Interesting reading. I enjoyed most of the articles, particularly "To a temporary place in time". I think advances in the web and library world will make the "library experience", both physically and virtually, more satisfying and love it when there is more internectivity. The biggest problem I see is the potential to forget or downplay the physical collection of libraries. I first heard of the downfall of the book 17 years ago and did not believe it then. Electronic documents are fabulous, but for digesting or browsing the information quite frequently hardcopy is preferred. As an avid reader of newspapers it's illuminating how the format of a newspaper can affect its use. I am much more systematic in reading the entire paper when it is in its paper format. With the online version I am more likely to read sections and be "guided" by the publisher. The problem with researching via microfilm newspapers has already been identfied with the prominence of articles differing in the two versions. And realistically the vast bulk of hardcopy is not going to be scanned. What digitisation appears to do is make material more accessible, which is great, and then increases usage of the hardcopy. The virtues of all formats of collections, and their access, need to be promoted carefully together so there is as much choice as possible.
If you want to read about the pros and cons of microfilm this book is a good read.
Sorry for the rant, the question about whether there was still a need for physical collections in one of the articles got me going.
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