Library of the Future

This was finals week for Winter quarter, whew. I've decided to share here the text of my final paper for "Computers in Libraries" class. We were to describe what we thought libraries would be like in 20 years. It wasn't a tough paper, just one we were supposed to be reflective and think about how technological change has affected libraries in the past 20 years and how it will affect them in the next 20. So this is my vision...
When I imagine what public libraries will be like in 20 years, I see them as portals for information of myriad types: research, entertainment, enlightenment, education, daily life, you name it. Service to patrons encompasses more than books, music and movies -- access to information and technology for everyone is the guiding principle for librarians.
Libraries will be purveyors of information, teaching people how to search for it, helping them navigate in a world cluttered with information at every turn. They will have become, in the words of a wise librarian, "information dieticians." But there still will be a portion of the population that was not raised with computers. No matter how ubiquitous computers have become, some people will still be adapting -- or resisting change. Librarians will need to be able to serve them.
Because many of their patrons will still be aging Boomers, there will be books and other printed materials available. Books will not die, but will co-exist with non-print versions of the same works. In a world that has become more and more transitory, people will still value the feeling of permanence printed books give. Printed material will survive, but more options will be available. E-books for download, audio books, and preloaded e-readers will be available for check-out much like play-aways are available today. The library will exist as much online as it does in a physical building. Library Web sites will increasingly give patrons access from anywhere. Libraries will have embraced the idea that online interaction will increase their power to provide information to the masses, no matter whether those patrons are around the corner or on the other side of the world. New ways of cataloging collections and encoding metadata will create interconnecting links to and from library OPACs and the World Wide Web in general. Resources will be more interactive and users will be able to add things like reviews to an item's record.
Even with this global presence, since these libraries depend on public funding, they will need to promote how they can make all this new technology and information available to their own community. Partnering with other librarians in schools and organizations, public librarians will become teachers of a sort. As technologies emerge, libraries will position themselves as leaders in teaching their communities not only how to use new tools, but ways to make advantageous use of the tools to make their lives better. They also will be champions of the cause for making access available to everyone. Gifted librarians will make emerging technology their ally in educting their communities.
By 2030, libraries will be vibrant places full of computers and other technology available for use by anyone. Gone will be the "shushers," replaced by information technology experts eager to help people learn about the latest advances. I have no idea what new technologies will come in the next 20 years, but I know that forward-thinking librarians won't resist change, but seize every technology opportunity as a way to become more useful to patrons , as a way to encourage new uses for the resources the library has access to.
But don't worry; in their continued mission of literacy education, libraries will still hold story times for babies, read-alongs and other youth-oriented activities with books. Yes, books, ones that contain brightly colored pictures and simple text, but also might incorporate sound and movement. I am sure that low-tech books will still have a place in the world. Just as vinyl records are still around long after the advent of CDs and MP3s, so books will endure and people will still read them.