bossman Posted June 29, 2009 Posted June 29, 2009 @Soulfish: How many of these technical books were up to date? Every time I need to reference technical data it seems that the books in the library are sometimes up to 30 years out of date. Referencing something that has been superceded by electronic data which is bang up to date in most cases. I like reading books but as I have already said Government do not seem to be interested because of the costs involved. They want a one stop shop for all data it seems and they want to control it. 1
Soulfish Posted June 29, 2009 Posted June 29, 2009 @Soulfish: How many of these technical books were up to date? Every time I need to reference technical data it seems that the books in the library are sometimes up to 30 years out of date. Referencing something that has been superceded by electronic data which is bang up to date in most cases. I like reading books but as I have already said Government do not seem to be interested because of the costs involved. They want a one stop shop for all data it seems and they want to control it. Being a computer science degree there wasn't a great deal of "technical" reference books involved - mainly a large amount of theory that largely stays the same. The journals and research papers however were very upto date, being the forefronts of their respective fields. The library does need to evolve however. Most university libraries also now manage the SSO for the various journal and technical websites that you need access to either through Athens or some other system. Without both the online access to resources and the library its self I'd have been lost It was always good to do a initial spate of research online, and then track down some much more indepth resources in the library.
bossman Posted June 29, 2009 Posted June 29, 2009 @Soulfish: I totally agree, couldn't have put it better myself.
conehead Posted July 2, 2009 Author Posted July 2, 2009 Some really interesting thoughts here, thanks to all .:) As well as agreeing with all the supporting arguments from you guys, I do think there's a whole new move in graphic novels for young people that can be really constructive in getting them engaged in learning. Books like the Manga Shakespeare editions and Bryan Talbot's Alice In Sunderand are fantastic examples of text and images together, that work splendidly on paper, and I think they would lose a lot if only available on a screen.
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