“So, wait. You actually go to the library?” This is a question I constantly get from others, as they watch me struggle to balance the five library books I have in tow. Two are for research in my education class, and three are for my term paper in physics. I understand they aren’t the most thrilling reading selections that the Alvin Sherman library has to offer, but I don’t really see why it’s so surprising for me to use them. How else am I supposed to get the information? Please, don’t say the Internet.
Call me old-fashioned, but I’m a total snob when it comes to books, whether they are for academic or leisure purposes. I’m not saying that you have to spend your days leafing through Hemingway, it just feels like nobody reads at all anymore. And, if you don’t read at all, I’m at a loss at how you gain and retain information. How do you learn the material for your courses? I doubt you can get it all from lectures and videos. How do you learn about the news?
I once talked about how to do research with a friend of mine, and she asked how I found information on a hard copy book without pressing CTRL+F on the computer keyboard, which, in hindsight, is hilarious. However, in the moment, I was astonished. As much as I love the wide world of technology we have, I feel like the easy access to information has tarnished our desire to seek it. Why read the article when you skim the title for the main points? Why read the book when there’s a movie being released?
The problem is, with the new mentality that everyone seems to have, society only gets half the story it needs. By not reading, academically or casually, we rob ourselves of digesting information, mulling over ideas in order to come to conclusions. We lessen our chances of being able to store that information. And we make the process of writing down what you have to say, what you know to be true useless. I get that not everyone is going to know that you can check out 50 books at the library at a single time. I get that not everyone wants to lug around five books. It just kills me that nobody wants to even try.
