Libraries

There have been many advances in electronics over the past years. We can now send pictures, messages, and sound clips via the internet. The invention of the web is used for many good reasons, and can be very beneficial. We use it to obtain facts, news, and ideas to satisfy our wants and needs, and educational purposes. We used to have to go to the library to obtain the information that we now have so quickly ready at our fingertips with the click of the button. Online databases and encyclopedias have dominated the web that soon, because electronics have become so popular, we are losing

the value of something good because of the internet.

Many thousands of web pages exist, comparing the advantages and disadvantages of using the internet instead of a traditional library. Students used to leave the library after doing research with a huge stack of books. Now, all a student has to do is go to their computer and access the internet. Some say there eventually won't be a need for a library. They say our society is moving towards being completely computer run, so why wouldn't it make sense if libraries went online completely too?

More and more students are choosing to research digitally over the more traditional method of hunting through books at the library. Because of the demand for online research, librarians now have to choose between spending their budget on hard copies of books and periodicals or on new digital media. Their decisions could result in a new, and at least partially digital, concept of a library. Researching from home is one draw of Internet research, and it keeps students from going to the library, said J.D. Applen, assistant professor of technical writing.

In the recent past, school library book budgets have dwindled, as technology budgets have consumed a greater piece of the budget limit. Direct observation, supported by evidence, has witnessed a majority of students undertaking research via the internet, without any reference to printed sources. Classroom teachers have noted that the quality of information has decreased with the increase of the internet.

Many students believe that everything is available on the internet. Although there is much valuable information out there, students have to consider that:

-There are over 4 billion unique publicly accessible websites.

-Only six percent of these have education content.

-The average life of a webpage only lasts 75 days.

-Google, the largest search engine, has indexed less than 18% of the available pages.

-A great deal of the internet is not able to be indexed by traditional search engines, and is remained hidden from them.

-Anyone can publish a web page-no