Reading #3: The Future of Libraries

As stated in this article, throughout history, libraries have been used as places to store information for people. Centuries ago, information was hard to come by and was rather expensive to acquire since books were so expensive. With the creation of the printing press and movable type, the cost of books were driven down but still some people could not afford them. In the early 20th century over 2,000 libraries were created with the help of benefactor Andrew Carnegie. Libraries formed since then have focused on maintaining a "collection" of books which can be used by those who do not want to purchase their own books or those who cannot afford it.

For much of the 20th century, libraries were the "go to" place when you needed to conduct research or to just learn something new. But with the dawning of the internet, much of this information is readily available online for free. This nullifies the need to go to physically go to a library to look for something. Because of the change of medium in which information is conveyed, libraries must too change. Evolution is key to the survival of libraries, just as it is the key to survival for living organisms.

There are 10 different trends that are affecting the evolution of libraries as we know them.
Trend #1- The systems which we use to convey information are rapidly changing so libraries must keep up with these ways in order to survive.
Trend #2- All technology has a limited lifespan and will eventually fade out. This technology is replaced by a newer and better form of technology that is more efficient.
Trend #3- The ultimate form of data storage has not been achieved as of yet; but soon Moore's Law will reach it's limits and then we will have the smallest form of storage. Then and only then can we set absolute standards for information and storage.
Trend #4- Search engines will become increasingly complex. As search engines get more complicated the need for librarians will be on the rise again.
Trend #5- The compression of time is changing people. Because of this libraries will need to change to accomodate those people.
Trend#6- Over time, keyboards will become obsolete. There will be more of a focus on verbal communication rather than written communication.
Trend #7- The demand for global information is on the rise. More and more people will want to learn about other cultures around the globe in order to interact with them properly.
Trend #8- There will be a need for new global systems. Libraries will be used to help sort this information.
Trend #9- Experiences will be held in a higher regard. Patrons' feedback to their experience will become incredibly important in shaping how the library works.
Trend #10- Probably the most important trend is the shift from libraries being the center of information to being the center of culture.

What this entire article boils down to is that in order for libraries to survive in these modern times, they must be progressive. They must embrace the usage of new technologies and focus on culture and the community rather than solely on being a storagehouse of information. Without this they will quickly become obsolete and disappear from society.

China's Gagging of the Internet

In the past 6 months, China has gone on a widespread crackdown of the internet. Initially they have been shutting down porn sites among other sites with vulgarity. But now, the web censorship of the communist machine is unsurprisingly shutting down various blog sites that are frequented by activists. This blog in particular is hosted on bullog.cn.

The article states that it is unknown if the shutdown of bullog is permanent or not. The article also states that the Chinese government is very wary of losing it's control of the internet, which is why there has been such a tremendous crackdown lately. It remains to be seen what exactly caused this site to be shutdown, but MSN believes it has something to do with a petition that was circulated on bullogs boards about creating a new Chinese constitution that grants human rights to all citizens. Also, a Chinese government group that monitors web content posted a list of sites deemed "pornographic" in nature, and it included msn.com on that list.

Up til now, 41 websites have been banned in China during this internet sweep. For the most part, this reaction from China is unsurprising to me, considering they trample human rights left and right and it's officials are clinging to power by use of censorship and abuse. Only in China could such a blatant disregard for the flow of information be possible.

The article from which this summary was made came from msnbc.com and is located at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28577927/