reading #3

Reading #3
“The Future of Libraries- Beginning the Great Transformation”
Thomas Frey

The works of artists such as Leonardo da Vinci have survived through the ages with the protection under libraries. Libraries served as a storage house for manuscripts, art, important documents and books that were often to expensive for the common people to own them. With the invention of the printing press by Johann Gutenberg in 1455, books are able to be reproduced in mass quantities and over 500,000 books were in circulation 50 years later. Andrew Carnegie provided funding for over 2,509 libraries in the US and overseas. Since the beginning of libraries, information was hard to access and was only available to the privileged. Now information is readily available to anyone, anywhere and free of charge. There are 10 key trends that affect the future of libraries.

1.Communication systems are continually changing the way people access information.
2.All technology ends. All technologies commonly used today will be replaced by something new.
3.We haven’t yet reached the ultimate small particle for storage. But soon.
4.Search technology will become increasingly more complicated.
5.Time compression is changing the lifestyle of library patrons.
6.Over time we will be transition to a verbal society.
7.The demand for global information is growing exponentially.
8.The stage is being set for a new era of global systems.
9.We are transitioning from a product-based economy to an experience based economy.
10.Libraries will transition from a center of information to a center of culture.

Libraries will always have a place in cities and in history but they must evolve as everything does in order to “reinvent” themselves. Some of the tactics that libraries can and should utilize in the future are patron surveys, the use of advanced technology, and
creative spaces like blogger stations and art studios.

As a little girl, I can still remember going to the library for story telling time and sitting on big dragon pillows listening to the librarian. The walls were painted as if a castle and we would always search for the little critters that would be hidden in the grass and behind castle walls. To take home with us, we would check out as many as 15 books at a time. Usually my picks were The Berenstain Bears, The Boxcar Children and Goosebumps. Even though technology is changing, libraries will always be a necessary part of community infrastructure and I look forward to taking my children to the library for story time as well.