Proposal

Rajeet Guha
Academic Proposal
The topic that I have chosen for my academic proposal is a topical one. It is an extremely interesting one. This is the digital age. This is the age of cyberspace, computers & Google. In this age people are increasingly doing their research by Googling on the Internet. Google has become the information superhighway in the 21st century. A surfeit of material is available on Google. It is in this context that I have decided to examine the relevance of libraries in the digital age. I am going to investigate whether the importance of libraries has diminished in the digital age.
For centuries libraries have been the repositories of information and knowledge. People have done research in libraries since time immemorial. The physical space of libraries has housed knowledge since ages. In this essay an estimation of the significance of libraries will be shown. However, knowledge is now being increasingly stored in virtual space and will be stored in the future. Knowledge and wisdom according to many people can be accessed through the medium of the Internet. They think that the spectacular rise in popularity of the Internet and the emergence of the subsequent digital age will sound the death-knell for libraries.
Some people believe that the advent of search engines like Yahoo, Google, Ask, MSN, and Alta Vista have made libraries superfluous as they think that search engines can increasingly perform the function done by libraries. However, this essay will seek to establish that the Internet does not render the function of libraries useless. Libraries still have a lot to contribute to society and culture. The prediction of the demise of libraries hasn’t come true. Libraries will probably never ever cease to exist. Probably Will Sherman has put it across pertinently when he says that libraries are still useful and will always be useful as everything is not available on the Internet.