The internet has already had a major impact on how people find and access information, and now the rising popularity of e-books is helping transform Americans’ reading habits. In this changing landscape, public libraries are trying to adjust their services to these new realities while still serving the needs of patrons who rely on more traditional resources.

Adapted from a chapter that I wrote for Library 2020, a book edited by Joseph Janes and published by Rowman & Littlefield (May 2013). The library in 2020 is the last bastion of truth. Sure, you...

It’s that time of year when book people make their predictions for the year ahead.  I bring you, my dear reader, my epic predictions for 2...

What's your answer? Here's mine:         Caveat: I am not a futurist.             So let's get the bad news over with.   It looks like ...

It happens to us all. We look out into the future, trying our best to make wise decisions, only to find ourselves staring into the teeth of ferocious and widespread uncertainties. If only everything didn’t depend on, well, everything else. How do we decide what kind of career path to pursue when it’s not clear […]

Good example of scenario planning!

If you think it is hard to explain to nonlibrary users what a librarian does, try explaining the job of a cataloger. Not long ago (when I was still in library school), if someone had asked me what exactly a cataloger is, my answer would have been, “a guardian of the catalog.” This still holds … Continue reading Cataloging Then, Now, and Tomorrow →

Strangely, the Austrian city of Klagenfurt doesn't have a public library, even though it hosts the Festival of German-Language Literature.

Who and how decisions about "technology" are made within an institution are more critical today than ever. An institution that ignores that reality and marginalizes or technology leadership from strategic direction does so at its peril. Next come budget models. The best well laid plans will go the way of mice and men if support does not follow. Politics within the power structure of the institution quickly follows. The pattern whereby inspired technology leadership gets scapegoated because he or she did not pull a rabbit out of a hat when deans and department heads failed to provide enough funds for either the rabbit or the hat is legendary in the CIO community in this country. And it is not always money, but a voice to technology leadership that allows it to exercise influence authority that matters. Technology leaders worth their salt are not just about network connections, but the skill they should exercise in helping the administration -- including, if not especially, deans -- understand the stakes of inaction and the opportunities that await their schools on the other side change. Stuffed down the power structure and silenced by the protocols of hierarchical relations means never learning or understanding those opportunities.

A blog about libraries, open access, digital information, education, and impact of technology on society.

Facing the Future
We don’t just need change, we need breakthrough, paradigm-shifting, transformative, disruptive ideas.

Image matthileo After a few days of discussing the future of law libraries and law librarianship with members of the AALL Board last week, I came away

A couple of major (Big Six) publishers have acknowledged that ebook revenues for them have passed 20% of their revenues. Of the 80% that remains print, I think it would be conservative to estimate that 20% of that is sold online. That’s an additional 16 percent of their business. Adding those together tells us that, for at […]

. Advertising impressario Rory Sutherland has given TEDTalks on the general life lessons to take from advertising, and the incredible importance of seemingly small details for producing big results.