Everything from drones to virtual reality to artificial intelligence
Thomas Frey //November 7, 2016//
Everything from drones to virtual reality to artificial intelligence
Thomas Frey //November 7, 2016//
(Editor's note: This is the second of two parts. Read Part One.)
With digital comes an exponential increase in the number of ways we can access, manipulate, search, parse, combine, manage and store each of the growing number of elements in the knowledge universe.
As a result, our expectations surrounding libraries and the activities and capabilities we expect from a local neighborhood information center, are also beginning to change.
Stepping through this list of possible activities, we should begin with the understanding that very few libraries, if any, will have all of them.
Libraries are rapidly transitioning from a place for passive visitors who consume information to active participants who would much rather produce it.
Maker Space – Areas to include:
Creative Spaces – These types of spaces will come complete with all the tools, technologies, and supplies for creative people to get creative.
Mini theaters – It’s important for groups have a place to gather for such things as:
Live webcast studios – While we no longer need a studio for doing live webcasts, the age of the studio is far from over.
3D Printing – As the process of additive manufacturing improves, it will begin to enter all of our lives in unusual ways:
Flying Drones – In much the way kids that lived a century ago wanted to learn how to fly, young people today are enamored with flying and driving drones.
Artificial Intelligence – Artificial intelligence is already in existence and already knows far more about you than any person alive today. Will future libraries offer:
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality – Both will become far more pervasive in the future.
Robotics – Robots will become far more common in the future.
Internet of Things – As more of our devices join the connected world we will see an increase in demand for:
Equipment Archive – Most people have old forms of information on disks, cartridges, stick drves, and tapes, and many are looking for a place to convert it to a new medium that people today can access.
Global Library Projects
Video and Non-Video Games – Games are quickly becoming the cultural norm for most young people today.
New Facilities – Most major libraries will be testing out a host of new options to make their facilities relevant for next generation users.
Final Thoughts
As a kid growing up, libraries were always that magical place full of ideas and possibilities. Future libraries will have all that and more.
Yes, they will be continually evolving over the coming decades and the key to our understanding them lies in our ability to expand our perspective and reframe our thinking abut their role and purpose.
The list above is merely scratching the surface. Libraries can start with a formula, mission statement, policy plan or lengthy surveys, but in the end libraries will evolve, morph and transform on their own even without human intervention.
It’ll be an exciting thing to watch and even more exciting to be part of.