Surprise! It’s the Golden Age of Libraries

Zachary Loeb (who writes as the Luddbrarian on the blog librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com) notes that “although college students have a huge amount of information available to them, this does not automatically mean that they have acquired all of the information literacy necessary to really make sense of this mass amount of information. As a result the library staff becomes an increasingly important resource for students wading through the information glut, especially as library staff are often available to students in numerous ways (in person, e-mail, chat, by phone).” This is particularly true for adult learners who return to higher education after many years away from the classroom and who often find virtual research daunting.

Libraries aren’t going anywhere, but much like the saying “let’s videotape that” now meaning to digitally record video, “let’s go to the library” will mean something different.

The End Of The Library | TechCrunch

I know this sucks. Libraries have been an invaluable part of human history, propagating our culture and knowledge over centuries. But recognizing the changing times and pointing out the obvious shouldn’t be considered blasphemy. It is what it is.

The internet has replaced the importance of libraries as a repository for knowledge. And digital distribution has replaced the role of a library as a central hub for obtaining the containers of such knowledge: books. And digital bits have replaced the need to cut down trees to make paper and waste ink to create those books. This is evolution, not devolution.

Interesting points on where we may be going with libraries. But is there a future without libraries? I don’t see them disappearing, but I do see them morphing into something else. Just like the shift over the last 30 with school libraries, I mean, library media centers. 🙂