Week 16 Prompt

First of all, I’ve loved to read ever since I can remember. One of my first memories is my dad reading me a bed time story every night and me asking for more. I was always reading in school and took my books with me in the car whenever my parents dragged me around on errands. I lived in a township where the farmers voted to not pay taxes toward libraries so I did not have access to a library except for my school library (which I remember not being able to check very many books out at a time). This fueled my longing to work in a library so that I could have access to these resources any time I wanted and to help push for the importance of reading and having libraries be equal access for all community members. I grew away from reading for fun once I hit college, simply because I did not have time to read as I was always studying or reading books for college courses (I made time for my favorite authors, of course). I received a nook and found the wonders of eBooks and mostly read on there. Now, as a graduate student who spends most of the time on the computer for school and for work, I am drawn towards physical books and audiobooks rather than a tablet or my phone.

I think there will always be books. Whether that is electronically or in paper format or audio. Right now, there is push for electronic and we can see that in how many books there are being published versus how many our libraries hold or how many bookstores there are available. The article published on Forbes website, “The Wrong Ware Over eBooks: Publishers vs Libraries” states, “publishing is changing dramatically as it tries to cope with the rise of eBooks and the increasing power of Amazon, the decline of bookstores and a flood of low-priced indie titles” (Vinjamuri). I believe there will always be a battle between eBooks and physical books. There will always be people who like one over the other, or enjoy both. I would like to think that in the future we will read more, because reading increases awareness and knowledge and makes us think from different perspectives. It is good for us, and I hope that everyone will see the value of reading. Our reading for this week, has a wonderful quote that stuck with me, and I think it is important to remember. The article, “Staying Awake” states: “but reading is active, an act of attention, or absorbed alertness…in its silence, a book is a challenge” (Guin, 5).

Works Cited:

Le Guin, U. K. (2008). Staying awake: notes on the alleged decline of reading. Harper's       Magazine, 316(1893). [Files - Canvas]

Vinjamuri, D. (2012). The wrong war over ebooks: Publishers vs. libraries. Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidvinjamuri/2012/12/11/the-wrong-war-over-ebooks-publishers-vs-libraries/