Are Libraries Relevant In The Internet Age?

With the glut of information, opinion, disinformation, and pure self-aggrandizing blather being passed off and passed around as fact, evaluating the quality of information retrieved has become a vital skill. Professional librarians with the expertise and time to track and evaluate what’s appearing in this new medium are more important than ever before, says Allin. Anyone who considers himself or herself an educated person needs to become literate about information.

Consulting librarians are credited with the dramatic increase in library usage at Cornell.

The number of classes attending instruction sessions in the library has increased substantially over last year.

The Iternet and technology have had a major impact on the library budget. Fewer books are being purchased as the costs for online databases and journals have skyrocketed. In the 2001 budget, the library spent $55,000 for online resources and $24,000 for books. The numbers are nearly the reverse of the budget of 1991 when the library spent $20,300 on online databases and $57,500 on books. Expect Donham to be a leader in addressing this issue, not only at Cornell, but also in modeling how libraries can dismiss any question as to their relevancy in the Internet Age.

“If you took a random survey of faculty here at Cornell asking to name the best thing that has happened at the college in recent years, the answer would be ‘the library,’” says professor Allin.


Julie Gammack is a freelance writer, artist, and Internet consultant in Annapolis, Md. She is a former columnist for The Des Moines Register and talk radio host on WHO radio.