How the Digital Age is Changing Libraries

After listing to the presentation by Jeremy Shermak I had to shake my head and wonder why didn’t I see the connections that he brought up with how newspapers are adjusting to the digital age and how libraries are doing the same thing. I was surprised at the amount of reimagining and changes newspapers are making to become more competitive in the digital age. The understanding of social media and its power, native advertising, and the idea that a media company is now also the producer of a newspaper are few great concepts that can be carried over to the library.

Libraries for the most part are well on their way into the digital age in my opinion. From the libraries I’ve been able to visit of late and the library here at Dominican you can see how they are promoting themselves as not just a place where you can check out book, but a multimedia center that offers movies, music, ebooks and so much more. What will the library’s center piece be in the future? This is a question that is hard to answer with the ever evolving technology and the library’s ability to purchase and put into practice new technology. I believe in the next 5 years or possibly less we will see an increase in new technologies that libraries will incorporate into their print collections. In a sense bringing together the hands of the old and the new to create a place for anyone in the community.