-- JiHyunPark - 29 Nov 2024

The Digitalization of Print Sources and the Loss of Libraries

Ever since the widespread access to the digital electronic medium of words on screen, there has been a steady decline of a physical material medium to store, share, and enjoy words manifested from the minds of humans. Instead, from carving “words” into nature and the development of ink onto paper, the new medium for the human language has escaped the material physicality it has historically used in digital electronic format. The digitalization of books, words, of images, has been met with exciting fanfare where the world has moved from putting ink on paper to tapping keys on a keyboard to create and write (or now type) their thoughts. Increasingly, the physical medium of ink on paper has been replaced with electronic versions. Perhaps my generation will be one of the last few that experience the educational transition from a paper medium to an electronic one as I step through the American educational system. I shifted from combing the modest collection of books offered by my school library to scrolling the enormous digital access granted to me by the internet. Before long, the lack of a library in my high school did not concern me nor did the 1000-page pdf of my Calculus textbook that I crtl-F through to reach the correct page. Before I knew it, the world beyond my classroom was also digitalized. The plastic-wrapped newspapers tossed in front of my home slowly disappeared, replaced with pre-formatted emails offering a subscription service to receive tailored news “right in my mailbox.”

The digitalization of books has many benefits that are enjoyed and celebrated today. Yet, the erasure of libraries as homes to books presents the loss of freedom of learning and spreading of ideas. The shifting of mediums not only limits reading but it also cripples our freedom to access information in books. The true "evil" of our library's destruction is not that we loss of these spaces but the symbolic nature of the limiting of our way of learning and consuming information.

The Physicality vs. Electronic Medium

One of the notable drawbacks of the shift to the e-book medium is that society’s capacity to learning is reduced. Many studies have reported that those who read in the paper medium present higher retention of what they read in addition to having higher measures of empathy and immersion.1 Furthermore, those who read in an electronic medium must read the same words multiple times to understand.2 This suggests that while there may be some form of “comfort” and “ease” with the shifting of the electronic medium, our decisions to move away from the physical format is placing limitations and downgrading our capacity to learn and digest information.

Additionally, an electronic medium is usually accessed through things like iPad, phones, and laptops. These devices are full of notification and noise that can distract readers from the full immersion. Devices for just reading presents other pressing issues as popular devices like Kindles are always presenting ads on screen, influencing the reader beyond the content they intend to read.

Access to Information

Contrary to the idea of improved access provided by technology, the digitalization of libraries also presents a critical issue to our freedom to access information. While we are now privy to more information due to having the internet at our fingerprints, the loss of physical libraries prevents access to information due to the commercialization of books. Legal methods of obtaining free books or information have become severely limited by commercial paywalls. Even reading the news has become difficult with multiple different news mediums preventing access to their information without paying.

The ability and ease with which the internet can manipulate, and feed information is an enormous concern for our freedom of access to information [pg 103]. In the library’s physical space, while the contents of the library may have been curated by an individual librarian, there is true freedom to explore the knowledge of books without additional interference. A person can parse through the many volumes gathered in the bookshelves without the fear of a third-party search engine tracking and feeding specific types of information to them.

Additionally, national and historic libraries preserve and carefully collect cultural and historical heritage which provide a rich source of information from political, ideological to social and cultural worth. Libraries, through the preservation of books, newspapers, and other physical mediums present values of cultural diversity, freedom to think and inspire, freedom of expression, and freedom of speech [pg 104]. The importance of libraries to gather, preserve, and offer a space for people to reach and explore these cultural pieces is truly an opportunity to access information that facilitates the freedom to think. However, the digitalization of these paper mediums and the removal of physical access to libraries will not continue or increase access as initially considered. Instead of providing quality information, the internet offers too much information and disinformation that is controlled and monitored.

The Publishing Oligarchy

The shift to the electronic medium is exacerbated by the current publishing industry. Currently, there are only about four major English publishers, with one of them larger than the other three. While not a monopoly, the English book publishing industry has become a clear oligarchy. The books that are being published and in turn, digitalized, are all controlled by a small group of industries. This suggests that the control over what information and what type of books get published and are offered in an eBook medium (and physical too) are all held by a small group.

As physical libraries holding books are eradicated and current mediums are shifted to a digital format, our access to books are guided solely by this oligarchy. By digitalizing and erasing current libraries that house physical books, our access to older books and information that may no longer “fit the narrative” is limited and denied. Through this, we lose our freedom to explore beyond what the four main publishing companies deem to be important or financially worthy.

Conclusion

While the natural progression and shift from physical books to digitalizing the printed medium may promote access to these books, the loss of libraries are a symbol of the crippling of our learning and access to information. It is not the loss of the libraries themselves the representation of the loss of the physical books. This loss of our access to physical books affects our freedom to think and learn in ways that will be detrimental to our society and culture.