Library of the Future

I listened to a very interesting discussion today on NPR's "Talk of the Nation" that has become a familiar refrain for my colleagues and I.

With technology becoming an increasingly important part of our day to day lives, will brick and mortar libraries become a thing of the past? Will taxpayers continue to fund an institution that has outgrown its usefulness? After all, (say it with me my fellow librarians: "everything is online and I can find whatever I need by using Google") at some point in the future we won't need to go to the library to find the information we need and consequently (although no one on the program suggested this) we won't need librarians.

There were some positives that came out of the conversation. The future depends on libraries adapting in order to survive and one way they can do this is to stay ahead of the curve in terms of technology and trends. One thing that is abundantly clear is that libraries are here to stay, but they will be very different from what we have grown accustomed to.