![]() So far as we know, the Sumerians invented writing-cuneiform, which was wedge-shaped writing on clay tablets-about 3000 b.c. Libraries, of course, are a result of the invention of writing. To set the stage, let's take a little journey back in time to the origins of libraries to trace how they came to be what they are today. But is this really the reality? Are print materials, and library buildings, too, a relic of a bygone era? Will we be relegated to the role of museum artifact? This may be a shock to you, but it's reality.” This person could have written that now famous article for the Chronicle of Higher Education, “The Deserted Library,” which caught the attention of many administrators, funding entities, and librarians. I am sorry to say that we have neither need, time, nor wish to visit the beautiful expanses of the library building. These are an historic relic from a bygone era. We do not need any print versions of any journals. ![]() We recently received the following e-mail from a faculty member and heavy library user: “Let me make my main point one more time. Faculty, of course, want every journal online. Īt the University of Maryland Health Sciences and Human Services Library we are in the process of making a rather painful transition from print collections to digital collections while at the same time maintaining a “hybrid” collection. Eliot's line from “Burnt Norton”: “Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future,” which kind of reflects how I look at the world. What I want to explore with you today is the idea and value of the library as a place how it evolved, and what we expect it to be in the future. Technology during the last twenty years has had more impact on libraries than it had in the previous two hundred, and it is forcing us to examine this place we call a library. However, times change and the very idea of the library as a place is being questioned. Libraries have been an integral part of our lives. I'll bet most of you have had the same experience with libraries, be they school, public, university, medical, hospital-or whatever. Being in libraries and using books has been normal libraries as places have been “like home” to me. They have been integral to my education, to my life, and obviously, to my career. However, since then, I think I have taken libraries for granted. I remember going to the library in junior high school and being thrilled with the real books there-long books, and, no, I didn't immediately think, I want to be a librarian! I remember the librarian, Miss Lash, who was criticized for wearing too much jewelry. What I recall about these was disappointment at how quickly they were read-they were so short! We learned to read with the usual “See Spot Run” books, and I remember fondly The Little Red Hen and The Little Engine That Could, which my parents bought me. I looked back into the mists of time at my earliest experiences in libraries, and I realized then that I had spent the first six years of my education in a one-room schoolhouse and did not set foot into a library until the seventh grade! As I recall, there was a bookcase in that one-room schoolhouse with a smattering of books whose titles I do not remember. So, I decided to take the approach I'm told writers take-to look at my own past experience as a basis. What, I thought, could I possibly talk about for an hour? That the lecture should be about the history or philosophy of medical librarianship was equally daunting as I don't consider myself a historian, even though I majored in history, or a philosopher. Upon being named the Janet Doe Lecturer, I experienced feelings of surprise, delight, and pure panic.
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