Kresh (2007) also states, "a digital library would create round-the-clock availability meaning a major advantage of a digital library would be that people from all over the world could gain access to the information at any time, as long as an Internet connection is available" (Kresh, 2007, page 2). The key in this statement is the last few words. Yes it may be simple for us; the students and faculty of a university of gain quick access to the Internet, and therefore easy access to this 'universal digital library', the minute we walk into a building on campus, our laptops, smartphones, and tablets automatically connect to the web. However, what about the others around the world where Internet access is not so easy? It was recorded by the Internet World Stats on December 31, 2011, that there were approximately 2,267,233,742 Internet users. The population at the same time was approximately 6,930,055,154. As you can see there is a surplus of people on online. In fact is just a little under 33% of the world's population (Internet World Stats, 2012). We take for granted the easy Internet access we are privileged to. Therefore, if the goal were to create a universal digital library for all of humanity, it would be next to impossible to accurately be able to say everyone with "the quality or condition of being human" (unknown, 2012) would be equally exposed to it. In addition, even for us who constantly have Internet access, what if we want to read a book where there's no Wi-Fi reception, or the battery on my reading device dies? There is always some sort of limit to portable technology. However, if I had a classic paperback book, it would last through time, I could take it anywhere in the world, and I would not have to worry bout losing connection with the text.
The current earth we live on today revolves around a constantly changing culture. There is roughly 6909 spoken languages in the world today (Lewis P.
