Are Books Dead?

There’s plenty of space in the library of Cushing Academy, an Ivy-covered prep school in northern Massachusetts. The 144-year-old school’s leadership has decided that the traditional library is outdated, and has given away the majority of its 20,000 books. The library will become a learning center with e-readers, a coffee shop and flat-screen TVs replacing the reference desk and shelves.

Book critic Matthew Battles, author of Library: An Unquiet History and blogger for Library Ad Infinitum wonders if this is yet another nail in the coffin of the written word. He believes a library isn’t just for the current students and faculty – it’s an intergenerational agreement with the past and the future. To presume that these books will have no value for the community for the future is wrong, he writes.

Unlike a physical book, e-readers come with terms of service agreements that restrict what readers can do with the books they buy. Matthew's created a terms of service agreement for the book - the old-fashioned kind, with pages and ink.

Check out a short film by Alex Roman, a digital re-creation of the Exeter Academy library, devoid of books:

(Photo by svenwerk via Flickr/Creative Commons)