A library is still, and always will be, the most important data centers in the world. Before there were servers, clouds and artificial intelligence, there were shelves. Before there were databases, there were books.
Before there was the internet, there were librarians helping people find, understand and preserve information.
A library is more than a building filled with books. It is a repository of human knowledge, memory, culture, history, science, journalism and imagination. Modern data centers store information digitally. Libraries have been storing humanity's information physically for centuries. And both require protection.
Because information is power. Knowledge is civilization. Memory is how societies learn from their past rather than continually repeating it. A society that allows its libraries, archives and public information institutions to deteriorate is not simply losing buildings or books. It is allowing pieces of its collective memory to disappear.
Protect the servers. Protect the networks. Protect the clouds. But above all, protect the libraries.
Libraries: The World’s Original Data Centers. With education as our focus, we believe libraries belong at the heart of the conversation.
Public libraries. Private libraries. University libraries. School libraries. Research libraries. Archives. Wherever knowledge is collected, preserved and shared, we love them all.
For those of us old enough to remember the Ye Olde Pre-Internet Times, a library was a quiet building filled with books, newspapers, encyclopedias, reference materials and, occasionally, a librarian who seemed to know exactly where to find the answer you were looking for.
Then came the digital revolution.
Today, we can carry millions of books, photographs, documents and pieces of information in our pockets. Search engines can find an answer in milliseconds. Artificial intelligence can summarize mountains of information in seconds.
But none of that makes libraries obsolete.
Quite the opposite.
Libraries are the world's original data centers.
Their servers were shelves. Their databases were catalogs. Their storage systems were books, manuscripts, photographs, maps, newspapers, recordings and archives. And their most important operating system was the human mind of the librarian.
Digital information can be copied, manipulated, corrupted or erased. Physical collections can also be lost through neglect, disasters or censorship. That's why preserving knowledge requires both technologies.
We need the cloud. We need the archive. We need the server. And we still need the library.
A library isn't merely a place where information is stored. It is a place where people learn how to find it, evaluate it, understand it and use it.
That makes libraries especially important in an age of misinformation and artificial intelligence.
The technology has changed. The mission hasn't.
Protect the world's data centers, these include the important ones with bookshelves.