Talk:Positioning the library for 2020
From PLN
Designing For the Library Future -- Blendedlibrarian 19:12, 26 May 2008 (EDT)
I might be more comfortable responding to this question if it focused on "what we're not doing now but should be doing" to prepare for 2020. Certainly keeping our physical facilities ready for an information future that revolves around hand held or body-integrated devices is important. Our building was opened in 1964 and is due for a massive renovation - maybe more - and that is just one obvious thing we must do to prepare for 2020 in order to meet the needs of the next generation of learners. What's not so obvious is of greater concern.
The best strategy may be to take a design approach. That is, avoid identifying solutions for uncertain times and opt instead to focus on problem finding. If we really want to prepare for 2020 in higher education we might start now to understand who our users will be. What sort of world are today's 5 and 6 year olds going to be living in? They'll be our class of 2020, and we need to understand their world and how they learn. Today's college graduates are the faculty of 2020. Is there any doubt they'll be far more immersed in technology than our current aging faculty? Let's start to think about the necessary design of our buildings, web sites, information resources, and how it can respond to the needs and expectations of these future users.
Academic librarians should be preparing by anticipating changes in higher education. One scenario (and scenario planning may be a good idea for this) suggests that the growth of online learning will make higher education hyper-competitive. In that scenario that library may be a marketing tool; a way to gain a competitive advantage in attracting students who vote solely with their dollars and take classes whenever and wherever it is most convenient for them. A more extreme scenario might suggest that the building will be largely irrelevant except for a few scholars. All others will be strictly electronic users and it's quite possible all interaction will occur in virtual worlds. Librarians will sell their services to the highest institutional bidder and work as independent consultants to faculty and students. I'm not sure exactly what I'd do today to prepare for that, but it would likely be rooted in our current strategy to integrate the library as tightly as possible into the physical and virtual classroom. If we continue to build on today's successes, no matter what form education takes in 2020 we'll be ready and able to participate as collaborative partners.
Steven Bell Temple University bells@temple.edu
