Book Review: Are Libraries Obsolete? An Argument for Relevance in the Digital Age

Abstract

In 2001, a legislator told Mark Herring “everything was on the Internet, so why did our students need a new, big library building?” (7). Herring responded by publishing a brief and highly popular list, “10 Reasons Why the Internet is No Substitute for a Library.”1 Six years later, Herring transformed that list into a book, Fool’s Gold: Why the Internet is No Substitute for a Library (McFarland 2007). Both the list and book outline in passionate detail Herring’s view that the Internet’s many flaws make it inferior to the library. “Not everything is on the Internet” writes Herring, and “quality control doesn’t exist. . . . The Internet is ubiquitous but books are portable.”2 His latest book, Are Libraries Obsolete? An Argument for Relevance in the Digital Age, revisits points made in his earlier works. Thirteen years after Herring’s original list was published, has the Internet made the library obsolete? Herring says no.