Week 16 Prompt Response

   At first, I didn't think the way I read books has changed all that much since my childhood, but once I started considering it, my reading habits and the way I interact with the library has changed dramatically. Where once as a kid I would borrow multiple books in one genre at a time, I now spread my reading across multiple genres at a time. I find I don't like to binge-read any more; perhaps that's because of my advancing years and I've realized I don't have time for bad books, or maybe it's because there's just so much more out there than one genre to explore and (hopefully) enjoy.
   I also don't browse the library shelves as much as I used to or as much as I had to. The advent of searching the library catalog online has been an enormous help to me, as I can look for books whenever and wherever I am able to. The ability to add books to a list in my account or to immediately place a hold on them has also made my library searching much more efficient. Ebooks, which I didn't think I would be that interested in ten years ago, have also been a delightful surprise, especially during this pandemic closure. Books I wouldn't think of trying to find in hard copy because while they sound interesting, they just aren't that interesting, I can now pull up on my mobile device and try it out. If I don't like it, it's not that bad of a thing. If I do like it, I can then read it (most of the time) immediately.
  A drawback to the technological aspects of the library is I don't know my librarians. I recognize a few of them, but I don't know any of their names, not like when I was a kid when I was on first-name basis with them (well, including Miss or Mister). I still feel comfortable asking for assistance, but it's not the same.
   I realize I have less time now than I did growing up to just spend time in the library and browse, but I'd like to be able to just spend time in the stacks to see if I can find a hidden gem.
   What will the library look like in ten years or so? The traditional rows of books will be mostly replaced with open-space concepts for multi-person engagement. Patrons will have more access to ebooks, possibly including not only the text of a book, but the book’s various manuscript iterations, background materials, notes from the author and editors, commentary by critics and reviewers, and audio interpretations. We'll be on the way to virtual-reality, fully immersive experiences that include artificial intelligence interfaces guiding patrons to explore not only the texts of books but also the researched material as video game-like walkthroughs.
   We'll continue to read. In general. And when I say "we" it will be that portion of the population that reads now, as Ursula K. LeGuin stated. The entire population has never been readers. If someone isn't a reader by the time they graduate high school, it's unlikely they'll suddenly become a reader later in life. We'll have to continue to expose children to being read to and reading on their own as early as we can so that portion of the reading public grows and doesn't diminish.
   And lest you be concerned about the total disappearance of print books in libraries, there will still be physical books and quiet areas just to read and enjoy a slower-paced mode of learning. Libraries are for everyone and for every type of learning speed. We will have progressed to the point where we can interact technologically with books, but also to the point where we will realize we won’t have to in order to enjoy them.