to see the Gutenberg or the original printing of Shakespeare's plays or to see Lincolns hand written version of the Gettysburg Address.' " (pg 68)
Do we as children of technology already see libraries as Zich foresees them? To me the feel of this home of books is just that of a museum. A cold, quiet place where these artifacts of books and the dewey decimal system still lurk. But is society really ever going to consider books as pieces of history? Whenever I was handed a book in high school to read in my last two years, I remember it being old and beat up, pages torn and bent. Even then it felt as though books may have been beginning to die. Though if you look at the idea of something so common becomeing something of the past, shouldn't we be inclinded to save and cherish it. People still keep around original copies of some of the most famous works from authors and even the Bible. If books are to be history then we will salvage and care for them in such a way just like the Mona Lisa.
Posted by RachelPrichard at February 20, 2008 11:54 AM
Comments
Libraries have not become extinct yet. WE, society, have preserved the book in such institutions. The book holds a beauty all of its own. There is nothing like the smell and feel of a book.
Posted by: Jeremy Barrick at February 20, 2008 9:16 PM
I agree. There are so many books that are yellowing and falling apart. I recently checked out 20 books for my theater history project, many of them dating before my parents were born. But old things still contain valuable information.
Back in hs, we had to sign out the book by hand. It was kind of a strange feeling to pull out a card and look that the date the book was last checked out was 30 years ago. The person could have grandchildren by now...
Posted by: Daniella Choynowski at February 21, 2008 12:59 PM