A Thunk is a beguilingly simple-looking question about everyday things that stops you in your tracks and helps you start to look at the world in a whole new light.
Thunk 5:
If we borrow every single book from a library is it still a library?
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43 comments:
The definition of a library is a bulding, house or a room where books are kept.
If we only borrow the books from a library then it will still remain a library since your only borrowing the books.
nikol 10g2
The definition of a library: "A library is a collection of books housed in an organized manner". Well first, I am not sure if you will actually be able to borrow every book from one single library. But even if you do, I believe that a library is a library. Even if you borrow every single book, a library is an unmatched source of knowledge. Although a library contains many story books, it also has many texts and reference books. There is no such thing as finishing reading a text or a reference book. Even though you borrow these books, you're most probably going to have to refer to these books on many more occasions.
But then again if you've actually borrowed every book, and if you have gone through them all, I guess then it won't be a library anymore for that individual. All available knowledge has been acquired and the library won't be a source of knowledge anymore.
Well I am not really sure about this. I am undecided. If the thunk was a bit more specific, and informed us whether the individual actually read the books after borrowing them, would help a bit.
But then again, a library is a library!!
I am not sure!!!.
I think that yes it is still a library.The obejctive of a library is to provide refrences,information,story books,news related books and etc.
If you borrow one book from the library, there it is still a library not becuase there are hundred other books but because this book was borrowed from a library and will be returned one day.The same is the case with borrowing all the books in the library.
It wont be a library,once its closed for ever, for its the aim of the library to act as a source of information for everyone, so if everyone has borrowed each and every book, it is still a library as those books arent gone forever and will come back to act as information for people who will come there in the future.
So a library is still a library even when it has no books available at one moment of time.
Well a library is a place where we can borrow books from for our own benefit. We have billions of books in the world for various topics. So if we take all the books from a library it still would be a library coz we borrow them and at some point have to return them whether we read it or not.
I agree with the above mentioned point. Those books will be returned sooner or later and in the meantime the building will still be labeled as a library. When we take a car out of the garage, the garage doesn't become something different, it is still a garage. Therefore the same principal could be applied to the library.
My own definition of a library is a place of knowledge.
If you have already read every single book in the library, it is no longer worth of being a place of knowledge, only applies to that particular person. Yet, there are always two sides to things.
"If we borrow every single book from a library is it still a library?"
The statement means to say: if you have drained all the knowledge from a place that provides it, will it still be useful to you?
Knowledge, to us anyway, is infinite, an endless current of information that we hope we can interpret and make sense out of. The books found in libraries are very unique, in their way of being able to manipulate minds, engage thoughts and extend memories. So if you drain it all, absorb the full pressure of ultimate knowledge, become the widest and most open minded person in this planet, the library will be your sanctuary.
Although we cannot know how useful we find a library after we have read all the books in it, as no-one has accomplished it yet, thus resulting in our inability to comprehend the impact it would have on the person who has, admiringly, absorbed a massive amount of knowledge, thought, skills, and the ever extended things found in books.
If we predicted it though, we would find that person would, most likely, lost his sanity, or become insane, as his/her brain would have exceeded its limits. Another point would be that we hardly use our brain to its full power, so we must also assume that our brain can absorb an infinite amount of knowledge. If we assume this, then that person will keep his/her sanity, but would become so unattached to ordinary life, since the brain is constantly working to understand the questions in the books read, that depression would most likely occur, or a state of hopelessness.
Again, referring to the original question : If we borrow every single book from a library is it still a library?
The definitions we find today, are not strong enough to be able to explain the power gained by reading an entire library, therefore, we must consider the question mentally, and predicting the outcomes. If the brain can contain the amount of stress applied to it, by reading an excess amount of books, then a library would no longer be useful to that particular person, for he/she has acquired an extremely powerful mental strength, more powerful than anything else we can hope to accomplish today, and would consider that particular place of knowledge worthless, as he/she has already drained the main source of brain intelligence, thus highlighting the place to become nothing more than a room with mere books.
Yet, it would still remain a library in the point made by the first comment, so, again, it cannot, and will never be, a 100% correct answer.
Mo,
"If you have drained all the knowledge from a place that provides it, will it still be useful to you?"
That's a very interesting way of looking at the thunk. I'm impressed.
If we borrowed all the books in a library, it wouldnt really be a library until all those borrowed books are returned =]
The word library has like 5 different meanings. There are 2 meanings that I find the most accurate:
Library:
1) A collection of literary documents or records kept for reference or borrowing.
2) A depository built to contain books and other materials for reading and study.
If it were me who borrowed every single book from a library and read it as well, then i wouldn't go back to that place. Infact, i'd just go to another library.
The old library wouldn't necessarily remain a library for me but would still be a library for others, right?
Well, the books will have to be returned someday! So even if the library is totally wiped out of the written word, they will eventually return. At the maximum, the landmass may be stripped of the title of "Library" for maybe just a week or two. <[8-)
Even if you do borrow every single book from a library, it remains true to it's name. It might not be informative to you anymore, but to another person who still borrows books from it and returns them back within a week or two, it's still considered a library. Just because one person might have read/borrowed every book taken from the place does not change its identification as a library, because it still constitues of many, many books that are to be read by the many thousands of people out there. It is still a very reliable source of immense knowledge and thats a fact that remains true.
a library is a collection of resouces or useful material for common use.. library will have books on fiction, general knowledge, facts, information etc.. therefore if every single book has been borrowed it'll still remain as a place of info and knowledge it wouldnt change just because all the books have been borrowed and read.. it'll abide with its name
yes, it would still be referred to as a library unless you remove even the shelves from there. Until the bookshelves are there, it is still a library since those shelves will always be used for storing books. even on borrowing all the books, the shelves, and on a whole basis, the library can again be restored by bringing other books.
Type it in Google and the definition of a library is "a room where books are kept". I personally don't agree with this meaning because to me, a library is a place of interest for accessible knowledge.
I believe that if we BORROW every single book it IS still a library, but if we TAKE every single book... it isn't.
The simplest way to think of it is that the library wouldn't be a library because of the person(s) who haven't returned the books!
Ofcourse!! the definition of a library is "a room or building containing a collection of books, for reading or reference rather than for sale"
So all the books being borrowed will be returned sooner or later, leaving the library a library!!!:D
The whole point of taking a book from a library (apart from reading ofcourse) is to read a book without buying it, that is by borrowing it. So even if we did take all the books, it would have to be returned, still leaving it a library. Or else, as aliza said, all the shelves and tables and chairs would have to be removed, leaving the place as a plain old room.
Wait are you saying that the books will never return or there just gone temporarily ?
If forever (Poor books) then a library is no longer a library since whats the point of it being one if it doesn't fufill it purpose ?
If temporarily (Still i pity the books) then it's still a library.
Just a empty one.
a library is any place where books are stored. i have a stack of shelves in my room with books, and well, i think that's considered a library. it doesnt matter if theyve all been read or not.
and i quite like kris' post -> very straightforward!
A library will remain a library forever as long as it has many kind of books. For the person who has borrowed and read all the books in that library though that library may not be useful any more. However you cannot say that it's not a library!
A library's main purpose is to allow people to BORROW books for information or time pass.In the dictionary the word 'borrow' is defined as 'obtaining an item with the intention of returning it back'. So even if someone did borrow all the books from a library he/she will have to return them back at some point so a library will always remain a library,if not for the person who read all the books then for the other thousands who haven't.
Aisha Bashir
10G2
A library is a haven for the knowledge that has been written down for the past thousands of years.
To me i can interpret this question in TWO ways:
1) If you have borrowed and read every single book in a library, yoo have gained an infinite amount of knowledge; mental, emotional, physical and universal. You have (as Mo phrases it) drained the source of all knowledge and information which will result to a useless place for you where you will find no new information that would suffice to your level of thought. Though the library would remain a library, even to you, because as long as there are books, there is a sanctuary that can hold them.
2)If you have TAKEN ALL the books (and i mean all of them not just one by one) then you have taken away the library's purpose which is to safeguard a certain amount of books, and since they are no longer there, the library would just be referred to as the 'empty place with too much space'.
You can never rob a thing of its reputation unless you take away its purpose.
Since everyone has stated the definition of a library, i wouldn't repeat it. But a library is a place where everyone is allowed to gain knowledge and there is nowhere else like it. We often borrow books and return them. But if your stating that ALL the books have been borrowed. Yes, it is still a library, in my opinion that is. I personally don't think its possible to have a library stripped of its books. Because the books borrowed would have to be returned.
I would also like to state that a library doesn't have to be a big space filled with books from top to bottom. I myself have a shelf and its stacked with books i have read. That simple shelf has given me more knowledge then any other ordinary furniture. That shelf is my personal library.
My final answer would be, yes, eventhough the books have been borrowed. The empty room would still be called a library. Due to the fact that everyone is capable of gaining knowledge from that simple room.
x
The the act of 'borrowing' is taking something from someone, in this case somewhere, TEMPORARILY. My point here being that even if we 'borrow' every single book from the library, it's still going to go back there sooner or later! Also, a library does not only keep novels, but also several research guides, manuscripts, plays etc. which students and other members of the community often refer to more than just once. So even if we do borrow all books and read them and return them, we will never have soaked up all the knowledge the place has to offer!
I like to consider any room with books on a shelf a library. Weather its a personal library in your home, the schools library, or a public library, you can borrow ever single book and it will still be a library.
Until at least some of the books are returned, it cant be considered a library at all.
The main purpose of the library is to hold pieces of literature/reference, and thus, going to a 'library' that doesnt have such would be pointless.
Its not necessary that its a library!! Can be a study room of a very learned person who reads hell lot of books !!!
well yes a library is a place for borrowing books so if you borrow books from a library i guess it is fulfiling it's duty.
Nnamdi
To me, a library is a place to exchange information.
If you take all the books away from a library it would still be called a library because thats how the general public see it.
Even if all the books were borrowed
they would eventually have to be returned.
WOW MO your look on this thunk was very impressive
Well the simple fact is modern libraries dont allow you to take home books in the Reference section. They are to be reffered to, and not taken. So really there would still be a few left but even so its hard to imagine walking into a large library and having nothing on the shelves. "Borrowing" is a temporary thing, all the books will be returned eventually but until then I wouldnt call it a place with a wide, organized selection of books.
I feel that if all the books are borrowed from the libary it will still remain a libary as the books still belong to and will be returned to that same place :)
The library would definately still remain a library! The books have been borrowed and will be returned sometime, and after that it will be available to the public once again.
A library is a place where u keep books..to either read or borrow. If u borrow everything, it becomes a room which houses books.
therefore the purpose of the library is lost as you have read every book there.
i wouldn't really call it a library anymore until all the books have been returned back because other people wont be able to borrow books, yet i feel it would be very incapable of one to actually read all the books and give it back in the time limit.
Well, this is going to sound like repetition. But yes it will still remain a library, because afterall you have borrowed books from it and will have to return all those books back at some point. And once you return those books back, other people will borrow then etc etc. So it shall be and remain a library, well unless it gets torn down because of one book-reader who borrowed all the books and didn't return them :P
As almost everyone before me has already stated, I feel that it still would remain a library. Though this, of course, depends on your perspective, what what you think a library is. A building with a hell lot of books, or a source of education and information?
If all the books from a library have been borrowed, surely it means the person borrowing those books hasn't found what he/she has been looking for. [unless its just a pleasure read o.O] The building, of course, would still be termed 'Library' since those books are definitely going to be returned. But to the individual who has read ALL the books in that library, would not call it a library anymore; more like, room with books i've read? Haha.
Well , Yeah i think so , cause your only borrowing the books. its like saying if a shop runs out of stocks is it still a shop .. yeah it is but its not a functioning shop until the stocks are back in .
I'd say its still a library just not a functional one until the books you borrowed are returned Mr Roberts !
so stop stealing from those libraries !
its like if im a cook and you eat all my food , it does not mean im less of a cook just that at the moment , Im out of food . and ..
maybe that im an awesome cook and thats why you ate all my food
same goes with libraries . it must have been a good library with a good policy and some awesome books if you wanted to borrow them all and they let you .
So basically its not just a library , at the moment its an awesome dysfunctional gawky library.
Kind of like an adult if you took away all their maturity.
I don't know why i used so many comparisons , just trying to convey my awesome dysfunctional gawky thoughts.
As the thunk clearly states, "borrowed". If you borrow something, it is returned. Unless you're a thief then you just suck. Anyways, if you borrow all the books but return them, of course it is still a library. A library is a place where books are kept. End of. So by returning these borrowed books, it does make it a library. The books are still there - so how could it possibly make it any less of a library...?
yes.
because you are borrowing the books and they will be returned ther so it will still be a libary
If we borrow all the books from a library it still remains a library because we have only borrowed all the books and not taken them away. There is a difference between borrowing the books and taking them away. If we borrow the books we still have to return them in a certain time period but if we take them away we don’t return but keep them. Even if it may not be a source of knowledge for that one person who borrowed all the books, it still is a library for millions of others who still come to borrow books and gain more knowledge from it.
But I don’t think you would probably be allowed to take every single book from a library because then it would be like your personal library at home.
Hm... well, yes. It's not like you're taking it permanently. You're still borrowing it.
However, I've heard people referring to their own collection of books as libraries, so I guess this is another matter of perspective.
A library is made of books that its members can borrow. A library will still be called so because the books have only been 'borrowed', not bought or stolen. It will still be serving its purpose because the borrowed books will eventually be returned to the library.
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