Libraries of the Future – Centers of Innovation and Technology

 

The library is undoubtedly one of the oldest cultural institutions on earth, with a history that spans over 2,000 years when the first library was established in 300 BCE in Alexandria, Egypt.¹

 

For centuries, the library stood firmly as the pillar of knowledge and learning in societies all over the globe. However, since the revolutionary popularization of the internet in the mid-1990s that initiated the Information Age and unprecedented access and sharing of information, public perceptions of the library began to change.

 

Today, people are more internet-connected than ever, and the debate on the relevance of the library continues. Some claim that the library is an obsolete institution, but libraries everywhere are evolving – changing from storehouses for old books to centers of innovation and technology. Libraries of the Digital Age have become patron-centric, offering high-value digital services and products such as e-books, video streaming, and premium content through apps like PressReader.

 

Here’s a vision of how libraries of the future may look according to LibraryScienceList.com:

 

 

¹http://odearylibrary.com/library-news/the-worlds-oldest-library/

 

Source: blog.librarypd.com