Nobody knows how to check out a book. 

15 years ago, we were still using the Joseph J. King S.J. Library as a traditional library: researching, reading, and learning from physical books. But then we stopped. The computer was faster, easier, more expansive – plainly better – and those books were no longer needed.

“Around 2010, [our school] moved most of the stacks away as the books were not being utilized since a lot of the research was being done online,” said Principal Dr. Michael Wood ’99. “They noticed that circulation – books being checked out, resources, articles being checked out – was decreasing so much.”

Leather bound books with ragged spines and yellowed pulp pages started to look outdated.

“[Those] resources were just not being used,” Dr. Wood said. “They decided we should make the space more for study, for group work, for other types of programming, and move those books out of the way.”

Before this major change, school libraries were an essential part of campus life for most American students. But today, when every book, text, magazine, manual, and document is online somewhere, we have to ask: do we still need a library?

“The obvious answer to the question seems to be: ‘Of course we need a library at a school,’” said English teacher Mr. Kyle Trivits. “I don’t actually know if that’s right. Again, given the culture and the shift, it might be wise to ask that question: what does a library look like [now]?”

Mr. Trivits is not the only one wondering. Dr. Wood also believes Jesuit is due for a reflection on how best to use our library.

“Every 10 or 15 years, it’s really good to stop and reimagine a space, reflect how that space is relevant today versus how it was 15 or 20 years ago,” Dr. Wood said. “I do believe there’s physical space in there that isn’t being used very well. There are resources that we don’t have in there at this point. There’s lots of potential for that to be a space that could serve students better.”

With minimal support and interest for checking out books at Jesuit, don’t expect a resurgence of hardcovers in our library.

But maybe a digitized space is better.

“[There has been] a cultural shift in education,” Mr. Trivits said. “It’s not on [students’] radar; it’s not a priority. They’re not checking out books for class because they’re either buying them or we’ve supplemented research with some other online format.

So, are the thousands of books that remain doomed to be forgotten because we never cared enough to do something? Should everything that doesn’t meet our expectations for efficiency and practicality be left to rot, too?

“A lot of school libraries’ purpose is to introduce students to books they’re not going to read in class and they may not come across on their own,” Mr. Trivits said. “Like a kid who’s into manga – what’s a recent print book that you could have out on display? Then a kid who’s naturally into that genre would come across that and say, ‘I’m interested. I want to read that.’” 

In our pursuit of productivity, we risk losing that feeling of wonder. We exchange the seemingly trivial and small for the streamlined and modern, forgetting that efficiency isn’t the only thing that matters.

Arguing that physical books have no place in this world is low hanging fruit for the restless and unsatisfied. 

Our library doesn’t have to be left by the wayside. Mr. Burrows hopes a redesigned library will motivate more students to explore and rediscover the joy that comes with living in the worlds we capture in print.

“There’s something that’s really valuable about having a row of books there just to look through for your curiosity’s sake,” Mr. Burrows said. “Everyone should feel free to do that. Then if something catches their eye to inquire, ask whoever’s in the library, ‘Hey, can I borrow this?’ Especially if that cultivates a habit or an interest in going to other libraries and taking advantage of local libraries, [...] then that’s really positive because there’s so much that local libraries have to offer.”

There should be a road back to that kind of a library, and hopefully Jesuit will find it soon. It’s not yet time to close the book on the King Library.