St. Florian Monastery's Library in Sankt Florian, Austria. Photo by Stephan Brunker, Wikimedia Commons

by Julia Sneden

I was at the checkout counter of a local supermarket last Saturday, watching as a pleasant woman rang up my groceries. In the brief pause as I wrote my check, the cashier turned to the youngster who was bagging the groceries.

"Hey, do you know if the library is open today?" she asked.

"Nah," the bagger replied scornfully. "I don’t do libraries. I can Google anything I need to know."

I happen to be aware that the bagger, who is the son of a friend, will be going to college next year. Once he gets there, I hope he may discover what a library can do for him, although in this age of pre-digested, easily-accessed information on the Internet, he may not feel the need.

Read more ... http://www.seniorwomen.com/articles/julia/articlesJulia033110.html

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