Musings on the Future of Libraries

I was reading my library textbook, Foundations of Library and Information Science (3rd Ed.)  by Richard E. Rubin this morning and was inspired to write about some comments he referred to in a section about the library vs. information science debate. One quoted author admonished library schools to not lose faith in the traditional missions of libraries which are to foster literacy and lifelong learning. He decried the change from librarian as educator to librarian as intermediary as a result of including information science in library education.

I don’t see it that way. With regard to the traditions of library missions, I believe that focusing on any traditional practices without considering if they are still relevant means trying to live in the past when the real world has moved on to a new paradigm. Libraries have to keep up with the changes in how information is made available and the different ways people want to get access to information now. Our job as librarian when dealing with information is not to provide results to queries faster than Google can, of course we can’t compete there, but to help patrons learn how to refine, sort, evaluate, and understand those hundreds of thousands of search results. Miring libraries down in a belief that they can not include information science as a part of the service to their community because they can’t compete with Google is a sure way to guarantee libraries become obsolete.

I also believe that following his line of reasoning will hurt libraries’ abilities to further literacy. Drawing on my focus on early literacy during my teaching career, I am convinced that the best way to inspire people to improve their literacy is to give them access to the things they want to read. This will create a desire that leads to learning. Of course not all reading can be for fun and personal interests, but if no reading is ever for fun or personal interests, then no desire to read will blossom and literacy will wither and die on the vine.