The Future of Reading

I haven't posted in a while. I have come to the conclusion that I may not be a very good blogger, as I don't always have something interesting to write about. I am no where near as prolific as other library bloggers. However, there are a couple of things worth considering that I noticed while sorting the magazines today. Interestingly enough, they are about the future of reading. The thing that strikes me as ironic is that even though everything I am going to put here is available digitally, I first noticed them while sorting through print sources. Those of you who are on the techie side of the spectrum would say that is because I do not have my personal learning network set up correctly. If I had, those articles would have come to me automatically. I beg to differ. Part of my learning network includes browsing. You know, that thing you do where you just look, and sometimes find something really worthwhile, without having set out to do so. I am just saying...Anyway, here is what I saw:
The Christian Science Monitor has an article, entitled "The Future of Reading" on the cover of the December 20 issue, also available online. School Library Journal also has an article entitled "The Future of Reading," by none other than John Green on the cover of the January issue. (Do you think they talked? the titles are the same!)
Interesting thoughts, and we live in interesting times...which according to one site on phrase origins in the UK (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/245000.html) is not really an ancient Chinese curse--but a western thought made to sound like it. Ha!
However you look at it, we get to witness a major turning point in history. I would tend to agree that the e-readers and traditional books will coexist for many years to come. There is a reference in the Christian Science Monitor article to something I have pointed to earlier in my musings--Hamlet's Blackberry, which briefly talks about the fact that the human brain does not change in one generation. It appears Mr. Powers has expanded his paper into an upcoming book. I am concerned about people's thought processes, and where they will go. I sincerely hope we do not end up like the childish nonthinkers of H. G. Wells's imagination (The Time Machine).
Reading is changing, as is just about everything else about our jobs. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just something to think about. Two encouraging things from the Christian Science Monitor piece:

1. Libraries were listed as on the vanguard of using e-books and e-readers. Hurray for us, we are not portrayed as bun wearing shushers who are afraid of the future!
2. The end of the article mentions that Powers (of Hamlet's Blackberry) bought his child a Kindle as a gift. His son (10 years old) said it wasn't as good as a real book. (emphasis mine). Perhaps there is hope for our human thought processes after all.

Some interesting points from the John Green article:

1. Librarians have actual power in the publishing world. Really? Read it. He explains it much better than I can.
2. He actually uses the words "unmoderated sea of crap" when describing the possible future where ALL books are available online on a reader for a price. All a library has to do is subscribe to the super database, and patrons can have anything. This is one of the fundamental arguments of Mark Herring in Fool's Gold: Why the Internet is no Substitute for a Library. Sure, you can download millions of newspaper articles, and millions of magazine articles and thousands of books, but who has time to read all of that? And more importantly, how are you going to find what you are really looking for? Or even more importantly how are you going to find what you may not have been looking for, but will benefit you immensely? (See the aside about browsing, above.) Green says that librarians are the ones who need to help people find those good books that don't have blockbuster status. It is an extremely valid point. Score another one for us!
3. Story trumps all. I loved this. It doesn't matter how many bells, whistles, riddles, interactive games, you name it, you add to a story. If the story stinks, it stinks, and none of that other stuff matters.
4. In a time when the word gatekeeper has come to have a negative connotation, Green tells us it is OK to be one, in fact asks us to do our jobs. Thanks. We didn't need his permission, but I think perhaps we did need his affirmation, and affirmation from others that what we do is important, and that gatekeeping is not in and of itself a bad thing. It protects us from the "unmoderated sea of crap." I just had to type that phrase again, I love it.

I hope you may have found any of this helpful. I know that the future of reading is something I have been thinking about for a long time now. Now, let's go out and influence the future!