I’m in the midst of my comprehensive examinations for my PhD program. What this means is that I have to write a lot, and do a lot of research, in a short amount of time. It’s as much a test of endurance and ability to find quality information quickly as it is about breadth of knowledge.

I tend to favor online sources (that is, online catalogs and archives of reputable journals and books), and with more and more journals, libraries and even entire full text archives moving online, it’s become much easier to do research from home, rather than having to slog it out to the library. Libraries carry a certain amount of bittersweetness for me – on the one hand, I love being in the midst of lots of books on subjects I care about. On the other, I tend to forget library due dates, and end up racking up fees that wind up costing me more than the price of the book itself. So I have often opted to buy a book when I can, and only use the library when it’s absolutely necessary. This is why my home library is better stocked than most bookstores and libraries, at least on my subject.

But when you get to this stage of scholarship, even if you have unlimited funds (and space!) for books, you still have to rely on libraries. Lots of sources just aren’t available – they’re rare, buried in antique volumes that haven’t been indexed, or just haven’t been digitized yet and are not otherwise available to the public.

A lot of people want to run out and buy iPads to take advantage of the digital takeover of the publishing industry, amongst other reasons (I think “shiny new toy” is at the top of the list, don’t you?), but for me, books will always be the best way to consume information. There’s something comforting about the feel of paper under your fingers, the sound of the turning of a crisp page, the smell of paper and glue and dust. These things can’t be lost in a hard drive crash, and they go well with a cup of cocoa and a warm fire.

Libraries are one of the great gifts from the government to the people. The idea that information should be free is a principle that paved the way for the internet. Those of us who love analog media will always love and appreciate libraries, even if we’re plagued by their late fees. Because libraries help keep information free, minds strong, and scholarship rigorous. May it always be so.