The sentient local librarian is no match for the almighty ChatGPT. Leafing through books on a library’s shelves to gather research paper source materials resembles primordial hunting and gathering to the modern college student. The beauty of noble librarianship has long been overrun by the convenience of digitalized academia. The publication of search engines in the ‘90s made extensive research procurable without the help of a librarian. OpenAI, in turn, substitutes the act of manually scrolling through the interweb for information with immediate, direct answers.
Historically, libraries have been community hubs and social support systems for low-income individuals, senior citizens, the homeless, the disconnected and immigrants. However, the advent of e-books and OpenAI has led to dwindling government funding and patron endowments — casting libraries into shaded irrelevance. If this new-fashioned world neglects the merit of tangible public and academic libraries, it risks losing a haven for the underprivileged and ill-advised. Reinvesting in public and academic libraries can rejuvenate their relevance through digital literacy programs, virtual programming, e-book lending, ChatGPT fact-checking seminars and expanded wireless nodes.
Without a modern vitality for print, traditional publishing has been supplanted by all things digital. The low digital literacy of today’s college students — combined with blatant false information from ChatGPT — jeopardizes the cognitive analysis of a new generation. Librarianship is founded on the active agency of critical thinkers. Instead of being passive purveyors of findings, libraries encourage detailed examinations of sources. If libraries die, so does intellectual curiosity.
Libraries not only foster critical inquiry but also include the disconnected and marginalized in the narratives of history. As academia becomes primarily digital, the rural digital divide increasingly isolates those without high-speed internet access at home. According to the Pew Research Center, approximately a quarter of Americans do not have high-speed internet access in their homes, and only 57% of households with incomes under $30,000 per year have broadband access. Free library Wi-Fi and public desktops enable low-income, rural-living individuals to complete job applications, access government services and submit schoolwork.
While cellphones can function without Wi-Fi, uploading large files, participating in video conferences and conducting extensive research is much easier with a steady Wi-Fi source and a desktop. Libraries use antennas to extend signal connectivity several 1000 meters from their well-positioned buildings. In Perafita, Spain, the Perafita Public Library installed antennas on their centrally located building, boosting a wireless signal to Perafita homes.
According to the Internet Society, in San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood, just 43% of households have computers, while neighboring affluent areas boast a 90% computer ownership rate. The Canal Alliance — a nonprofit serving Latino immigrants — installed Wi-Fi access points on streetlights connected to central hubs at adjacent library branches. The broadband Wi-Fi signal provided low-income Canal neighborhood households with a durable network for asynchronous education during the 2020 quarantine.
While public libraries address social disparities, academic libraries often cast a homogeneous identity of traditional students and faculty onto their patrons. Older and formerly incarcerated students are sparingly accommodated. Library reinvestment must encompass the academic sphere. Funding digital literacy programs for older-generation collegiates — and tailoring services for the formerly incarcerated — are tantamount to the parallel public library programs.
The unprecedented convenience and instant gratification of digital tools like OpenAI erode active engagement with the information people receive. Reinvesting in public and academic libraries — through enhanced digital literacy programs, expanded Wi-Fi access and inclusive services — ensures librarianship extends its legacy of intellectual curiosity, community empowerment and class equity into the digital world.
Isabella Ehring is an Opinion Intern for the fall 2024 quarter. She can be reached at iehring@uci.edu.
Edited by Zahira Vasquez and Jaheem Conley.