3017 … I have no idea.

thelibrarian
Jul 30, 2017 · 5 min read

This is technically the May #GLAMBlogClub post theme but hey, it’s coming out now cause better late than never right?!

Creating the future for libraries.

What do we think is the future of libraries — where will we be in a thousand years? I have no idea.

I was actually asked recently what I thought libraries may look like in 50 years time and even this short time frame caused me some trouble. I struggle to think too far into the future in my own life let alone to think about the GLAM sector in 1000 years, but if I do try to think that far ahead I find myself either disbelieving that humanity will be around at all, or believing that very little will have changed except our technology. So I guess I have something of a dystopian outlook for Libraries in 3017.

Part of the problem for me is that I think of libraries as spaces which enable equity of access to knowledge and information but I don’t care how this looks or what format this comes in. Books, eBooks, DVDs, Computers … whatever it takes to ensure that people get the information or knowledge they need to live their lives to the full. And I am sure that technology will change significantly and the way knowledge is shared will be very different, but I couldn’t say just how this will look.

This is a quote I like about libraries now and in the future:

“The library is now also to be found as a virtual space built of ones-and-zeroes, a magical library of almost unimaginable proportions that can also be distilled into increasingly smaller portable devices, such as Kindles, Kobos, Tabs, iPads and iPhones. The future library is bigger than all the world’s historical libraries combined, and smaller than a book on one of those libraries’ shelves. Such a thing has only previously been conceived of in fiction.”

When I try and think about the future of libraries I fall back on some of the amazing Science Fiction and Fantasy novels I have read over the years. We will all be dead anyway and my extensive Science Fiction reading has led me to believe that human society will either have changed beyond recognition of our simple Two Thousand and Something brains, or it will not have moved much beyond where we are now except for the fact that technology will have developed to the point where Artificial Intelligence (AI)has taken all the most basic service industry jobs — think bartender, shop assistant etc… — and yes, ‘librarian’ could easily be one of these roles, in terms of the basic customer service aspect to the role.

Throughout human history there have been repositories of knowledge — although this has often been a single person or small group of people (think Druids/Shamans/Bards etc…) libraries and books eventually came to take the place of these people or groups and whilst it is hard to think of a world where such a place would no longer be needed but I can easily see how AI could take on the most obvious aspects of library work including customer service and holding all the worlds knowledge.

I do hope that whilst formats may change the essential service which libraries provide will remain — that is to enable access to knowledge for all — but I am less sure that humans will be needed to do this.

When looking at what has been written in the past about the future of libraries I am constantly reminded about the limitations often put on libraries and I wonder why? Libraries at their heart are portals to knowledge. Yes, the spaces they are currently housed in are often wonderful and necessary in an age where Libraries are increasingly serving multiple needs in our communities — safe spaces, sanctuaries, refuges etc… However with the digital age comes the fact that Libraries as we know them will change (this is what Libraries do after all, how they have survived through the ages) and yet they will still hopefully retain at their core that basic value: equity of access.

But in 1000 years time? Well, I like to think we’d have gotten off the rock by then, space and other planets beckon, and those planets, those spaceships, will need some kind of library to offer help and support when gallant space-faring people seek knowledge!

My favourite renditions of this have always utilised a virtual librarian — for some reason these are often displayed as middle-aged, grey-haired men — take Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson as an example — or AIVAS, the Artificial Intelligence Voice-Address System which features in All the Weyrs of Pern and is mentioned in some other PERN novels, which holds a wealth of knowledge but is also able to guide the people of PERN and even appears to have a sense of humour.

In the end I think that libraries and librarians will be around for a long time, although titles and environments may change. I guess it comes down to this idea — distilled in the Darien Statements on the Library and Librarians — that it is not the Library which needs to change, but librarians.

The role of librarians has changed already from 100 years ago and Libraries have changed too. I see no reason why we cannot continue to change and adapt and be the librarians our Library community need us to be, wherever that community is, as long as we put the needs of our community first. If we do this there’s no reason I can think of that Libraries and Librarians won’t be around in 1000 years.

Librarians need to change, not libraries.

thelibrarian

Written by

Community focussed, wine drinking, cheese eating, coffee addicted Melburnian librarian. newCardigan. Podcaster. Reader.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade