The main purpose of public libraries is to provide books, and they should not waste their limited resources and space on providing expensive hi-tech media such as computer software, videos and DVDs. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Education is crucial for survival, and the

library

has always been the crux for the development of mankind. A group of people opine that the book house sole aim must be to provide only books, while others argue

otherwise

. I deem that the atheneum must provide technology for the members to view books online. People learn and develop throughout their entire life and broaden their horizon with knowledge.

First

of all, the

library

plays an important role in storing the data in the form of books for reference.

Moreover

, the knowledge is either stored in the form of books or made available online.

Secondly

, by adding the computer tables and providing an ebook, many viewers can order the book and view it at the same time.

Furthermore

, the computer system helps to order the book online,

thus

, saving not only transportation hassle but

also

there is a provision with the help of software to mark important points.

For example

, the state of Michigan, in the USA has a Mel Cat service (Michigan e-

library

Catalogue) where the members can order the books online from any

library

in the state.

On the other hand

,

although

providing hi-tech media helps the users to get a variety and attracts many people to the

library

, it has some disadvantages.

To begin

with, the technology is very costly and cannot be afforded by small libraries.

Besides

this

, there is special training required to use

such

software which cannot be afforded with the funds allotted to the

library

. To illustrate, the space available for adding computer section and the cost involved to bring

such

a change is beyond budget for most of the

library

. To recapitulate,

although

the libraries are facing a shortage of funds adding computers and related software would benefit the users and would attract more people. It is expected that the traditional

library

would improve its current infrastructure as a DVD can provide equal information to that available in the bookshelf. More and more libraries are now about to get digitalized and modern.