In a traditional sense, libraries are places with a large collection of books.However, the digital age has given today's libraries new means of storing and retrieving information on media other than the printed pages. CD - ROMs. videos and DVDs are widely used in public libraries and they serve both the library and the readers.
Opponents of a high-tech library would argue that multimedia facilities are expensive. This may be true to some extent, because a DVD player is often more expensive than a bookshelf. However. with immense storage capacity, these new high-tech media can actually save the most valuable resource - space. A computer disc 12 cm in diameter can store a whole Encyclopedia Britannica which, in printed volumes. would occupy a complete shelf section.
Furthermore. magnetic and digital media can store information much longer than traditional means. It takes great care to protect books from moisture, fire or human damage and a book in a library serves readers for only a few hundred years. But digital files, easily duplicated and restored. can perhaps last forever.
Finally. visiting a library with multiple media access is much more interesting.Multimedia resources offer readers a dynamic combination of images, sounds and videos. A reader can actually hear Martin Luther King crying out “I have a dream”, or roam about the world with an interactive atlas.
In conclusion. modern technology has turned a public library from a place of lending and borrowing books into an interactive center for the spread of human knowledge and experience. The investment in multimedia facilities by a public library is justified and should be encouraged.
digital
数字的
A digital watch shows the time by electronically lit up numbers.e.g.1021.
retrieve
重新得到
Computers are used to store and retrieve information efficiently.
opponent
对手,反对者
Leading opponents of the proposed cuts in defence spending will meet later today.
storage
储藏,存储
We've had to build some cupboards to give us more storage space.