Some people think that libraries are a waste of money and computers and online resources can replace them. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Many think libraries as the places of the past and should be replaced by technology like computers and online resources, while other debate on making an attempt to preserve them. In this essay, I will discuss both sides of the arguments and conclude with my opinion. Since medieval times, libraries have played a significant role in preserving historic artifacts. There is evidence that rulers like King George I, have instructed their courtroom historians to preserve manuscripts of key events in libraries, in order to, transfer them from one generation to other for cultural references. The concept of “Book” emerged around 1800 BC, the full form of the acronym stands for “Big Ocean of Knowledge” and as the name suggests, they hold information about all relevant events from our history. The libraries of the historic era were later revamped through the conversion of manuscripts into books and in today’s era, these libraries hold books, somewhere between five thousand to one million depending on the size of the facility, which is accessed by nearly 1 billion readers every year, as estimated by Cultural & Historic society of America in 2002, which clearly conveys the importance of preserving these libraries for our future generations. However, some technologists debate on operational costs in maintaining a library, and instead of investing to preserve historic books, a shift should be made to digitize artifacts and make them accessible for the general public via computers or other online resources. Though the argument was settled later because of downsides of eradicating the concept of libraries altogether and considering the benefits, later it was concluded to consistently make attempts in direction of securing our history. The prominent reason agreed for keeping the libraries alive was parity between rich and poor. Though the privileged class can afford to use technology for having access to information but for the poor who can’t afford it, it would become impractical. As per current estimates, around 20 billion people in the world are under-privileged and still use libraries and books to have direct access to knowledge and if removed would leave no other option for them, then, keeping their youth Illiterate. In conclusion, digitization of historic artifacts and books should be done but not to eradicate the concept of libraries from our society, rather, should be considered to preserve the knowledge and make an efficient system for passing it over to future generations.