Revisit Assumptions and Assertions about LIS

One assumption about the LIS profession that I never mentioned in the original or the mid-term post was that of what I thought that a library was. If you look up the definition of library it is defined as "a place where books, magazines, and other materials (such as videos and musical recordings) are available for people to use or borrow" (definition retrieved from: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/library). When I started LIS 6010 that is all that I thought a library was, and I do not think that my view of library changed much over most of the semester. I think that is why I focused on the ALA ethics codes rather than this issues in the mid-term post. Now that I am seriously starting to challenge my thought of what a library is, or at least the traditional definition of a library.

I have always seen movies, music, and computers in public libraries growing up, and I considered them fringe additions to the heart of a book-centered library. Over the course of this semester I have learned more about the various services that are offered at libraries, like music courses, G.E.D. courses, interview skills, job skills, life skills, cooking class, programming classes, and maker spaces. As each new service has entered into the library realm, I kept saying to myself, "but a library is a place where books are kept." Surely, libraries will always have a place for books, or they will no longer be a library. However that may not be completely true in the future.

As we discussed maker spaces it was mentioned that one of the reasons why maker spaces were becoming more available was because books were being removed from the shelf and moved into digital format (The Future Libraries, n.d.). As a person who hates reading digital books, I had a depressing revelation that there might be a time in my life that books are no longer printed in physical form. There may be a time when libraries no longer have any books that you can go and borrow from them. The library may offer a digital service where you can borrow e-books, but that would not make it any different than some current internet sites.

 Libraries seem to moving more towards spaces where people do not go to seek information, but go instead to apply information. Yes, people have always gone to libraries for some services that allow them to apply what they have learned, but more and more application of learning is being emphasized over the consumption of knowledge. It makes me wonder if in the future libraries will cease to exist and in its place we will instead have public innovation or application stations instead. If more information is available for free on the internet, then people will no longer need to go to a library to find that information. So will the library live on?

As mentioned before, libraries have always offered services beyond books, even though they were book centered. Public libraries have always been community centers, and the community aspect of libraries have been an important theme throughout our entire LIS 6010 course. The public/community space that a public library is will not be destroyed, and the need for it will be present for years to come. However, the traditional purpose of a library will vanish. I feel as those physical "libraries" will be a relic of the past in my lifetime. The internet will be "the library", and borrowing will be obsolete as the internet will contain unlimited and universal access. 

I feel as though those who work in the future public community centers will be of a much more varied cast that will include mechanical, chemical, industrial, musical, and computer engineers that can effectively guide patrons in their application of the knowledge they gained from the library of the internet. Information professional will be more removed from the patrons and will work less with them. Their programs will focus on guiding the information to the patron, without any human contact. 

It may be the spaces we call libraries today were misnamed from the beginning. It may be that while they often had books in them, their true purpose was something much more. It may also be that the name library will be still be applied to these community spaces, and instead the definition of a library will change. A library will go from a place that is a depot for information, to a place where information is applied in various ways under the instruction of a variety of professionals. I guess I will have to revisit this post years from now and see if it is true. 

Works Cited
The Future Libraries . (n.d.). "Why Maker Spaces" [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://thefuturelibrary6010.tumblr.com/