The death of books
No last words?
I knew that bookshops were failing. I saw newspapers closing down. However, until things hit you personally, it is just a fact.
Death of a library
A few decades ago, my country built an art library. I was curious what the library contained so I dropped by to see how the government was spending taxpayers' money. I am not a total philistine. I knew that people studied music, painting and even movie-making. My world of arts broadened after the visit. Apparently, people studied even things like dancing. As such I was not surprised when Raygun tried to produce an original breakdance in the Olympics while representing her country. Spoiler alert, the judges did not like her routine.
I saw shelves filled with books on photography. Decades ago, wildlife photography was seen as an expensive hobby. Digital cameras were coming into the market and the zoom ability of most affordable cameras was pretty pathetic. Currently, I consider myself more experienced so I decided to drop by the art library to broaden my knowledge.
The art library was closed. Fortunately, they moved the books to the National Library. Only to get another shock. The National Library had downsized. The collection of books they had was reduced. I am not blaming the library as I expect libraries to curate their collection of books. The last thing you want is to have books on ancient things like Blackberry.
The other issue was the volume of books on photography had been reduced. I knew that some books had gone online and it did not serve the library to have a duplicate hardcopy. The library not only had a bigger seating area. Some of the chairs in the library put my living room to shame.
Books for sale
Twenty five years ago I got into a university. I recalled time spent in the university bookshop queuing for textbooks. The bookshop was filled with science textbooks as it was in the science faculty. It was a ritual as some lecturers required their students to purchase textbooks for a course. If you were unlucky, you had to purchase more than one textbook.
Today I had a shock when I entered the same bookshop. It did not appear to sell any books. It sold stationery which I expected. I after all used pens to write my assignments. It now sells computers and peripherals. This is expected as I saw new students carrying laptops before I graduated.
I was not envious of those new students because I knew the laptops of old weighed a ton. I know that from experience when I carried the laptop on an overseas trip. It was at a time laptop still needed a floppy disk to transfer information.
Or an internet cable.
More than half of the shop was devoted to things that could not further one’s education. There were souvenirs, snacks and drinks. I can understand the snacks and drinks because I know that studying is exhausting. There was a canteen a literal stone throw away but I am not judging since it is possible to have more homework than the canteen operation hours. Universities do not usually close after office hours since administrators know that some students are owls.
The tchotchke, clothing and graduation merchandise were unexpected.
The textbooks were found in a bargain bin.
The End?
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
No thing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away. -Percy Shelley, “Ozymandias”,
The next generation will have to scan the QR code.