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 Desubot wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
I swear I've seen a picture of that very thing. Can't seem to find it.

Er ya go

THANK YOU

 Desubot wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
I swear I've seen a picture of that very thing. Can't seem to find it.

Er ya go

Brilliant

Given the choice not the usefulness but just for the having of the book would you prefer digital to paper?

Book would be more useful IMO. Easier to skip ahead a bunch of pages if needed. Plus there is the badass factor.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Book would be more useful IMO. Easier to skip ahead a bunch of pages if needed. Plus there is the badass factor.

Yeah, and iPhone screens would crack.

 Keep wrote:
thats true, but the space around SM outposts is also always surveyled and guarded...
also, why would a library databank have to be connected to any network? The only access point can be inside the library as well

librarians propably just like to write diaries, thats why they keep one by their side at all times... "dear diary today a glorious battle took place but i was not in the mood... the captain gave me an angry glance because of that."

"Dear Diarium: Went to battle alongside Canoness Gazongas Gonzaga and her Order of The Brazen Scholastica today. Brother-Sergeant Voss said he felt odd urges when viewing the Sisters. Sent him to the Chaplain for possible contamination by the Ruinous Powers. The heathen Xenos (like there are Xenos who accept the Emperor's Truth, LOLus maximus) fell before our might like so much green-skinned wheat before the harvester's scythe. They got Brother Fritz, though, and as such they'll be added unto the List of Retribution. Other than that, I hope someday to see the planet of my birth again. It'd be nice."

I wonder because it all male space marine armies, the book the Librarians have with them is really "50 shades of gay"?

 Desubot wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
I swear I've seen a picture of that very thing. Can't seem to find it.

Er ya go

Dear Lord...
That is the most funny thing I have seen this month

 SkrawnyNob wrote:
Why do Librarians bother with all the books?

Um, cause that's what librarians do haha

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
Wait-they read books?
So that's where Tigurius got his powers from...

I think you're up to something...

Firstly it is due to the overt symbolism toward traditional Medieval monastery life, wherein the monks would spend lifetimes copying and transcribing the countless religious (and, at times, non-religious) texts. Granted, these were the days before the commonplace of the printing press throughout Europe, and that very few people outside of the Church possessed the knowledge/skills to read/write (especially in Latin)... so a lot of that was practicality. However, given how strongly Games Workshop maintains the image of "battle monks" for the Adeptus Astartes, it is only fitting that this trope/tradition would be applied as well.

Still, the process of transcribing and writing by hand - rather than keyboard or dictation - is the strongest means of learning while writing. There is a larger range of motor movements necessary to write with paper and pen (holding the pen in your hand, the different shapes and design of all forms of alphabet/script, moving your hand/arm across and down the paper, starting a new paper when the first is filled, going back for changes and edits... you get the idea) versus typing on a keyboard (move a finger and push a key, repeat) or dictation (...just talk). Because of the far more involved process, retention of knowledge via handwriting will always be greater than typing/dictation. This is why the Lexicani do it - they are students.

In addition to that, reading a physical book versus an e-reader/tablet holds the same benefits. While the research is still on-going, so far it has all shown that comprehension and immersion into a book is always greater with a tangible tome than digital 'dex. The common theory for this is the same as with writing - it's much more of a physical act to hold and read a real book (organic) than using a digital object. This is the very reason why all forms of print media are "obsolete" in our current millennium, yet they all still exist. Thus, the Librarians at all levels (Lexicanum, Codicier, and Epistolary) benefit from physical books versus digital.

In terms of taking the tomes into battle... As has been pointed out by various others in this thread already, there is a heavy symbolic influence to it. The power of words has been a superstition of humanity since language has existed. This is why all magical incantations utilize "magic words" that have to "be spoken precisely" and so on. This superstition exists to this very day and is just as strong - just ask the FCC about George Carlin's Seven Words, but I digress. The Power of Words is an essential element of magic, and what is so often considered to be the opposite/bane/antithesis of magic? Technology and science.

Magic is organic, and technology is sterile. By digitizing the sacred text (magic words), it effectively strips it of all power. Magic is about ritual, and by not having the words physically written part of that ritual is removed. And thus, power is removed. If technology was sufficient to fight the Immaterium, then the Grey Knights would be entirely pointless. In the case of daemons, it truly is a case of having to fight fire with fire - you can only combat magic with magic. Just the presence of a "sacred" or "holy" tome on the battlefield (especially in the hands of a powerful Astartes psyker) will be a weapon of attack against the daemons, adding a passive presence of the Emperor's will into the aetheric realm of the battlefield. Just like how vampires hiss and turn away (often in pain) from the presence of a cross or holy water. The book is a weapon, just like the bolt pistol and force sword/staff.

Further adding to the point of symbolism... By the time an Astartes is promoted to the level of Epistolary he already knows and has memorized all incantations and rites he will need for battle. Every nuanced motion and pronunciation, the cadence and tempo of his speech, the tone and inflection in his voice... all of it will have been rehearsed to such insane degrees since his initial day as a Lexicanum that it would be impossible to perform it incorrectly. So instead of being utilized as a book of reference, a Librarian's tome is instead a focus of his will and power, a conduit between the Warp and his mind.

Finally, Rule of Cool. Which has a better place on the battlefield repelling the Eldritch horrors of the Ruinous Powers: a large hardback leather tome, covered in wards and runes blessed by sacred incantations passed down by generations and inspired by the words and actions of the Emperor of Mankind, each page painstakingly scribed by that very Astartes - upon blessed parchment and with enchanted inks - to a degree of immaculate perfection... or a dataslate that is no different than what would find in the hands of a chapter serf?

Books will never be obsolete, even in the grimdark far future of the 41st Millennium.

...or at least that's how I see it. Being a librarian in the literal, real world sense, I think I may have taken this slightly too seriously, heh.