What is the library of the future?
As technology advances in a way that moves us away from the physical world, and further into a digital existence, brings up the question of what will happen to the staples of culture. More importantly, what will happen to books?
People are still trying to work out how we’re going to be reading in the future (the Kindle, the Sony Reader, Apple Apps, the list goes on) but this kind of thought seems to make the existence of a physical book unlikely as time progresses. I wonder what will happen to libraries.
If books are going to be available online, why do you need a building in every municipality to house them? Does the end of books mean the end of libraries? What is the future of librarians?
In the UK, according to culture minister, Margaret Hodge, (in this article in the Guardian) libraries should be taking measures to maintain their relevance in the community. Her suggestions appear to be kind of drastic.
These contraversial suggestions included partnerships with coffee franchises, like Starbucks, advertising tie-ins in connection with Amazon, putting library branches into shopping centres and offering loyalty cards and prizes for avid borrowers.
Although these suggestions, to me, seem kind of outrageous, it’s true that libraries need to find new ways to adapt to the so-called ‘Google generation’. I, however, think that this generation would be better served with better online access to libraries and longer opening hours.
Will libraries make the cut? Or will they be soon listed as an endangered species?
Like everything else in our rapidly changing community, only time will tell.
