Is The Home Library Threatened by Ipad?

Art Object
By CARLOMAR A. DAOANA
February 2, 2010, 2:19pm
Manila Bulletin

The Nova Scotia Legislative Library in Province House will become hallowed as a museum as book content migrates from paper to digital device. (Photo by CHARLES HOFFMAN)With the launch of Apple's newest device, the iPad (whose many features include an e-book reader), it seems that the future of books is doomed. Or at least the kind we are intimately familiar with: bound sheets of paper where words are printed in ink, protected by cardboard, and can easily slot in a shelf or on top of a toilet's water closet for that matter. The disappearance of books of course means the wiping away of the personal or home library—a somewhat romantic nook where the inveterate reader is surrounded by the creations of some of the brilliant minds of the world, past and present.

I don't have a personal library (how I wish I have one) but I have a bedroom completely overtaken by books: inside clear storage boxes, on top of my dresser, inside their proper shelves, inside cabinets meant for clothes, and every available space that invites anything flat and rectangular. All the books that I own, I reckon, can digitally fit into a Kindle DX that can store a whooping 3,500 titles, enough to occupy me for nine years if I were to read one book a day.

Imagine the clutter that will be totally eliminated. Clothes dangling from improvised hooks can now be folded and stored inside cabinets. The dedicated bookshelf can now be disposed of. The space under my bed will be empty save for luggage and my dog that has claimed it as her own. And my desk, which is swimming with pens, CDs and electronic chargers as it is, will breathe a sigh of relief.

But imagine the poverty as well. Left with an e-reader device, I will feel compelled to finish a freshly downloaded book. With no physical thing to hold on to, I can't lend it to a friend or donate it to a library just in case I no longer want it in my life. No spines to titillate my attention, I won't be able to take a random book in my hand and read on a whim anymore. And as digital objects, I won't be able to arrange them according to categories I have haphazardly created in my life as a reader: books that are vital, books closest to my heart, books to be read for later, books to be shared with the world.

As an author myself, I have high hopes for books to continue in their current stage as paper, glue and ink but I have my doubts that this will be the way of the future. It is simply not sustainable anymore. Printed books come from trees and trees are some of the things we need in this time of environmental crisis. Books as physical objects also need to be shipped, leaving conspicuous trail of carbon footprint unlike a digital book that is electronically transmitted and lands on the e-reader device in no time. Books as paper may seem to be economical but that was before. Amazon has proven that it can lower the price of an e-book way below the price of its hardbound counterpart. Devices are costly but with the entry of iPad and other players, it is expected that their prices will significantly drop, just like what happened to that of cell phones.

And so yes, the home library and its various permutations will be a thing of the past and libraries in institutions and universities will become hallowed spaces similar to museums. The romantic few will feel lucky to be surrounded by the books that they have collected through the years. Yellowing and some of them bored through by insects for sustenance, the printed books will be a reminder of the time past when reading meant cracking open a book by its spine, the sound of paper crisp and smooth as the hand turned the page.

Leaders and Managers

Warren Bennis in "On Becoming a Leader" contrasts leaders and managers as follows:

The Manager administers; the leader innovates.
The Manager is a copy; the leader is an original.
The Manager maintains; the leader develops.
The Manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.
The Manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
The Manager accepts reality; the leader investigates it.
The Manager has a short range view; the leader has a long-range perpective.
The Manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
The Manager has his/her eye always on the bottom line; the leader has his/her eye on the horizon.
The Manager imitates; the leader originates.
The Manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
The Manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.
The Manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.