Do School Libraries Need Books?

Here’s an interesting debate in the New York Times, triggered by a school that gave away most of its books to create a digitized library.

Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains (to be published in June…and I want to read it!) says: “We may not want to admit it, but the medium matters. When we tell ourselves that reading is the same whether done from a screen or a book, we’re kidding ourselves–and cheating our kids.”

Representative quotes from both sides:

James Tracy, headmaster of Cushing Academy (of the digitized library), says: “It is immaterial to us whether students use print or electronic forms to read Chaucer and Shakespeare.”

I think James Tracy could use a good dose of Jane Healy’s Endangered Minds.

What do you think?

Leave a Comment