Forget what you know about the library of the 20th century. You know, those dark places with clunky microform machines fossilizing in the basement and with rows of encyclopedias standing, perfectly alphabetized, in denial of their obsolescence.
The library as a warehouse of information is an outdated concept. The library of the 21st century is a community workshop, a hub filled with the tools of the knowledge economy. …
Recently, the Pew Research Center found that 90 percent of Americans would be upset if their local library closed. But the survey also found „52% of Americans say that people do not need public libraries as much as they used to because they can find most information on their own.“
That’s why libraries need to adapt. People want them—but want them to be better. Instead of a warehouse of information, libraries need tools for use by the commons—a Netflix of things.
„We’ve been in the information business for 3,000 years,“ Hill says, waxing philosophical on the role of the librarian in society. „If there’s anything we do well, it’s deliver information, and information is knowledge. I think if anybody is positioned to help build workers for this new information age, it is the library.“
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2014/01/library-future-here/8193/