Paper and Ink Meet Bytes and Pixels

Institutions adapt to Internet age The librarys niche in a wired world
Browsing through the stacks may have lost its allure, but theres more than
books to attract patrons today.

By SCOTT CANON
The Kansas City Star

<http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/15532266.htm>

Still havent read The Da Vinci Code?

No problem. Phone or go online to the Kansas City Public Library, and the
folks there will electronically search the city and set aside a copy for
you.

Just be specific. Do you want the original, or the special illustrated
edition? Hardback or paperback? An audio version? Abridged or unabridged?
On tape or compact disc? Want something fresher, like Marley and Me? The
librarys Web site will tell you the wait for large print is about 35 days
and a little more than a week for the audio version.

Such are libraries in the digital age.

Dont have broadband Internet access? Come to the library and use its
high-speed wireless connection. Dont have a computer? Use the librarys.
Soon enough, it will lend you a laptop.

The popularity of libraries is on the upswing, partly because they double
as cybercafes. Circulation and foot traffic are climbing as the world of
words has become more electronic.

Still, there is some disappointment at what has been misplaced in the
digital age.

Had The Da Vinci Code been published a decade ago, someone looking for it
in the card catalog might have been pleasantly distracted by works on
dachshunds or Dadaism.

Even today, if you went to the stacks looking for Dan Browns mega-popular
novel, you might have found the mysteries of Rita Mae Brown. Instead,
readers who want a book increasingly reserve it online and pick it up at
the librarys front desk. They dont wander among the musty fiction section
and run the chance of walking out with another book. Some electronic books
can be downloaded to your MP3 player without entering the library.

Thats something thats been lost, said Lori Goetsch, the dean of libraries
at Kansas State University. Those accidental discoveries dont come as
often when its so much easier to find what you started out looking for.

So long to serendipity.


----------------------------------------


The complete article may be read at the URL above.

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Sincerely,
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(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@...
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