The article, "A Librarian's Lament: Books Are a Hard Sell" written by Thomas Washington discusses his perspectives on the changes in the library. As a librarian, he is disappointed by the fact that the library is changing. He thought that librarians were mostly united in their attraction to books but in reality, books weren't really their focus. It is all about technology. Today, librarians teach students how to use the database search, find information using the internet and use the digital data for sources. He also realizes that students still use books for their research papers but it wasn't the same as before. Back then, students would check out books and return them in two weeks or so. But today, students would check out books and return them the next day because they find more information through the digital media. Students believe that the digital media is more reliable than books.
The author knows books are fading away when he told a junior student about the benefits of reading books and she told him that she thinks that reading is lame. In another situation, some students would rather watch the DVD than reading the book because the book is too long and the movie summarizes everything. He has a hard time to convince the students that reading the book is better than watching the DVD. It is disappointing to see that the students do not have any respect for books anymore. This author tries his best to make the library stays the same but unfortunately it doesn't work. He needs to accept the fact that the library is changing and it will convert to digital format.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901361.html