INTRODUCTION

Thanks to the internet, we no longer need libraries or librarians.” You most likely hear some variation on
that theme pretty regularly. Libraries are always seen as a thing of the past. However they are more
important than ever before! Libraries are one of the most important institution in our society. They
provide everyone access to information and education, regardless of socioeconomic status or location.
The presentation will discuss the importance of libraries and why they cannot be closed down because of
Technology development in our society today.

The term library is based on the Latin word liber for 'book' or 'document', contained in Latin libraria
'collection of books' and librarium 'container for books'. Other modern languages use derivations from
Ancient Greek βιβλιοθήκη (bibliothēkē), originally meaning 'book container', via Latin bibliotheca (cf.
French bibliothèque or German Bibliothek).1

General definition of library is from the Online Dictionary of Library and Information Science (ODLIS):

“Library -- from the Latin liber, meaning "book." In Greek and the Romance languages, the
corresponding term is bibliotheca. A collection or group of collections of books and/or other print or
nonprint materials organized and maintained for use (reading, consultation, study, research, etc.).

What is a digital library?

A digital library is a collection of documents – such as magazine articles, book, papers, images, sound
files and videos organized in an electronic form and available on the Internet or on a digital support, for
example a CD-ROM disk. Compared to CD-ROM disks, Internet-based digital libraries have a plus: they
can be updated on a daily basis.

Many schools and institutions have already begun the task of converting their traditional collections of
books and educational materials to electronic format: some files become available in HTML format while
others can be downloaded in PDF format, to be printed if necessary.2

REASONS TO USE THE LIBRARY

Why should you bother using library resources? Here are ten good reasons why:

1. Not everything is on the Internet.

1
Pfeifer, Wolfgang (1989). Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen. A-G. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. p. 166.
2
5 main benefits of Digital Libraries at School, https://acerforeducation.acer.com/education-trends/education-
technology/5-main-benefits-of-digital-libraries-at-school/, Accessed 6th October 2023
There is a lot of useful information out there on the web. Unfortunately, this often leads to the
misconception that everything you need to know can be found online. This simply isn’t true. There are
tons of published materials (books, articles, videos, music, etc) that you won’t find using a standard
search engine like Google or Yahoo. And even when you do find them, your access may be limited (see
#2 below.)

2. Not everything on the Internet is free.

Much of the web consists of subscription services that make you pay if you want to get into their website
or download their stuff. Before you go and spend your hard-earned money on these services, check out
the library’s website. We’ve already paid for many of these services so you don’t have to.

3. The Internet is not very organized.

How many times have you searched for something on the web and got a list of 1.5 million web pages?
How are you supposed to make sense of that? Does searching the web feel like looking for a needle in a
haystack? Well, library resources, unlike the web, are organized by topic and broken down into different
types of information (books, articles, databases, etc.) Library resources have been organized by real
people, not by search engine robots.

4. There is no quality control on the Internet.

The internet is full of lies, misconceptions, and half-truths. Almost anyone with a computer can put up a
website, and they don’t have to know what they’re talking about. Some sites will deliberately mislead you
in order to get your money, change your opinion on a controversial issue, or just to pull your leg. Hoax
sites are all over the place, and they often look real. Library resources, on the other hand, have mostly
been through editors and fact-checkers who make sure you’re getting (relatively) reliable information.

5. Sources on the Internet can be harder to verify.

When you write a paper, it’s important to cite your sources. Some web pages make it difficult to figure
out who’s telling you what and where they got their information. Library resources, even those on our
online databases, will tell you exactly where the information came from.

6. Library online resources are available 24/7.

There’s more to the library than books these days. The library’s online databases, e-books collections and
other online resources can be accessed 24/7 through the library’s website. Although you access these
resources through the internet, they are not “internet sources”. They are every bit a part of our library’s
collection as the books on our shelf. The articles and books you find in our online databases and e-books
collections are reprinted from real live print sources.

8. The Internet is a mile wide and an inch deep.

So you’ve found 40 websites on a particular topic, but they all give you the same four or five facts
without very much detail. How do you stretch that out to a five-page paper? For a varied and more in-
depth analysis, try some of the library’s books or article databases.

9. You’re already paying for the library.

Your tuition and fees help pay for library resources. Why not get your money’s worth? 3

MAIN BENEFITS OF DIGITAL LIBRARIES AT SCHOOL

A heightened amount of choice

Digital libraries give access to multiple contents with a potentially infinite number of resources and
selections at hand. The main limit for traditional libraries is represented by physical space: books
consume a lot of it and people often have to walk round in search of a particular material. Thanks to
Internet and cloud storage, digital libraries overcome this limitation, expanding students’ horizons in
learning. They can access an enormous amount of knowledge and share contents with others, facilitating
the expansion of education.

Building a heritage for the next generation

Online libraries help the scientific society since they act as a reservoir for the storage of important
research data, information and findings. For a very long time, the physical records of scientific studies
and researches had to live with a critical issue: they were destroyed or lost. But today, thanks to digital
libraries, the online copies of studies and researches can be protected and collected to create a virtual
heritage of information for the coming generations.

Instant access to educational content

As long as an Internet connection is available, digital libraries are accessible anywhere and at any
moment using a simple technological device, such as a PC, a tablet or even a smartphone. This means
students can consult online books, images, videos and all the other educational contents without having to
wait and go to the nearest physical library. They can do it in a formal environment, for example at school,
or they can relax at their homes getting an instant access to the information they need.
3
Mark Herring’s “10 Reasons Why the Internet Is No Substitute for a Library,” which originally appeared in
American Libraries, April 2001, p. 76-78.
Fighting against deterioration

The digital storage of books and, above all, audios, solve the problem of deterioration. In traditional
libraries, audio cassette tapes and vinyl records are shared among a lot of students posing the problem to
stand a large number of playings. Fragile photographs or ancient documents have to resist several
handovers and consultations, with the risk of being subjected to breakages or other damages. Thanks to
the digitizing of materials, it is possible to access contents how many times a student needs, using formats
(mp3, digital images, online textbooks, etc.) which are definitely much safer to use.

An easier information retrieval

Over the years, digital libraries have developed a range of search features – such as boolean and
proximity operators, truncation, etc. – that facilitate the access to information and data collections,
allowing students to perform sophisticated searches for a variety of queries.

Thanks to intuitive search engine technologies – for example, ranking or automatic term expansion – even
novice users can start using digital libraries accomplishing their searches independently. And the most
encouraging thing is that, as the digital collections grow larger, the level of sophistication of these
searching features increases exponentially.

LIBRARIES ARE STILL BETTER THAN THE INTERNET.

Libraries are safer spaces. The internet brings people together, often in enjoyable and productive ways,
such as over shared interests (pop culture blogs, fanfic sites) or common challenges (online support
groups). But cyberbullying and trolling can leave people reluctant to engage with folks they disagree with
or to share their ideas in the first place. Libraries are places where people can gather constructively and all
are welcome.

Libraries respect history. Web pages are ephemeral, and link rot is a real problem. The content of library
collections is much more stable. Printed materials are generally published on acid-free paper, which will
not disintegrate. And librarians are leading the way to bring similar stability to the web through services
like the Internet Archive and perma.cc.

Librarians digitize influential primary sources. While looking at historical artifacts is valuable, repeated
physical handling can damage them. Making digital versions of important works available online as in the
National Library of Medicine’s Turning the Pages project is one solution. Library digitization projects
also provide information to people who do not have the resources to travel to a particular library.
Librarians are using the emerging technology of the internet to further the timeless mission of providing
better access to information. The internet is the platform that enables this progress, but librarians are
doing the work.

Librarians are leaders in increasing online access to scholarly information. The open access movement
makes scholarly articles available to all readers online, and librarians have been strong advocates of the
movement for more than a decade. This access is especially critical when reporting the results of medical
research, which is often funded by taxpayer dollars.

Librarians are publishers. Scholarly publishers still provide the journals and books that researchers
develop. But librarians have joined these efforts by becoming publishers themselves. New librarian-led
publishing initiatives take full advantage of the web and generally make new work available on an open
access basis. One example of library publishing, which is common in academic libraries, is the
institutional repository. These repositories collect and preserve the broad range of a college or
university’s intellectual output, such as datasets gathered in research studies, computer code used in
software development, and conference proceedings.

Libraries host makerspaces. Given that makerspaces provide venues for creativity, learning, and
community, it only makes sense that libraries champion them. The maker movement has grown rapidly—
in 2016 there were 14 times as many makerspaces as in 2006. Both public and academic libraries host
makerspaces. You can learn about makerspaces online, of course. But to visit one you have to venture
into the physical world.

Librarians guide you to exactly what you need. Google is an impressive search engine, but its results can
be overwhelming, and many people do not know to filter them by content type (such as .pdf) or website
source (such as .gov). Google offers many search tips, which are useful but generic. A conversation with
a librarian can clarify exactly what you are looking for and figure out the best way to use Google or many
other resources to find it.

Librarians do not track your reading or search history to sell you things. Amazon’s book purchase
recommendation feature is useful for learning about new books. But this usefulness comes at the expense
of your privacy because your reading data is valuable business intelligence for Amazon. The same is true
for your web searching history, which is why you often see ads for a product for weeks after searching for
it just once. Librarians value and protect your privacy.

Librarians do not censor. One core value of librarianship, as exemplified by the work of ALA’s Freedom
to Read Foundation, is thwarting censorship and allowing the free and full exchange of ideas. The internet
is a powerful tool for information sharing, but it takes human advocates to stand for information freedom.
CONCLUSION

Libraries continue to provide benefits that are both tangible such as community spaces and human
interaction and harder to quantify access, privacy, intellectual freedom. The internet is an indispensable
and irreplaceable tool for modern living. But it is not a library and will not replace the work of librarians.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

5 main benefits of Digital Libraries at School,

https://acerforeducation.acer.com/education-trends/education-technology/5-main-benefits-of-digital-
libraries-at-school/, Accessed 6th October 2023

Mark Herring’s “10 Reasons Why the Internet Is No Substitute for a Library,” which originally appeared
in American Libraries, April 2001.

Pfeifer, Wolfgang (1989). Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen. A-G. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
 TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION

REASONS TO USE THE LIBRARY

MAIN BENEFITS OF DIGITAL LIBRARIES AT SCHOOL

LIBRARIES ARE STILL BETTER THAN THE INTERNET.

CONCLUSION