Yes,but there is another side to the story: as a kid 60 years ago I useta spend a fair bit of time in the Mitchell Library and believe me it was a pretty intimidating place then. There surely is a "middle way". But, to agree with you, the thing I miss is the gradual disappearance of books on accessible shelves so that, when looking for a certain book by a certain author, your attention is caught by an adjacent book which looks (and sometimes is) absolutely fascinating.Even more so is this the situation with bound journals...I have wasted hours absorbed by the 1932 volume of some journal when I actually went to read something published 5 years ago!

I don't think Rudd can take the blame for revising the idea of the library. When I went to high school in the 1990s, our school had no library - it had a resource centre. While I mourn the gradual loss of books, I am excited by the new ways in which information is being conveyed. If libraries are places of learning and connecting with the greater world, then making those institutions more accessible and user-friendly must be a good thing.

I have loved libraries for 40 years and I love the way they are evolving. I am not sure the author is seeing the wood for the trees.
What exactly is a library? I dont hold with your description of a library. It is not just books and silence. It is knowledge and learning and it is available to anyone.

The new technologies developed in the last few decades are like libraries in themselves. Its not called IT (information technology) for nothing. The internet is just one colossal library. The knowledge possessed by everyday people and the knowledge available to them if they want it is unprecedented in history.

We are living in and surrounded by one giant library and whether it has paper books or screens or is silent or not I love it and would never want to go back to the tedious searching of shelves and thumbing through books in a dead and sterile atmosphere that the author seems to pine for.

Long live information and knowledge and fight forever to make it free and available to all.

I have always loved libraries too.
I have enjoyed how libraries have changed with the times over the years, and yet still remain free for everyone to use.

One thing I hope that doesn't change though is the availability of real books to borrow. The price of new books is too steep for many people.

I just can't imagine laying in bed quietly trying to read books on my lap-top computer. The click noises would be bound to annoy my husband!

Great article Helen.
Re school libraries. I know that some students find great difficulty concentrating amidst noise and I know that some students find reading from a computer screen tedious.
All learning styles need to be accommodated.
The world of technology is exciting and wonderful but there must be a balance.

Mikk & Suzeonline

Me too.

During the bushfires earlier this year, I lost my landline for 2 weeks. If not for the local library, I would not have had a link to the outside world.

Libraries will evolve with new technology - as they must. However, I do believe there will always be a place for the printed page - especially in bed.