“You Are the Future of Libraries: No Pressure” Path to the Future, a University of Maryland Libraries Speaker Series, College Park, MD.
Abstract: If libraries are obsolete in 10 years, it’s your fault. It’s my fault too. As Alan Kay once said “the best way to predict the future is to invent it.” So since we are the people ultimately responsible for creating the future, we are the future of the library. Assume for a moment “they” are right … you know, them. The ones who say that the Internet/ Mass Digitalization /Search Engines/ Wikipedia/Document Right Management/ Whatever is going to put libraries out of business. Assume that the stacks are bare, the coffee bars are empty, and the ivy is left to run riot over the columns. Is there still a library? If that strikes you as an odd question, let me ask you another one. Is the future of the library a question of stacks, coffee bars or ivy?
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2008/UMD.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2008/UMD.mp3
Video: http://ptbed.org/downloads/UMD-Record.mov
Screencast:
Wikipedia will never replace the ambiance of a library. When I look at Wikipedia, I still seem encased in the world. In a library, I can concentrate and feel detached from everything else for a while.