I don't expect the Net to replace libraries as a tool for serious learners in my lifetime, but occasionally one can find some serious learning tools on it.

Here are two of my candidates:

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ Interesting editions of the complete texts of classics of French literature (in French), for download, with background articles. They use an interesting technology to create the PDFs on the fly. Unfortunately, these are image-based PDFs, which can be inconvenient.

http://www.landmarkcases.org/ Discussions of important cases which came before the United States Supreme Court, include the complete documentation for many cases for download, and sound files of the oral arguments.

Indeed. And the web has a lot more to offer. Over time, I believe that the Internet will hold more information (relatively speaking) than the mythical Altantis Library.

Everyday, more and more information is added to the web, and is accessible by anybody around the world, an advantage against the libraries.

However, libraries (especially here in the UK) are becoming 'jealous' and are beginning to publish online versions of their books.

As for the PDF system, you can make your own. Just use a freeware program to convert any document* into a PDF. I can't remember the name of such, but when I do, I will make sure you get it.

*within the program's ability.

I love being able to find just about any information that I want with a few mouse clicks. It's easier than walking to my school's library. It's a lot faster. I get more results. And in some cases, I can even contribute my own knowledge (wikipedia, for example, or any forum).

It's great for research, or when I'm just curious about something and want an answer quickly.

But when it comes to reading for the fun of it, I'll still take actual paper. It's a comfort thing, I suppose, because I can lie down on my bed and be comfy while I lose myself in a book.

Which I have yet to be able to do on my computer. Even with eBook readers I don't see it replacing the "old school way."

But then I have to wonder: what about kids who are being born and brought up now, with so many books and other things adapted for the Internet? Will they feel the same way about curling up on the couch with a novel, or will reading online (or an ebook reader or whatever else) be their nature, as it's my nature to do the former?

I don't find the same depth on the Net. Scholarly resources are sparse in many fields, and free ones are almost nonexistent.


So much the better. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found any to which I can subscribe for free.

In any case, I concentrate better lying down and looking at paper.

I like the net for a lot of things, researching included. However, the only data I will ever consider "rock solid" is that which I can find in a book. I'll use the net to break into a topic, get a good feel for what it's about, and then I'll grab some books. When writing papers very rarely will I use quotes from the internet. It's just too open ended and many things you find are dead wrong.

Now, I know it's possible for a book to be wrong, but it's much less likely. Much less. A book will always be around to show where you got your info from, internet pages are constantly closing and moving.

So yeah .. these are neat, and useful for sure. Pretty cool, actually. I'd definitely use them to research a topic, however, anything I find on there and not in a written record is something that just can't be trusted.

I have to say I agree with derouge. I think that students today feel that they can rely on the internet more for facts than they should. When I was doing a research paper in college, my professor told us that we needed to be able to prove why internet sources were as reliable as the sources that we could have found in books or other reference materials. That is not to say that everything on the internet is garbage, but it's more like a needle in a haystack and you have to look carefully to find the true value of a piece of information off the internet.

But, when it comes to the internet and information, especially for scholarly pursuits, I think that the world at large has gotten VERY lazy and wants the easy way to knowledge, which is usually not always the right way. IMHO, I think that people need to remember why we have books in the first place- so that other people can look up and verify that what you said was in the book really is. I mean, how many times have you bookmarked a website, because of something you found interesting, and when you go to look back at it a year later, the site's gone. Same in relation to research- if someone else cannot verify the sources sited in a book or article, what makes you think they'll put any credibility in the rest of your work, let alone that article?

Just a little food for thought on the subject.