Our world of personal computers will soon be 40 years old. The Internet, or as we sometimes know it, the World Wide Web, is just over 20 years old. But how different those inventions have made the world we live in. Some people predict that the world of the future will not see books printed on paper. They have the idea that if books continue to exist, they will be digitally recorded, and will be stored in huge computer server storage units, not on the standard library shelves as conventional books.
It is possible, today, to think of the Internet as a huge "book" or set of "books" in which one can look up almost any information you want to look for. Just Google it, someone will say when a question comes up about a piece of information they want to find. We used to think in terms of numerous "search engines" which we could choose to do our Internet lookups. Now it seems that although many of those search engines are still out there, Google has become the Walmart of searches. Our expression "Let's go to the store" has almost been replaced by "Let's go to Walmart." Likewise, "Google It" has become the usual search on the Internet.
Can books as we have known them for generation upon generation survive in today's digital atmosphere?
I'm taking a wait and see attitude on this question. On the one hand, I am comparing it to the prediction some years ago that computers would bring about the "paperless office." The prediction was that old-time file cabinets and file folders would soon disappear, and that paper documents would no longer be needed. Everything would be "on computer." Well, OK, lots of stuff is on computer all right, but we today still print lots of "hard copy." In fact, computers, rather than producing the paperless office, have become hugely efficient mass producers of paper documents. If those predictions of the bookless society turn out anything like the predictions of the paperless office, then we may expect to see libraries and bookstores staying around for quite some time.
In the world of recorded music, we have seen over the past several years compact disk recordings, DVDs, and MP3 digital music players pretty much take over from the older types of recorded music. When I was a teenager in the late 1950s, the 45 RPM small disk records were taking over from the older 78 RPM platters, which in turn several years before had taken over from the old Edison cylinder records and the flat-disk records almost half an inch thick which used to play on the old manual Edison record players. Then we began buying those new 33 RPM album records, the "long-plays" as they were sometimes called. Stack 10 or 12 LPs on the changer and you could have music all evening if you wanted. Interestingly, I noticed in the newspaper several days ago that people in significant number today are reverting back to the old LP 33s, because they like the sound reproduction that comes from the older technology. There are even new stores that feature old LP albums recovered from private customer collections, as well as selling new releases recorded on the old vinyl disks.
Such developments may be saying to us that rather than having older technologies fully replaced by newer technologies, the future may see a multiplication of workable and valued technologies. Most of us know people, and we may be such people ourselves, who like the feel of a good book in our hands; we like the experience of turning the pages by taking each leaf between our fingers and flipping it over; we like the feeling of progress as we see the section of turned pages growing thicker and the section of pages not yet read growing thinner. Then, too, some of us like the look of a well-arranged row of good books on the shelf. Or, as in my case, the rows of books which I intend to re-arrange better someday when I find the time.
Of course there have always been people who put little value on books and libraries. The town of Eureka Springs years ago was blessed with a wonderful gift to establish a Carnegie Library there. But back in the 1980s, when we were living in Berryville, the library in Eureka was appealing for increased public support to help maintain the building and to develop the collection of books and materials. I remember that someone writing a letter to the editor at the time, questioned, "Why do we need one 'o them liberries enyhow?!"
Well, maybe the question sort of answered itself, by revealing what you get when you don't have "eny 'o them liberries!" Whatever may be the future form of our books, whether on papyrus or goatskins, or paper, or canvas, or as digital squibs on some kind of media recording, I'm hoping that we can preserve the love of good reading, an appreciation for great writing, and a valuing of the experience of humankind through the ages, such as we gain from books.
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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history. He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.
Editorial on 05/13/2015