Crepuscule Des Bibliotheques

This work deals with the replacement of paper books by the new digital media, particularly in libraries. Based on his experience as a librarian, the author describes the technical and ideological mutations which he has observed since the late 1990s, while explaining the ways in which he believes such changes reflect a troubling over-reliance on technology. He notably discusses the demagogic discourse surrounding the “digital revolution” and analyses the links between this development and the general decline of culture. In mocking the members of his profession, whom he refers to as “cyber-firemen,” he describes the gradually widening chasm between defenders of the traditional book and their modern counterparts who seem fully prepared to sacrifice it in favour of a world of electronic gadgets. In this unequal confrontation, paper book defenders must yield to the designers of a “bookless library,” the premises of which are already perceptible. There are now numerous signs that a transition to an “all digital” world is underway, heralding a real change in civilisation and a programmed enslavement to Technology. The author expresses his own dismay as a book professional and reader in having to face this future worthy of Fahrenheit 461.