The Future of Libraries Beginning the Great Transformation

Anonymous Patron writes “The DaVinci Institute – The Future of Libraries, By Thomas Frey, Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute:
10 trends and 4 recommendations. The role of a library within a community is changing. The way people interact with the library and the services it offers is also changing. For this reason they have put together a series of recommendations that will allow libraries to arrive at their own best solutions.”

October 22, 2005 by Uncategorized 5

You may also like...

5 Responses

  1. Anonymous Patron says:
    October 23, 2005 at 5:03 pm

    drivel
    I propose we change the name futurist to obvioust. Points 1, 2, and 3 get the first Golden Duh Award. Though the list of technologies in his time line could use some editing. Point 4 is disproved by points 5 and 6. The only real interesting point is 6 which I doubt. We became industrial without loosing the ability to walk. Points 7, 8 and 9 back to the obvious band wagon. Point 10 forgets that the library isn’t the only public institution. Why is drivel like this accepted with no challenge.

    Reply
  2. Walt says:
    October 23, 2005 at 10:42 pm

    Point 6: Yeah, right.
    “Dr William Crossman, Founder/Director of the CompSpeak 2050 Institute for the Study of Talking Computers and Oral Cultures, predicts that as we say goodbye to keyboards we will begin the transition to a verbal society. He also predicts that by 2050 literacy will be dead.”

    I won’t be around in 2050 (at least I have no intention of living to 105!), but that strikes me as a mildly…well, insane is a strong word…prediction. Whatever else blogs, email, IM, social software, and the rest of the internet may do, they certainly don’t herald the end of text literacy!

    Not that “the end of literacy” is a new prediction. It’s even sillier now than it was before the “read/write Web.”

    Reply
  3. leeb says:
    October 25, 2005 at 5:18 am

    Look to the future
    Libraries are very passive when it comes to embracing and adapting new information technologies. This is demonstrated by the fact that so many libraries are still bogged down by the outdated and archaic MARC and AACR2. If libraries had the level of determination to embrace new information technologies as the stubborn and hellbent determination keep MARC and AACR2, then libraries would be leaders in the information industry. Rather, libraries seem to be scared and sceptic of new information technologies and see it as a threat rather than an enhancement to their profession. Libraries are very shortsighted and inward-looking and can’t see the forest for the trees. They can’t seem to see that the role of libraries and librarians are dynamically changing and consequently a big identity crisis and soul searching in a half-blinded manner. Libraries have to come to terms with no longer being the only source of information, and become result-oriented not remain process-oriented, and look to the future. But, I think libraries currently lack the lateral thinking to even ponder the possibility of having blogger stations, recording studios, and video studios, etc.

    Reply
  4. Bibliofuture says:
    October 25, 2005 at 8:56 pm

    Formats
    Media formats are continually disappearing. The 8-track tape was replaced by the cassette tape, which in turn was replaced by the CD, which is currently in the process of disappearing altogether.

    The formats that were just mentioned are less than 50 – 60 years old. The book has been around for at least 1700 years. Does that mean that the book as we know it will be around another 1700 years? Probably not. But to compare books to 8-tracks is a stretch in my opinion.

    Reply
  5. Anonymous Patron says:
    November 2, 2005 at 5:25 pm

    Re:drivel
    I would take issue with the notion that all “futurist” articles need to be written 20-50 years out. In writing this article, my goal was to speak to an audience of library patrons and staff. When I write for Wired Magazine, the topics are quite different because the audience is different.

    -Thomas Frey

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

LISNews Archives