MetaAI
Libraries, I didn’t know much about them until I gained admission into the university, and I was introduced to a new world entirely. The serenity, the smell of the beautiful pages of books, the different sizes, and the many knowledges hidden within the pages. It was an entirely new thing to me, because for a village girl who had no access to things like that, it was a discovery.
Until my third year in school when I started doing research proper, the library came in handy with a lot of helps.
I had my phone with internet access where I clicked and got most of the information I needed at the comfort of my room. It was swift, sweet, and easy until I got restricted access to some websites because it was paid. But where do I get a whole $150 as an individual from to buy access to a journal, and how many journals do I pay for? Oh, well, thanks to the libraries who provided free access to those websites because it’s an organization with no restricted access to the academic websites with the journal that I needed.
Physical libraries provide more than access to the information on the internet, and the role it plays even in the present generation cannot be under-emphasized. I mean, people choose to visit the libraries for many reasons including having access to books that they normally wouldn’t have access to on a norm.
I was at a secondary school some time ago, and there was this library I fell in love with because of the different types of books in there. There was a computer lab too where they could use to access information on the internet, so combining the roles of both makes their knowledge better.
Many of these students have access to mobile phones, and also have access to whatever information they wanted, however, they do not do that without getting distracted by so many other ads, click-bait headings, and some other apps on the phone, hence, they tend to get serious less. And, that is what is not present in the physical libraries.
MetaAI
When you use the e-libraries options in the physical libraries, you cannot be distracted intentionally or unintentionally because you know that your time there is limited. Even though you know you can always go back there, the level of focus is very different from accessing these things on your mobile phones. And then, there’s the options of subscribing to numerous websites that’ll keep spamming your emails with a lot of mails when you can have access to those information at the e-libraries located within the physical libraries.
More than going to the library to read, there are many other reason people visit there. From maintaining focus, running from distractions, having access to books that would otherwise be paid for even if you want to download them as PDF, to cutting away all form of distractions, irrelevant noises, and having a very productive day, even taking a nap if you feel like you’ve had enough and need it.
Physical libraries is going nowhere actually. The only thing that can happen is to keep evolving with the evolution of the world needs.