As I read Jorge Luis Borges, “ Library of Babel,” I imagined a person who had been in a library and suddenly fell asleep and was dreaming. This library that Borges writes about has “five shelves for each of the hexagon’s walls; each shelf contains thirty-five books of uniform format; each book is of four hundred and ten pages; each page, of forty lines, each line, of some eighty letters which are black in color” (Borges)

It is unrealistic to imagine an actual library that contains exactly 35 books with each book having the same format. Yet, in this idealized dream state, it is almost as if a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder arranged these books. Yet, even if in the real world, the books were to be arranged in this manner, would it help? It may help with the aesthetic appeal but as far as accessing them; it would be pointless because all the different subjects would be together.

However, it is interesting to think that the virtual library is organized just like this library that Borges writes about. Imagine Jane was doing a project on South America and

Library of books existing in an intangible world.

wanted to find material online. Within seconds of typing the subject in an online catalog, Jane is able to view multiple books relating to the topic.

It is difficult to visualize a library, like he suggests, is “unending” (Borges).  How do you picture a library that is online? For example, sometimes when I am unable to obtain a book from the WVU library, I can request it from a partner university. It amazing how online, there is information that links all the books together to form a major intangible library.