When I started this new position a couple months ago I made a pact with myself to go to the library at least once a week. That is, to physically walk to and spend some time inside the building on campus that houses tangible books. Although I was fortunate enough to have digital access to the latest journal articles in my previous position, I missed the act of strolling down those narrow corridors created by bookcases. There's something nice about browsing the titles of textbooks, special publications, memoirs, and other scholarly books. And then there's that wonderful smell when you crack open an older book.

I absolutely love having access to digital journals from my office with a few clicks of the mouse. The number of journals and total number of papers relevant to my research interests seems to grow every year, so the ability to stay up-to-date from my computer with RSS feeds and online access to PDFs is crucial. But, as I explore some new research directions (new to me, at least) I'm coming across fundamental papers from 30 or 40 years ago, many of which are within special publications that were released as books. A lot of these books have not been digitized, and perhaps never will, so a trip to the library is necessary. Funny how something that used to be such a commonplace part of research now seems like a special occasion.

That experience of coming across books and publications that happen to be physically nearby is something that the digital world is having a hard time recreating. Michael Welland has a lovely post about this experience of serendipity in the library:

One of the many arguments in favour of good old-fashioned libraries – the bricks and mortar, hardcopy, poking-around-in-the-stacks variety – is the un-measurable element of serendipity: things you happen upon when looking for something else

Journal articles and databases can add online features similar to Amazon's if-you-like-this-you'll-probably-also-like-this, which is great, I definitely want that, but it's not the same as coming across something interesting simply because it caught your eye as you scanned the shelves. I'm not sure digital libraries will ever be able to recreate this, which is okay. I like having a reason to leave my little burrow and take a stroll across campus to the library. Perhaps I'll find something interesting there today.

Image: Geoscience stacks at Newman Library, Virginia Tech (taken with my iPhone)