I should start this post by saying that I feel like I am really out of my element with this one. I have been working for the library for just under 3 years now. Since I am somewhat secluded in my office doing "financial stuff", I don't feel like I have a really good grasp on how libraries have already evolved and how they might evolve in the future. Nonetheless, I will do my best to come up with something!
For this exercise, I read Seth's Blog: The future of the library and found it quite interesting. I definitely agree with some of his points, like the fact that Netflix is a better "librarian" when it comes to movies. However, I believe that there will always be library patrons who use the library as a way to avoid incurring costs where they don't need to - renting movies, or having a Netflix subscription is one of these. On the other hand, the availability of movies and television shows on DVD are not good at the current time and I think this would be a good place for expansion.
I see the library of the future as being a place for people to come and learn how to use the resources available to them in the most efficient way. Searching the internet about a specific topic can be a bit daunting when the result of your search is 526,176 matches. There is also the question of learning how to distinguish reputable sites from those whose information may not be accurate or up to date.
While I don't think paper books will be fully replaced for quite some time, I do see the number of physical books purchased going down and the number of electronic books going up. At the current time, I don't believe the selection of ebooks is very good, so it will be interesting to see the shift if there are just as many e-book titles available as hard copy books. If a patron had the choice and both were available at that moment, which would they choose? I agree with Seth's assessment in his blog that a future library would also have many more computer terminals with internet access than currently.
Though the cost and possibility of breakage would be high, I think it would be a nice benefit for a library to lend out various e-readers to patrons so they could decide which one they liked.
I can also see things, such as check-out, becoming more automated in the future. Less personal interaction, more efficiency. I think that eventually all libraries will have a self-checkout equipped with a place to put cash or a credit card to pay for any fines.
There is one thing that I don't think can be replaced by all of the new technology that is being introduced, and that is person to person interactions. Whether it is a storytime for a group of children or a book discussion group between adults, there is something about this that I do not think can be replaced.
What the future will bring, I have no idea....I just hope that we as a society don't lose interaction with people altogether.
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