The Future of the Library
Posted: June 2, 2011 Filed under: librarianship | Tags: libraries 1 Comment »“Librarians that are arguing and lobbying for clever ebook lending solutions are completely missing the point. They are defending library as warehouse as opposed to fighting for the future, which is librarian as producer, concierge, connector, teacher and impresario.”
I have debates with various colleagues about what the future of the library looks like. Should we focus on becoming a data center for digital assets? Or should we focus on re-imagine our public face and services to reflect the new realities of our users?
Obviously, digital assets and ebooks are fast becoming part of our landscape and libraries need to provide access to these resources, but, we can’t as this quote asserts simply act as a digital warehouse. We must continue to forge a professional identity where librarians act as a conduit to our resources, continue to teach research skills, and above all empower our users to be educated information consumers.
[...] A shushing librarian does not stand between them and the book or journal or long playing record. But the human interaction is essential now. We are Sherpas of data, guides to evaluating the wealth of materials available to our students [...]