“Librarianship in 2036: A Forecast and Why It Will Be Wrong” Keynote, MetLib 2026. The Netherlands
Abstract: Predicting the future is a dangerous business, often producing a vision of today dressed in science fiction clothing that downplays the hard work of making change. But a wrong vision still provides direction, and it shapes our actions even as the image gets refined. We are at the start of an information shock that will reshape our communities and our profession, so here is my attempt at 2036: a revived market for human-made work, a federated AI running at the edges of the network, accountable conversants who test what people learn from AI against the public record, and a librarianship split between stewarding that record and direct community work. I do not expect to be right, and I would rather we all guess badly than not guess at all.
Video: