Laybraree

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By Bonn Troy Boñola

Internet usage is at its height. Millions of downloads are processed by the minute; billions of information are being shared and processed by the second. This is the Age of Information Revolution. And the more we use it, the more our minds are clouded; the more we forget the beauty of the conventional means:

Encyclopedias. Dictionaries. Novels. BOOKS!

The Library.

There is no question that there is a decline of visitor’s or “patrons” of the library. And it has been for a long time. This is because most students are heavily relying on the internet as a means of information gathering.

Yes, the Internet is a good source of information, but not utterly reliable. The information in the Internet can be manipulated, are unregulated, deceiving, and could either be right, imprecise or just incorrect. And it gives you the urge to play Internet games, or Facebook. And let’s not talk about that.

I guess, we all know about this. But why won’t we rely on the unassumingly old eerie building on a hill? I mean, the Library.

Well, the VSU Library offers us a collection of books (the biggest in Region 8). It ranges from dictionaries, encyclopedias, novels of different genres, thesis manuscripts, newspapers, you name it. It offers books in different subjects: from agriculture, fiction, to medicine. It also has a collection of records, tapes and videos for additional reference and your own comfort. It can be borrowed for a limited time, but only to those students who availed the “yellow card”—a yellow-colored card (of course!) filled with gridlines, washed-up prints, signatures, and an old ID picture—for a hefty sum of P20. A good deal, right?

The books you might find in the library are mostly old, but their content is timeless. The books cannot be manipulated, but updated; they are regulated by the editors, scientists, mathematicians, etc; they only deceive the mind that doesn’t know how to look; and the information they offer could either be precise or plainly correct. They are just what you need when modern technology offers you mediocrity.

By the way, a good read has no ending. Imaginations, mind inventions and mind creations continue to flow. Poems, novels, books and all those wonderful things help us create our own movies, operas, dramas and comedies in our minds. It helps us create our own heroes, our own superheroes, our own new friends, our own comfort, our own world, our own refuge, our own . . .