I can’t help but think that the act of these libraries closing (of all places Philly, the hometown of the Declaration of Independence and our nation’s political birth) is a symbol for our culture’s deepening progression into the digital era. I’ve heard people saying it over the years, “just wait, soon enough libraries will all be digital.” I never really believed them. It’s a scary to think that this might be the beginning, and that we’re witnessing it slowly unfold right before our eyes. Think about how much information you can gather, how many books you can read, without having to ever head over to Bobst.

I thought that the Boing Boing article “Copyright Enforcement versus Privacy” brings up a really interesting point regarding the advent of new technologies….”No one likes stealing, but the problem lies in the fact that current copyright laws are completely unenforceable unless the government or industry groups start to read every e-mail and analyze every form of online communication done by citizens.” I guess this all comes back to Barlow and Tehranian; current copyright laws are outdated and simply do not work. As times changed in England, so too did their early copyright laws…can’t we do the same? After all, this very well might be the beginning of the ‘post-library” age.