Library of the future?

I am sending this rather long post in the hopes of collecting thoughts on where libraries fit in to the world of the future. I apologize for the length, but would really appreciate your input as I prepare my final assignments due Nov 26th at URI for this semester. I will also post to listserves. Thanks so very much.
Donna Colson

Hello library bloggers, masyacers, library listserve members, and my colleagues at the Westfield Athenaeum…

Could I trouble you to peruse this rather long post and share your opinions with me? I am a library school student and children’s library employee who is working on creating a blog for my final project in Digital Resources for Children and Teens at the University of Rhode Island and would be grateful for your thoughts. I am actually learning about all of the Web 2.0 technologies for the first time in this class. I participated in Janet Eckert’s Blogging for Beginners workshop recently and absorbed the basics of this piece of social networking in preparation for my own attempt (Thank you Janet). The topic of my 2 final projects, the blog to be the equivalent of 5 print pages, and the facilitation of a weekly discussion thread, will center around the future of libraries and librarians. What do you predict for libraries? Will digital resources, available on the internet take away the need for libraries as we know them? If the physical library is no longer vital to the dissemination of information, will it be cost effective for municipalities to continue to fund their existence? Will computers be our stacks? Change is happening fast and continuous in the library world of technological information sharing…can we keep up? Change is probably the only thing we can be sure of! Will we continue to open our doors to a multi faceted collection of resources in all formats or will we simply be a computer monitor and keyboard?

What of the role of reference librarian? Is this person behind the desk, with all the answers at her fingertips, being replaced by a virtual librarian…a google avatar? Are reference questions changing…simpler or more complex? Will research be do-it- yourself online? What about the irrelevant and inaccurate information accessed…who will help patrons to evaluate and choose appropriately? Where does information literacy fit into the equation?

We’ve come a long way since the closed stacks of early libraries…our stacks opened to be accessed by all freely during the days of Dewey…I love browsing the shelves and reading a book in my hand…but in the future will we be like the Jetsons sitting in front of a monitor looking to a “Jeeves” for answers to all our questions? If books appear only online will it be the demise of bookstores as well? Is that why they are all going the “Starbucks” and soup and sandwich route? Must we do the same?? With everything else free in the library will the snacks be, too! Will controversial Wikipedia replace the authoritative and accurate World Book and Britannica? As things change in the world, will Wikipedia, with the ability for people to add and modify, be the replacement for the A-Z sets and their print supplement annual yearbooks?

What about our diverse community and their needs? How does the shrinking population of young adult library users affect the future? Should we make more of an effort to meet needs of this younger socially networked community by educating ourselves and others in the uses of Web 2.0 technology and using it to reach out and connect with teens? What do you think of enlisting the help of Web 2.0 savvy teens volunteering or being paid to teach the social networking skills to those of us who, as adults, are unfamiliar?

What will the needs of children be? Will we continue to develop collections of books for check out to share on somebody’s lap or at bedtime? Will we offer storytimes or crafts?

Does the lack of computer knowledge limit access by seniors? Are they being left out of the technological world? As libraries, the people’s universities, can we change that? Should we?

How about school libraries…they have very limited budgets as it is, and many school systems are no longer funding a professional librarian position. Are the media centers disappearing from the essential educational landscape? Thinking about academic college and university libraries when students decide to study together at the library where will they meet? Will the library be physical down the street or will their avatars meet in a library on Second Life??? Online fingertip collaboration within web 2.0’s interactive social sites can expand a study group beyond universities to include real students from around the world. Is that considered virtual?

Will the library be simply a building full of computers for use by all? Will the library be totally virtual accessed from home with no physical space? Will physical isolation be OK in the face of global online interaction? Will we need any face to face human interaction? I have been concerned about students in library school completing their degree online and wondering how they will ever interact with real people in real time. Maybe I shouldn’t worry about them…maybe it’s those of us accustomed to day to day contact that I should worry about. If libraries go entirely digital will they be the ones best equipped to perform the tasks of librarian having had vast experience in online collaborations within Web 2.0, or 3.0 or whatever .0 is to come? If only we had a crystal ball…

What about the privacy libraries promise to protect? By virtue of the nature of the “online beast” participants in social networking seem to devalue their right to privacy…their lives become an open book by choice. Will this be a concern for the future with online stalkers, the Patriot Act, pedophiles all visiting online?

Libraries, whether public or in schools, have enjoyed the role being the heart of their communities. Can we retain that honored position in the future? It can’t be all doom and gloom…I’ve posed an awful lot of questions, and I don’t ask you to answer every single one, but if you could share your thoughts on the library’s future in a nutshell I would really appreciate it.

Many, many thanks.
Donna Colson
University of Rhode Island grad student and
Assistant Youth Services Librarian @ the Westfield Athenaeum

In case you prefer to answer via email to my post about libraries of the future...
dlcolson20032003@yahoo.com
Thanks so much... Donna Colson