What’s the world coming to? Now that we have the internet we don’t need libraries anymore. And if we don’t need libraries we don’t need librarians. Or do we?
When Facebook (releasing personal information) and Google (threatening to withhold news information) and Twitter (actually withholding public domain archival information)Footnote1 can defy elected governments, and social media in general excels at spreading disinformation, how do we help people find information they can trust? And why should people trust gatekeepers like us?
If the platforms, like Amazon and Netflix, deliver content directly to screens small and large, and the content aggregators deliver directly to student and researcher laptops and tablets, what role for intermediaries skilled in the organisation and dissemination of curated recreational and educational information?
That’s the disruption part then. What about the bold minds?
The editors claim that this curated assemblage of 12 essays ‘will help to answer some of the key questions asked about the future of libraries and the relevance of the librarianship profession in the 21st century’. And it does – for the most part. Some contributions are bolder than others, and two are standouts: Richard Heseltine’s (former University Librarian at the University of Hull) Painting books on the walls: why libraries have lost their way and how they can rediscover their real purpose in a fragmented world; and Liz McGettigan’s (Current Director of Digital Library Experiences with SOLUS UK) The 21st-century people’s library, skewer the central issues, but some other papers are more to do with mild minds more focused on canvassing the literature than addressing future imperatives.
The editors’ framing of the issues in the introduction is a third highlight, enticing the reader to read on and possibly find answers to the existential question posed by the title. The book proper presents 12 papers, three in each of the following four sections:
Political perspectives
New business models
User communities, and
The future library professional.
There are case studies from the UK, Canada, South Africa, and Sweden. Copious references cater to the curious and there is an eight-page double column index to the work as a whole.
Should you read it? Have you, in your leadership moments, using your strategic and visionary mind, thought about the parts played by emotional intelligence and organisational and cultural awareness in the development of library leaders? If you have, I suggest you start with the introduction, then read the other two pieces I’ve mentioned, and from that point, it’s over to you.