When was the last time you went to a library? You probably had to think about it, and if you are teen in the 21st century, you might even wonder if you have been to one at all. Libraries are places full of knowledge, some might even consider them a global symbol for learning. They provide information on virtually anything, and offer a place to study them attentively. But in the age of iPhones, Google, and Wikipedia, libraries just cannot keep up with the speed that these devices allow us to find out information, and some predict that soon, libraries will just be a place to go to use these tools, pushing the books aside.
Back in the 20th century, libraries were the place you had to go to find information, you quite literally could not find it anywhere else except there. It’s where people wrote essays, checked out books, and found out countless pieces of information. My mom used to tell me she would spend over 6 hours there everyday, and that was not uncommon. But now, you can write an essay from your computer, read books from your phone, and google anything, anywhere in under a minute. This change is big, and in order to keep up with the times, we can see libraries evolving. From adding 3-D printers, to supplying endless computers and laptops. While some still go to find a good book, we can see it be used for the latter much more often. The National Public Radio has a stance on this topic, saying “Wi-Fi, laptops and cell phones make it possible to work from just about anywhere these days. They’ve helped people leave the office and work from the comfort of their living rooms or corner coffee shops. . . But now, an increasing number of Americans are looking for something in between, Community. . . Newly mobile tech workers with laptops liked their freedom but still missed the human interaction they got from going to an office. So they formed meet-up groups: casual, once-a-week deals at different locations — sometimes even people’s living rooms.”
When I say libraries will go extinct, I do not mean the whole term, or even the whole place. I mean that the once traditional, “read a book to find out” place that we once went to will turn into a place where technology thrives, and information and opportunities grow at a rapid rate. This is for the better, as it can change the way we learn, and change the way information comes to us, making it much more efficient and fast. As the quote from above states, libraries will be a place where community is present, and people come together to learn and grow, which can lead to a vast amount of advancements in the future.