I once saw libraries as a giant database where you go to access all of its possession of knowledge.  I saw it as a unique place where if you needed to know a lot about anything, your only option was to go to a library and look it up.  I no longer see them this way.  I actually feel as though most libraries have lost their purpose; in essence.  With everything being on the internet now, it would seem as though all of those books can be put into downloadable documents on the web.  Libraries now just seem like a safe house to store the physical copies of books and other documents.

I realize that closing libraries and making them into safe houses are not going to happen.  Realistically, not everybody has internet access and all of that.  I am speaking from a point of view where I literally see everybody in my life has access to the internet and access to the internet equals unlimited knowledge.  There are still people who need to access libraries though, so my vision of what libraries are is not actually very realistic.  However, I do think that we are headed in a direction where someday in the possible near future, the only purpose a library will serve is to simply hold hard copies of the books posted online.  Libraries can do the same thing that they do now; in order to access their information, you buy a library membership.  From there you can access all books they have on file through reading it as a PDF and the other ways you can look at literature online.  Now maybe taking every book and making a digital version of it is crazy talk.  I could sound like a crazy person to some people because maybe I’m missing an important part of the physical to digital process of books that could make this vision of mine impossible.  However, I’m going to go ahead and say its a pretty tangible idea.

I believe that, slowly but surely, we will have most of the worlds books online and then the functions of our libraries will be forever changed.  Going to a library may turn into an experience like going to a museum.  Your not there to grab whats there and use it, your there to look at an original artifact and appreciate the purpose it serves.  But if you wanted to access that piece, you would just simply go online and have all it has to offer at your finger tips whenever you want.  You wouldn’t even have to worry about somebody checking it out for a period of time.  It may sound farfetched but I believe it could be reality in our near future.