We’re not sure Arnold Schwarzenegger is handing out Terminator medals to schools switching to digital textbooks but if he is, the first one will go to Cushing Academy. The 144 year old New England prep school’s library has gone virtual with a total commitment to e-books, an initiative that California’s Governor Schwarzenegger has been promoting for schools in his home state.

Not only has Cushing purchased a set of Kindles and Sony e-book readers, but it has “given away half of what stocked their sprawling stacks – the classics, novels, poetry, biographies, tomes on every subject from the humanities to the sciences,” writes The Boston Globe‘s David Abel. “When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books,’’ says the headmaster. Obviously not one for half measures, he is purging the library itself and repurposing it. Writes Abel:

Instead of a library, the academy is spending nearly $500,000 to create a “learning center,’’ though that is only one of the names in contention for the new space. In place of the stacks, they are spending $42,000 on three large flat-screen TVs that will project data from the Internet and $20,000 on special laptop-friendly study carrels. Where the reference desk was, they are building a $50,000 coffee shop that will include a $12,000 cappuccino machine.

What to do with the librarian? “Liz Vezina, a librarian at Cushing for 17 years, said she never imagined working as the director of a library without any books.”

Years ago, I appalled an audience of librarians by suggesting that when digitized, the entire contents of the venerated New York Public Library could be stored in a small room, and the building could then be converted into condos. It was a joke (tasteless, admittedly), but I wonder if I gave the speech today whether anyone would even blink.

Read Welcome to the library. Say goodbye to the books.

(The empty library in the photo is not Cushing Academy’s, incidentally)

Richard Curtis

Every Blogger owes a debt of gratitude to newspapers and magazines. This posting relies on original research and reporting performed by The Boston Globe.