The Internet and the Library: A Comparative Study

The internet and the library , both are the considered to be a big depository of information .Library can be defined as [1]“A collection of literary documents or records kept for reference or borrowing”
While Internet is defined as [2]“An electronic network providing access to millions of resources worldwide. University Libraries provide access to many periodical indexes through the Internet. Internet access is available on all floors of the Libraries.”
Internet and the library both seems to be serving the same purpose but as the time goes by and world moves to new innovations and directions , the question arises is the latter going to replace the former . This essay compares and contrasts the Internet and an Library , how they share a common purpose and how they vary from each other while serving the purpose .

Both the internet and an Library provides information on a wide array of topics but it may be not be necessary that library in United states has the books or journals about the History of Asian countries like china , India . Even if an American Library does has the books and information on the Asian history it may not as exhaustive as it would be in the libraries based in Asia itself .

It is not possible to have the same set of books and information in all the libraries. Not all the books available in the Library of the Lindenwood university would be same as available in the libraries of Delhi University at India . Although noticeable works like the ones of Shakespeare would be definitely on the shelves of both the libraries .But its not always necessary that less known authors or journals will make to each library.

While on the other hand information available on internet is universal , the same information can be accessed in all the computers worldwide . There is no regional version of internet just about anyone and everyone can access the same information whether it is done with a internet connection in India or in Americas .

Most of the times libraries restricts borrowing or access of the books and journals until and unless the user has some kind of privilege like a student or an ID card . Not Anyone can use a university library until and unless he/she has an valid student ID or even one is allowed to access he/she may be limited to reference the books within the vicinity rather than taking it back home . On the contrary Internet is free and open to all , almost every information available online is free to access and refer , one can take as many copies has he wants of the content available on internet , provided he gives proper referencing and adheres with the copy and intellectual rights . Although some websites ask for membership to access the content and may even charge its user but that is mostly with the commercial websites .

It Seldom happens that library is restricted to certain domains of information.
Nevertheless it depends how vast is the library : if its an school library the chances are it may be not have the research papers on Nuclear Science but if its an University Library .
Finding research papers may not be an problem .
While on the other hand there are no “School” or “University” level of internet one can find information on each and every topic from safety pin to an Nuclear Reactor regardless of the place or the institution its being accessed at . Of course if the institution restricts the viewing of certain websites . Then one might not be able to view the blocked content.

Internet and libraries are open to everyone but both cannot be accessed at all times . Mostly the libraries don’t open till Midnights and have fixed operating times . On the other hand internet can be accessed 24/7 . All you need is an connection to the internet on an pc or notebook computer.

If one is using library in the United States or England most the books would be probably available in English and same is the case in other regions and nations .For instance libraries in Spain would mostly have the Spanish content , even if the original work was written in foreign language its common to have an translated version available in different regions . One cannot be fully independent on the language when he is looking for information .While on the other hand Internet is an open platform which provides information in just about any language if available .
No body is barred to publish or read content in his language of preference . Same content can be available in Spanish , English , French , Russian . Even if its being accessed at location based on China .

Still the argument remains , if one has the privilege to access and borrow books from a library vast enough to hold the books in all the domains and in preferred language like the New York Public Library [3]“The New York Public Library (NYPL) is one of the leading public libraries of the world and is one of America 's most significant research libraries” And the person wants to research in a specific topic in Nanoscience [4]“Nanoscience and nanotechnology involve studying and working with matter on an ultra-small scale. One nanometre is one-millionth of a millimetre and a single human hair is around 80,000 nanometres in width.”
He now has to go through the tedious task of browsing books and science journals to dig out the exact information he is looking for , imagine searching through thousands of books and flipping pages and the amount of time it would take . On the contrary information on specific topics can be found within in seconds using a search engine on the internet . One needs to just type in the words or phrases and all the information is right there on the screen. As a matter of fact [5]“ internet research shows that the speed of young people’s web searching means that little time is spend in evaluating information, either for relevance, accuracy or authority. ”

In summation internet is turning into a tool to help student research , work on assignments , for people as new information medium along with a robust communication medium . A recent global survey by OCLC suggested [6]“college students still use the library, but they are using it less (and reading less) since they first began using internet research tools” .
It would be politically incorrect to say that libraries are going to be extinct as they hold important position in serving the society , but with coming of new generation which so can be called Google Generation , “Google Generation” is popularly growing phrase which refers to people born after 1993 ; in the world dominated by the computers and the internet .” libraries may take new avatar in the future maybe with LCD screens inside the reference section .

Citations :

1. Wordnet search , accessed 2 February 2008 , source: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=library
2. University of Evansville Libraries: Glossary of Library Terms ,accessed 2 February 2008 , Source: http://libraries.evansville.edu/libservices/teach/glossary.html
3. New York Public Library – Wikipedia , accessed 5 February 2008 . source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Public_Library
4. Glossary ,accessed February 6, 2008 , source: http://royalsociety.org/glossary.asp
5. Information behavior of the researcher of the future , 11 january , 2008 , published by UCL
6. College Students’ Perceptions of the Libraries and Information Resources: A Report to the OCLC Membership. Dublin, OH: OCLC, 2006.

Citations: : 1. Wordnet search , accessed 2 February 2008 , source: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=library 2. University of Evansville Libraries: Glossary of Library Terms ,accessed 2 February 2008 , Source: http://libraries.evansville.edu/libservices/teach/glossary.html 3. New York Public Library – Wikipedia , accessed 5 February 2008 . source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Public_Library 4. Glossary ,accessed February 6, 2008 , source: http://royalsociety.org/glossary.asp 5. Information behavior of the researcher of the future , 11 january , 2008 , published by UCL 6. College Students’ Perceptions of the Libraries and Information Resources: A Report to the OCLC Membership. Dublin, OH: OCLC, 2006.