Many people consider writing snail mail and buying CD players a lost art.

Several services college students and adults grew up with are no longer in popular use. Things like email, iPods and laptops seem to have taken over. This is especially prevalent with e-books. Due to their convenience, one would assume the devices would take over libraries; however, that is not the case.

An April 2012 Pew study found that 21 percent of Americans had read an e-book in the last year.

Some libraries seem to be doing just fine and even offer e-reader share programs for readers.

In addition, according to the American Library Association, “76 percent of libraries offer access to e-books, and 39 percent of libraries provide e-readers for check-out by patrons; e-books are available from 92 percent of urban libraries, compared to 65 percent of rural libraries.” Library employees around the state have their own opinions about the future of libraries.

Nancy Martinez, a Joliet Public Library paraprofessional readers adviser, said in an email interview that even though the library has cut hours in the past year, the amount of visitors is steady.

“I almost laughed out loud when I read this question [has your library suffered a loss of visitors over the past years?]. How about a big NO,” Martinez said.

Martinez credits the amount of visitors to the fact that the library offers so many different things to the community.

“Our computer center is always full,” Martinez said. “Summer reading just started two weeks ago, and we have been slammed every day.”

Patrons utilize the computer access of libraries on a regular basis. The American Library Association report from 2012 states “62 percent of libraries report that they are the only provider of free computer and Internet access in their community.”

Martinez said the library offers themed days, and the “Star Wars” day this year had just over 5,000 attendees at the event.

Apart from offering technology like e-readers and computers for public use, libraries also offer a plethora of book selections.