Books and Literacy in the Digital Age Article Thoughts

As you have surely read now, as a part of my ALA membership, I get the American Libraries magazine every month. While in Lubbock, I finished up the latest (August 2010) issue, and had some thoughts on one of the articles:

Books and Literacy in the Digital Age, by Ralph Raab

I must admit that I, like the author, have a love for the physical book - so much so that we have 274 books in our library at this time. I think the only e-books we have are the ones that came free with our iPad. I love them for many reasons that Raab mentions (as so many others before him have mentioned) but the best thing about a book to me is the reading experience. Not holding a book, or how it smells, but how the text is highly readable on the page in most any lighting conditions. In addition, a book (with some effort) will always "be there" meaning that in 200 years, one can still access and use the majority of books we have today - but the digital nature of e-books does not hold the same guarantee.





However, people love e-books, and so libraries (especially public ones) must offer them to their patrons. I can see the appeal of bringing 25 books with you on vacation, and being able to get the latest best seller with a minimum of effort. I understand the appeal, they are just not for me personally. However, librarians should embrace them, as we are driven by the wants and needs of our patrons - and many of our patrons want e-books!

Ok, so on to the article - here is a quote that really stood out to me:

Some would argue that the proliferation of electronic media in children's lives would cause them to become functionally illiterate. This isn't really true; in fact the opposite is true - our youth in recent years have become e-literate.

Raab's tacit endorsement of the concept of "e-literacy" is, I think, ridiculous in the context of this article. Raab is discussing the traditional definition of literacy, not a new paradigm of literacy. If then we think about that traditional literacy in the context of what are called "millennials" and their use of technology, we see that these young people, by and large, are not literate.

I make this assertion based on my readings in education and as a former classroom teacher. Students are nearly totally unable to patiently sit, read, absorb, and then critically think about and discuss lengthy texts. The student who loves to read is rare, and the student that is able to tell you about what they read in a meaningful way is even more rare. This, I think, is largely due to what Raab touts in this article as something great - namely the "e-literacy" of young people. Based on extensive readings in child and adolescent brain development, I can tell you that heavy use of and interaction with technology as a child will indeed "re-wire" your brain to better engage with the short, on-demand, and high-intensity nature of technology and the information this technology brings us. While this "re-wiring" makes people better at using technology, it also contributes to ADHD, and low literacy levels.

I think, then, that like so many things in this world, a "middle way" must be found. Frankly technology is going nowhere - and we as librarians must do our part in promoting what we call information or digital literacy so that people are adept at using and evaluating digital resources. However, traditional literacy is still extremely important as text is the primary information delivery method in use today - and many of these texts are long - requiring the ability to sit, read, absorb, and evaluate what one has read. This middle way is something I really hope to explore more as time goes on, and something I hope our culture embraces - that ebooks (and digital literacy) and traditional books are not mutually exclusive, but can indeed coexist.