Library Trends

In my last post I noted the financial difficulties libraries in the U.K. are having and singled out the Library of Birmingham as an example.  Birmingham was in the news again this week and Birmingham Council came under fire when it was announced that the library was asking for donations of recently published books, since, due to public saving cuts, they were no longer purchasing new books or newspapers.

Not all library trends are so dismal. Some changes are exciting and unexpected.  Recently, the American Library Association created a Center for the Future of Libraries to try and keep on top of what was trending in order to try and predict how these trends might affect library service.  The director of the new center, Miguel Figueroa, wrote in the March/April 2015 edition of American Libraries, "...it's nearly impossible to accurately predict the future. But we can identify trends, and they can be key to understanding what the future might bring. Identifying and organizing trends helps us think about the changes happening in the world and the potential effects they will have on our future. Awareness and understanding of trends can help us actively plan for our own work [as librarians] and for the work with the communities we serve...."  To that end, the Center for the Future of Libraries has created an online "trend library," which you can view here.

Some of the trends identified are fairly obvious--makerspaces, income inequalities, aging populations, digital natives (as opposed to digital immigrants)--but others are not so obvious--changes in American dining habits for example (fast casual), haptic technology, community resiliency in the face of disaster, and "the Internet of things."  It is an interesting website. Check it out to see what may (or may not) affect libraries in the future.