The Library of the Future
Sep 1, 1998 12:00 PM, C. William Day
Forecasting change is a highly questionable enterprise; however, this column is devoted to imaginations regarding the possible future of an information system once called libraries. When looking toward the future, there are many questions. What are we going to find when we visit a library/media center in 2005? Will we still have library/media specialists working in schools? Will there be even more feet of shelving to house books? Will there still be books, as we know them today?
The traditional library as a depository of books and a place for students to sit at tables and study will become obsolete. It is not a sound educational practice to continue to have students move from general classrooms to a library for resource materials, and then to the computer lab to complete an assignment. Traditionally, school libraries have been vulnerable to budget cuts. The pressure is going to become more intense as schools move technology into the classroom.
There is nothing inherent in the mission of the school library that says it has to have four walls and racks of books. The traditional school library built of bricks and mortar is moving to one also constructed with bits and bytes. This means that the library of the future possibly may not be housed on bookshelves inside a school building.
A Lesson Learned Most remember bankers' hours. The term was coined because 20 years ago, banks were open a few inconvenient hours, making it very difficult to deposit money, withdraw cash and make loans. New technologies and client demands for convenience, quality and customization forced banks to change. What implications does this have for libraries/media centers?
Information was relatively scarce during the 1950s and 1960s, and was housed usually in the form of books in spaces called libraries. Students and citizens left their classrooms, homes and workplaces long enough to withdraw information, usually in the form of books or notecards, which could be consumed elsewhere. Access was relatively limited.
Even today, students in many schools are permitted one weekly visit to the library. While enterprising library/media specialists do whatever they can within the constraints of contracts and resources to provide more flexible scheduling, these efforts often collide with other program interests and priorities.
The worst case scenario is that new technology and electronic access to information threatens to eliminate school libraries as they exist today, as well as those who have been serving as information-tellers. Specialized teachers, such as art, music, physical education and library/media, are losing positions in order to carve up the needed dollars to reduce class size and purchase new technologies.
Looking into the future Nationwide, increasing numbers of school libraries are playing host to on-line catalogs, districtwide networks, presentation software and other technology. There is too much content out there, and it is impossible to keep up, so administrators need to focus on process, on the ability to find and use information for a purpose. Today's students have been saturated since birth with television and information produced by computers, so libraries/media centers must be designed to prepare students to make critical judgments about this flood of electronic information.
The library/media center will become a place where teachers and media specialists will instruct students how to navigate the traditional world of print and the burgeoning world of digital information, imparting information literacy. Library/media center technology will reach beyond school walls by way of computer data and video networks to put information resources into the hands of end-users. Therefore, with networks linking all areas of the modern school, the best place to access information may no longer be within the walls of the traditional library.
Acquisitions and selection criteria will take on an entirely new meaning when considering access to on-line services. The information explosion has created far more information than one school library could possibly contain within its walls. The information contained on the Internet, the global network of computer networks, is richer than any school can afford to acquire.
Librarians and media specialists will strike out into classrooms to consult with teachers. There they will suggest resources, locate and acquire needed materials, recommend strategies, facilitate use of technologies, and instruct students and teachers in optimal information-seeking methods. Many traditional tasks will be assigned to clerks, leaving the professional free to work directly with students and teachers. As students become more self-directed learners, the media specialist will act as a resource person to support information and develop appropriate presentation strategies.
While nobody is advocating the abolition of text-based libraries, electronic storage and telecommunications technologies vastly will increase the variety of information available and the number of people who have access to it.
Wired for success Today's students are going to graduate in a wired world. They are going to have to collect and analyze information and do business in an environment where there will be instantaneous multimedia access. The emerging goals seem to be a seamless electronic environment where students and teachers may access a variety of information and knowledge sources in a manner that is simple and easy; independent of time and place or subject, for purposes ranging from augmentation and refreshing memory, to learning, decisionmaking, and creating or uncovering new knowledge.
