08-21-2014, 02:47 PM
They won't. Google was trying to scan everything for a while, but I don't think they ever got through the legal issues involved in doing that.
For all the claim that everything is going digital, the effort to get all the old stuff back onto the digital format isn't yet worth it to the libraries. Not to mention the big warehouses are a way more efficient way to store books than traditional libraries.
The romance of being able to wander through 6 foot tall stacks of Dewey sorted books as a member of the general public comes with tremendous operational costs.
For all the claim that everything is going digital, the effort to get all the old stuff back onto the digital format isn't yet worth it to the libraries. Not to mention the big warehouses are a way more efficient way to store books than traditional libraries.
The romance of being able to wander through 6 foot tall stacks of Dewey sorted books as a member of the general public comes with tremendous operational costs.