The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!

Hey, Christian Science Monitor!  Alarmist much!  There is an interesting article here about computers replacing books at one of the main University of Texas at Austin libraries.  What the article fails to mention is the fact that even when I went to school there (1986-90), the Undergraduate Library was really more of a computer lab than an actual library.  Most of the UT collection is stored in various specialty libraries or the Perry Castenada Library.  During my four year tenure, I went to the UGL once to check out those newfangled computers (Apple IIe!!!).  Most of my time was spent in the Fine Arts Library with side trips to PCL.  So, the fact that they farmed out all the books from UGL to other on campus libraries is not the end of the libraries as we know them. 

Yes, technology is changing the face of libraries, but until we can get the unwashed masses to actually figure out how to use a computer (and dude, considering how many basic computer questions I answer per day, a whole lot of people really don't know the first thing about how a computer operates), your books are safe.