Wonders of Technology Part One

By sovknight | March 3, 2008

I’m thinking about starting a series, sort of a continuing blog about a particular topic.  I still intend to intersperse it with other random thoughts, but every now and then I want to discuss a topic that I believe has several sub-topics.  In this case, it’s technology.

Today I’m going to discuss the public library.

Now I know, you may not think that the library is all that technologically wonderful, but from my perspective, it’s grown up a lot.  Let me explain.

This is the Greenville Public Library in Greenville, Ohio.  Don’t let its ultra-modern appearance fool you, this thing was built by none other than Andrew Carnegie (what library wasn’t) in 1901.  This sucker is old, and to be inside it, you sometimes feel like you’ve stepped back into the past.  At least for me.

I spent many an hour in my youth in this library looking for decent reading material.  I don’t know that I ever found it.  Seems like all of the books here were as old as the library itself, and getting anything new or current was an exercise in futility.  They never had the books I wanted to read, and although I did patron this place frequently, it was usually for magazines and “just to look”.  I had a library card, but it went unused a bulk of the time.  Thus, my experience with libraries was a poor one.

Finding a book in the old days meant searching through the card catalog.  Books were categorized using the Dewey Decimal System, now known as the Classification, and locating a book using this system via the card catalog was always a mathematical sojourn into frustration.  I usually gave up and just wandered around until I either found what I wanted, or (more often) found something more interesting.  There were no computers.  Librarians were stuffy old ladies who directed you to the card catalog and gave you a Dewey Decimal Lecture when asked for assistance.  Libraries themselves were dusty and smelled of old paper.  My particular library (pictured) was heated by boilers and the dry heat released by huge cast-iron radiators that lurked near the walls just waiting for you to lean on them and get burned.  Very nineteenth century to me.  I even remember one incident where everyone ran screaming from the basement area (where the children’s books were) because there was a bat fluttering about.  The librarians were scared.  I watched the bat for a bit, then went about my browsing completely indifferent to the situation.  I didn’t care about bats unless they were super heroes.

I suppose my view isn’t exactly fair.  After all, not every public library was ancient and smelly and bat-infested.  Still, I am an avid reader and I needed stimulation.  At some point I simply took to going to bookstores.  There, I could find all the newest releases and current magazines.  Later on, toward the mid-nineties, you could even lounge in comfortable chairs and listen to the piped-in classical music whilst sipping your latte from the convenient Starbuck’s or Starbuck’s-like cafe inside.  Kind of a book nerd’s heaven.  I never went to a library again.  There was no point.  I read everything I wanted in the comfort of my comfy chair, and anything the piqued my interest enough to have, I purchased.  Simple and easy.

  It wasn’t until recently that I ventured back into a public library.  Since moving to Salt Lake City in 2005, I’d heard that the library here was magnificent.  I was eager to check it out and surprised by the modern feeling there.  My hatred of stuffy libraries was washed away when I entered a structure that felt more like a bookstore crossed with a shopping mall.  Five stories high and surrounded by glass, it’s not only a library, but contains several stores, meeting rooms, books upon books upon books (updated and relevant), tons of comfy chairs and workstations, Internet access, lots of homeless people, an outdoor recreation area, quiet reading and personal areas on the roof, and spectacular views of the Salt Lake Valley.  It’s truly a unique and fantastic place. (Except for all the homeless people)

So this got me thinking.  Maybe libraries have advanced since my day.  Maybe they aren’t the stuffy and dried-up relics of the past that I remember.  Perhaps technology has finally caught up to the public library.  I went around to find out.

Salt Lake City and the surrounding cities has several regional public libraries.  More than a dozen actually, and the ones I’ve visited have been a refreshing surprise.  Advancement has come to the library, and here’s a few things that I’ve noticed.  Things that may seem trivial to most, but represent a significant advance to me.

1. No more stupid Dewey Decimal system.  Oh sure, it still exists and has even been updated as recently as 2004, but nowadays you simply find a computer terminal and type in the title or author of the requested book.  Not only will it tell you if the library has it, where it is, and when it’s due to be returned (if checked out), but it can tell you if any of the other branches has it as well.
2. No more stuffiness.  Modern libraries are well-lit, have comfortable places to sit, and seem to have a more “open” atmosphere. 
3. Helpful people.  When I recently obtained my new library card (my first in over twenty years!), the librarian was young, polite, excited, and extremely happy to assist me.  Actually, she was maybe even a little too joyful, but hey.
4. The Internet.  All bow to the mighty and powerful Internet.  The most significant technological advancement of the late 20th century, the Internet is a gateway to everything.  Knowledge is power, and the Internet offers ALL of the knowledge that exists.  The Internet has made the world a smaller and connected place, and is only getting better all the time.  In fact, a recent topic of research that’s interested me is the fact that the Internet is slowly bringing about the destruction of organized religion (due to the exchange of information, obviously).  That’s a different blog, of course.  (Stay tuned)  Modern libraries all offer Internet access, either free or for a pittance. 
5. The checkout system.  Back in the day, every library book had a little paper sleeve inside either the front or the back cover.  Inside this sleeve was a little card with dates on it.  When you checked out a book, you presented the annoyed librarian with the little paper card along with your library card, and she begrudgingly scrutinized both before stamping your card with a date (the date of return) and logging your rental in a ledger.  Later, this became automated enough that the librarian would put your card into a machine, then “stamp” the paper card with a date by inserting it into a punch.  Archaic.  Then she would take a second paper card and punch that for the library’s copy file, and hand you back your card with a stern, unfriendly warning about not missing the due date.

Now, everything is computerized and mostly automatic.  Books are labeled with bar codes and scanned with reference to your library card by a laser, then entered into a database that is accessible either at the library or in the comfort of your own home.  Why, just the other day, I stepped up to the checkout counter with my books, but there was no librarian about.  I stood there patiently for maybe two minutes before, upon reading all the signs around the desk, realized that I was supposed to check myself out.  Even better.

Technology marches forward.  The library has finally come into the 21st century with the rest of us, and I’m proud to be a member once again.  Now I can find the latest books and enjoy them in comfort.  I can even take them home for a period of time without paying for them.  I can get my tax forms, pick up the latest Auto Trader, go to a community meeting, have a warm place to go if I’m ever homeless, or just chill out and take in the marvelous view.  And I haven’t seen a single bat.

Now, let’s talk about integrating Starbuck’s.  After all, technology marches forward.  You must be thirsty.  Andrew Carnegie would be proud.