As iPads make an appearance in classrooms in France, the question is being asked – are we getting closer to an era of only having electronic and digitised books?
In Correze, France the government has distributed iPads in schools, handing out 3,300 electronic tablets for a total cost of 1.5 million euros.
How long before books vanish?
E-books are still in their infancy and have to be developed in many areas before they can be fully established. That is the belief of Alan Groen who is the Associate Director of the Quatar Foundation Central Library.
By contrast, in Colombia we caught up with the Biblioburro – a mobile library on the backs of two donkeys.
In La Gloria on Colombia’s Caribbean shore a primary school teacher, Luis Soriano takes his two donkeys and their back packs of books to children in remote areas. He developed the idea after witnessing first-hand the power that reading had on his students many of whom had been through tough times when they were very young.