The Future of the Library

Libraries have always held a cherished place in the hearts, minds, and pocketbooks of U.S. citizens, but will future generations share this devotion to the library?

Laura Weiss, author of a 1997 article "Buildings, books, and bytes: Libraries and communities in the digital age" unearths an unsettling disparity between how library leaders envision the future of the library as opposed to a polling of public opinion. The role of the library shrinks as the public is asked to envision the library of the future. The public imagines it as a museum rather than a gateway to information. (1)

If we are a paperless society with access to information from home or a myriad of mobile devices, what need is there for a library?

Generations of us have gone to the library to do homework, and research, meet with friends and work on projects, to go to story time, use the computer, peruse the shelves for our next book to read, or simply to have a place to be. Libraries have always been a source of civic pride, a library seen as mandatory for any community of worth.

Of all groups polled in Weiss' article, the library is least valued by today's teenagers, the future lawmakers and taxpayers. Our current teens may be the first generation that does not have a sentimental attachment to the library, which spells danger for the future library.

The library has always been The Gateway for information.

With the internet, there are now many Gateways to Information.
Do the other Gateways lead to the Library?
Or does the Library lead to the other Gateways?

What is the Library of the Future?

I need to know:
What role todays library has in relation to the information on the internet.
Does the library have access to all of the information on the internet?
What is the source of the library's collection of digitized work from the internet? (Who gets what first and how does it come to the library)
Are electronically published works cataloged in a consistent format such as MARC (Machine Readable Copy)?
Is the Library of Congress still a main hub with a record of all published works?
How the Library of Congress is handling digitized information. Do the same rules of copyright apply to digitized information as to bound books?


(1) Weiss, Laura.  "Buildings, books, and bytes: Libraries and communities in the digital age." APLIS 10, no. 3: 163, 1997. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed July 1, 2011).