{"id":997,"date":"2015-02-04T15:27:16","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T15:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aulibrarynews.wordpress.com\/?p=997"},"modified":"2015-02-04T15:27:16","modified_gmt":"2015-02-04T15:27:16","slug":"breaking-news-libraries-here-to-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.alfred.edu\/aulibrarynews\/2015\/02\/04\/breaking-news-libraries-here-to-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking News…Libraries Here to Stay"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am Melanie Miller, the newest staff member at Scholes library and the one word I would use to describe myself is curious.
\nWhen I announced to my friends and family that I had obtained my dream job in a library, I was met with mixed reactions.\u00a0 Some said, \u201cWhat a perfect place for you to be! You can read all day.\u201d\u00a0 Riiiiighhhttt\u2026
\nBut I was surprised when some started putting on their aluminum foil hats and telling me that libraries won\u2019t exist in the future.
\nIt\u2019s an argument we\u2019ve all heard before.\u00a0 \u201cNo one reads books anymore. (Insert favorite e-reader brand here) is amazing.\u201d\u00a0 Or my personal favorite, \u201cWhat can a library have that you can\u2019t find on the internet?\u201d
\n\"news<\/a>
\nIn the year leading up to me obtaining my dream job, I took some on line courses as a way to satisfy my ceaseless curiosity.\u00a0 I learned what librarians and library staff throughout the world already know: Libraries are about more than just books.\u00a0 Libraries are about information, and our rights to access information.\u00a0 Even though I have been a patron in various libraries nearly my entire life, this isn\u2019t something I was ever conscious of.\u00a0 I wanted books and articles to finish a paper or for entertainment.\u00a0 I had the freedom to enter the library and access whatever information I needed to.
\nTo me, there is no better time for libraries to exist than today.\u00a0 We live in a world where we have access to so much information, but not all of it is quality.\u00a0 There is an abundance of information at our fingertips, but how do we discern its accuracy, interpret its meaning and apply it to our lives?
\nThe role of libraries has never been more valuable.\u00a0 To be responsible citizens and good students (even long after we\u2019ve obtained a degree), we need access to quality information.\u00a0 We could argue that there is more information available to us than ever before, and that is not a trend that will go away. How do we use all of this stuff<\/em>?
\n\"library<\/a>
\n\u201cBut what about the internet?\u201d they say. \u201cI can find anything I need there.\u201d\u00a0 I say it depends on what your needs are.\u00a0 Because if your needs are a macaroni and cheese recipe or what Kim Kardashian wore last week, sure, the internet will meet those needs. \u00a0But ask any of our students searching through our extensive journals for a research project, or signing out books for their thesis, or anyone inquiring about the history of the College of Ceramics and seeing the archives.\u00a0 Can the internet meet those needs?\u00a0 Libraries are more than books.\u00a0 And if you ask me, the curious new administrative assistant at Scholes, no, the internet does not meet my curiosity needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am Melanie Miller, the newest staff member at Scholes library and the one word I would use to describe myself is curious. When I announced to my friends and family that I had obtained my dream job in a library, I was met with mixed reactions.\u00a0 Some said, \u201cWhat a perfect place for you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.alfred.edu\/aulibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.alfred.edu\/aulibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.alfred.edu\/aulibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.alfred.edu\/aulibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.alfred.edu\/aulibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.alfred.edu\/aulibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.alfred.edu\/aulibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.alfred.edu\/aulibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.alfred.edu\/aulibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.alfred.edu\/aulibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}