Presence

Frank Oteri has a beautiful article at NMBx about the printed word and real books vs. digital forms and the advantages real libraries still have. I'm so with him on this one. I am personally strongly anti-Kindle because--for me, for me--there is just something powerful about a book in your hands. A screen is still a screen. With a book there is no curtain between you and the content. It is all there in your hands, physically, undeniably. The prevalence of information in our society has made us take libraries for granted, but I become increasingly impressed by the power of walking into a library, of seeing stacks of books or scores there just waiting for you to discover them. A friend recently shared a nugget from his father, walking into a library: "I always know there is a great book in here that I'll never find." This just isn't the same on the internet; while it's always possible to discover new things on here, it's not the same as truly serendipitously, with no external influence, bumping into a new book or CD, something unpredictable, something you know nothing about. The same goes for used bookstores. That "great book in there that I'll never find" is waiting, and no one is going to find it but you. I love the initiative this demands. It asks you to take responsibility for your own edification, to seek it out. On the internet there is always someone feeding it to you. It has a different impact when you truly discover it yourself and feel the pages under your fingers.