The Future of the Country is Not in Good Hands

In a disaster for the University of New Mexico, the basement of Zimmerman Library caught on fire Sunday night, destroying up to 90% of the periodicals. This may make us the only research institution in the United States with no periodical collection. Not good. Hopefully, the vast microfilm collections, particularly useful for Latin American scholars, are OK. We don't know the answer to that yet.

What's pathetic though is the response. The less than stellar student newspaper, The Daily Lobo, has basically said that the real tragedy of the situation is that students have lost a good place to study. One student by the name of Bradley Knockel, who I hope to never have in a class, remarked,

"You can study anywhere. If you need a book, you've got databases online. I kind of think libraries are outdated."

My friend and occasional commentator Colin whipped off this letter to the student newspaper in which he refers to this idea as "unfortunate and ignorant."

I should say so.

UPDATE: Recent reports are saying that far less of the collection was destroyed than first thought. Perhaps 10%. Still very bad though. Of course the library is closed for the foreseeable future. None of this makes Bradley Knockel less of a numbskull.