Some in the library field have noticed a decline in the love of the book. As much as we might like to deny it, the computer and the DVD have for some become the first language of the library query. In many places, the library is the home computer room for the children, mom and dad. In many places, the library is the wall upon which their videos are stored. As the MySpace Generation overtakes the MTV Generation and leaves the Baby Boomers in the dust, what we are left with in some cases are dusty books that for some represent treasured resources, but for others represent space in the library that could be used for more computers.

Some have become so despondent about the lack of book readership that they have taken to book burning. Some in the the Library service lament the rise of the computer over the book. But in the sense of a childhood game of Rock, Paper, Sissors, one could look at it two ways. Either we are looser for phasing out a technology that has been our trademark for eons, or we are winners for being inviting to the game of life and being asked to play our new hand of providing the newest technologies to those who cannot afford them and to those who would enjoy them more in our comfortable environment complete with our expert services. I think we win. Those who face the future with optimism win eventually, those who face the future with fatalism have been defeated before their future has even been written.