Argues against the futuristic idea of virtual libraries because it is devastating to the societal mission of libraries, proposing instead a balanced, human-oriented approach to technology that complements print, community library buildings, and user-friendly librarians.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1993.

Academic and public libraries are much different today than they were even 15 years ago. With even bigger changes on the horizon, what lies in store? This volume offers ideas to academic and public librarians about the future of library services. Editors Hernon and Matthews invite a raft of contributors to step back and envision the type of future library that will generate excitement and enthusiasm among users and stakeholders. Anyone interested in the future of libraries, especially library managers, will be engaged and stimulated as the contributorsExamine the current state of the library, summarizing existing literature on the topic to sketch in historical backgroundProject into the future, using SWOT analysis, environmental scans, and other techniques to posit how library infrastructure (such as staff, collections, technology, and facilities) can adapt in the decades aheadConstruct potential scenarios that library leaders can use to forge paths for their own institutionsThe collection of knowledge and practical wisdom in this book will help academic and public libraries find ways to honor their missions while planning for the broader institutional changes already underway.

What will future sci-tech libraries be like? Who will be the key players? In this insightful volume, first published in 1992, leaders in sci-tech librarianship reflect on their years in the profession and predict how the sci-tech library will look in ten years. It takes a close look at the revolution in the communication of scientific information and how technology has transformed the process of knowledge delivery and acquisitions. It prepares libraries to react to new channels of scholarly communication that in the future may challenge the viability of the research library. Most importantly, it emphasizes how the rapid pace of change in science, communication, and computers has pushed libraries to aggressively seek to become central to the knowledge formation and transfer process - just to survive. These provocative chapters reveal how sci-tech librarians need to work with scientists and engineers to understand their changing information needs and to participate in the planning and development of new information systems. This book examines all areas of the scientific process that will be affected by change: the way research is conducted, communicated, transferred, stored, and delivered. The changes discussed in this book encompass researchers, librarians, information managers, publishers, and users. Some of the important topics discussed include an in-depth analysis of the information needs of science and engineering and how to best develop the electronic means to meet them; leadership challenges in the future electronic, computer, or virtual library; concern over the quality of information services for scientists delivered by non-scientist librarians; a ten-year prediction for sci-tech librarians and sci-tech publishers; the science library building of the future; the impact of increasingly interdisciplinary scientific research; and the effect of federal policy on sci-tech libraries.

The convergence of IT, telecommunications, and media is changing the way information is collected, stored and accessed. This revolution is having effects on the development and organisation of information and artefact repositories such as libraries and museums. This book presents key aspects in the rapidly moving field of digital convergence in the areas of technology and information sciences. Its chapters are written by international experts who are leaders in their fields.

Information in today’s modernized world has become much more attainable with the use of technology. A resource that has fallen victim to this are library services. What was once a staple of knowledge and communication has failed to keep pace with recent advancements in information service providers. Library practitioners need to learn how to manage change, build influence, and adapt their services to remain relevant within local communities. Libraries can continue to play a key role in future aspects of information provision, but proper research is a necessity. Managing and Adapting Library Information Services for Future Users is a collection of innovative research that encapsulates practices, concepts, ideas, and proposals that would chart pathways for libraries of all types to envision and understand how to thrive and remain relevant in the competitive information provision environment. It is expected to motivate librarians and information scientists to probe further into how libraries would better serve user communities of the 21st century who have options of accessing information from sources other than from libraries. While highlighting topics including artificial intelligence, human design thinking, and alternative finance, this book is ideally designed for librarians, information specialists, architects, data scientists, researchers, community development practitioners, policymakers, faculty members, and students seeking current research on emerging advancements in library optimization.

This volume of Advances in Library Administration and Organization will focus on the future of library spaces. Libraries are dealing with unprecedented changes on several fronts and these factors understandably impact physical library space. Looking toward the future what changes can we expect to see in how libraries use space?

As more associations struggle with limited professional development funding, the opportunities for library and information experts to advance their skills are being examined in a more effective and cost-efficient manner. Revolutionizing the Development of Library and Information Professionals: Planning for the Future examines the future of library professional development by investigating the aspects that make these development events worthwhile. This book is essential for library association personnel, educational institutions, and management personnel in large library systems to aid in determining future trends in professional development opportunities for their staff.

In this information age it is widely recognised that, in order to maintain relevance and to gain a competitive edge, libraries and other organisations in the business of information must continuously assess their roles, collections, services and perhaps most importantly, their business practices. Scenarios are a way of predicting and describing a future three to five years away while strongly engaging one's community in choosing the future which is preferable. The horizon in which assessments about future roles change is growing shorter and shorter. While it is almost clichéd to state that change is the only constant, differing scenarios of what libraries might be allow all of us to contemplate futures we might otherwise not allow. Drawing on extensive experience in libraries in different parts of the globe, the authors provide a rich analysis of planning, managing and implementing change in information organisations through scenario planning. Through extensive practical applications, both actual and theoretical, the authors provide a strong background understanding and direct the reader through a planning process that is both readily applicable and innovative for all information organisations, irrespective of their size or client base. - Extensive exploration of what it means to 'shape our futures' rather than having our future shaped for us - Valuable techniques for understanding futures and creating different scenarios - Practical applications are illustrated through examples and real life experience