IELTS
JOURNAL
8
Exercise 1: Finding main ideas
Read the following passage as quickly as possible and underline the sentence that gives
the main idea (the topic sentence) of each paragraph.
Time limit: 1 minute
Libraries
Libraries are quite difficult to define. If you ask most people to define a library, they
will probably say that it is a building with a lot of books. Strictly speaking, a library does
not have to be a building: it can be a room, or indeed any area where material is kept.
Equally, a library is not merely a collection of books: there are journals, newspapers,
CD-ROMs, microfilm, audio-visual materials and so on. So, to be more accurate we can
say that a library is a collection of information and material.
Libraries are organized in three ways. Most libraries will use one or more of the three
main classification systems that have been developed to detail the material in the
collection. They referred to as the Dewey Decimal System, the Universal Decimal
Classification and the Library of Congress System.
Nowadays libraries are under threat for a number of reasons. The primary challenge,
as never before, is funding. Hardware and personnel costs increase each time
technology expands. Equally there are challenges in the skills needed by users and
resource professionals.
It is difficult to predict the future of libraries. Our basic concept of libraries will almost
certainly, it would appear, change dramatically in that we will not think of them (and
access them) as physical places, which is the prevailing concept at the moment. But
beyond that, it is difficult to predict both usage patterns and preferred systems of data
recording and retrieval.
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