Lessons in the Future of Libraries
Marianne Afifi, Director of Electronic Resources & Special Projects Development

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."
                                                            - Alan Kay 

While none of us have a crystal ball, it is safe to say that, in the near future, libraries will be occupied with a multiplicity of issues similar to those evident today. These issues include: the production of ever-increasing amounts of diverse collections in a variety of print and electronic formats; selecting and purchasing collections with competing demands and under fiscal constraints; making these and other collections physically and virtually accessible; and preserving existing print and digital collections. While libraries are grappling with these issues, continuous change in the areas of publishing, scholarly communication, and technology will compound the existing problems. This rapid change is a challenge because libraries are required to adapt to it while also being asked to remain the same. How then can libraries still fulfill their mission to serve their constituencies, be they the general public, the academic community, corporations, or the government?

On the way toward the more distant future, libraries will need to undergo profound changes in the way they collect, preserve, and distribute information. Libraries have always been driven by the needs of their users and this desire will be much more evident in the future. Today, the great majority of libraries are rather neutral; they tend to offer something for everyone even though there are both strengths and weaknesses in the collections and in the delivery of collections. In the future, most likely because of fiscal necessity, only a few libraries will be the great repositories of a wide variety of materials appearing more like a combination of library, museum, and archive. However, the majority of libraries will have to tailor their collections much more to specific groups and to certain classes of specialized users.

The users of libraries will determine the future of libraries, just as they have done so over centuries. For example, children born in 2001 will be the elementary school children of 2007 and will be the college students of 2019. This population will have grown up on the Internet and with connectivity. They will demand ubiquitous, personalized and speedy access to information. The library of the future must meet all their needs while still meeting the needs of their parents and grandparents. It must also meet the needs of the people of the world who have been less fortunate than we have been, either because of socioeconomic realities, war, corruption, dictatorial governments, or natural disasters.

Thus the information needs that libraries must meet will range from walking into a building and browsing the shelves or archives to using a personal information appliance on an airplane to retrieve current and up-to-date information from a worldwide information space. Libraries must facilitate the process of information delivery and retrieval when and where it is needed and to everyone who needs it. Developments in technology can and will make this " just in time" and "just in place" information access possible on a large scale. 

In the future, libraries will reinvent themselves by perfecting the path that they have now begun. They will become more of a fusion of physical and virtual realms. A large number of people may never even set foot in a library, but at the same time they will consume many of the resources and services made accessible to them in cyberspace. Will we still be able to pick up a book and curl up with it in front of the fireplace? I certainly hope so.