Libraries have evolved to face the 21st century in a new light thanks to the help of the Internet and new media.

Among this new breed of libraries is the DeKalb Public Library, 309 Oak St.

Dee Coover, Interim Director of the library, has worked at the library for 11 years and said the library has been subject to an extreme change since she started working.

“The Internet has directly impacted how library services are done,” Coover said.

Research is now readily available and easily obtained with the click of a mouse; and if a customer is more of a casual reader, he or she can enjoy the graphic novels the Internet has to offer as well, she said.

With the re-design of the library, readers must adjust their thinking.

Coover said the transition was hard at first, but after readers and employees learned how to work the electronic databases and online catalogs, it was much easier to find and sort items.

Another change in the library’s atmosphere is the population.

The library has grown very diverse, especially with the influx of younger readers, she said.

Brianna Coyle, an eighth-grader at Huntley Middle School, came into the library with her mother to find a book about dogs.

Coyle said she comes in once or twice a month for casual nonfiction reading, but has come in recently to find books for a school project that her school library didn’t offer.

When asked what she was doing in the library, Brianna’s mother, Stephanie Coyle said she was there only for her daughter’s sake.

“Who has time for reading anymore?” she replied.

Holding a stack of DVDs in his hand, life-long library user Joe Jeralds said he feels the same way.

“It takes a lot longer to read a book than to watch a DVD,” he said.

Jeralds still checks out a book or two every month but said he finds himself more attracted to the library’s movies and the Internet.

Fadima Sidibe, a freshman business administration major at Kishwaukee Community College, said she uses the Internet to check her e-mail, but mostly comes for the peace and quiet the library offers for studying that she couldn’t find at home.

Students in need of academic resources may be in for a pleasant surprise in the near future.

Frank Novak, director of the Rockford Public Library, said academic resources in printed form will eventually become extinct.

Libraries will have new systems called OverDrive and NetLibrary.

These two Internet servers offer e-books, audio and other digital media to libraries for dispersal.

One of the major advantages of OverDrive is the media checked-out will automatically expire and return to the libraries’ servers. So there are no overdue charges, Novak said.

Readers should not fear the digital change of academic resources because there will always be printed material for the casual reader; but in the time of library evolution, libraries should really lose the “bun-in-hair librarian attitude,” he said.