Are printed books becoming obsolete?  Is online research replacing books to such an extent that school and university libraries should focus their limited funding on data bases and online access to journals (and books in electronic form) instead of on buying printed books?  You should focus on one kind of library--either public school libraries, university libraries, or community public libraries.  Think carefully about what it is that libraries buy online--mostly online access to published journals and databases that search those journal articles, plus increasingly digital versions of printed books.  The question is about what format the library should buy (and the relative value of books and journal articles), not about books vs. the internet.

Note that some links will only work if you are logged into the Clemson network.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-hoenig/are-books-becoming-obsole_b_61494.html

http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/beckerposner/2010/02/will-printed-books-soon-be-obsolete-posner.html

http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/gleazer/260_readings/Darnton.pdf

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=jep;cc=jep;rgn=main;view=text;idno=3336451.0010.302

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?contentType=Article&Filename=/published/emeraldfulltextarticle/pdf/0721100101.pdf

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VSH-4WJ91G9-1&_user=590719&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2009&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1459481968&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000030198&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=590719&md5=f0453518e6d607f5b41ee3fa3131b3b0&searchtype=a

http://clemson.libguides.com/content.php?pid=57867&sid=598876


http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/sep/13/130910/usf-library-bustling-but-not-with-books/news-breaking/

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/09/13/2010-09-13_put_an_ebook_in_every_backpack.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/internet-age-casualties-printed-dictionary-list/story?id=11518001

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4305789




http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2010/09/03/theres-nothing-like-a-book/

http://www.mikikard.com/epiware/uploads/10%20Reasons%20Why%20the%20Internet%20Is%20No%20Substitute%20for%20a%20Library%E2%80%A6.pdf

http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/1053/973

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.102.8235&rep=rep1&type=pdf