Blog: What Does Your Library Look Like in the Future?

I consider myself fortunate to work at the newest branch of the Los Angeles Public Library (Silver Lake) because we have leading edge technologies and a clean, comfortable setting in which to use them.  For a librarian who was taught how to type up catalog cards with wooden rulers as a guide, this branch is futuristic.  But I am constantly being challenged by the notion that libraries are a dying institution.  How can public libraries succeed in the digital age?  Every year, when the American Library Association meets at its annual conference, librarians sit around tables and brainstorm ways to stay relevant.  This might sound like a self-serving exercise, so instead, I ask you, what would our city be like without the public library?  If you are like me, and the thought of no libraries makes you quesy, then you may want to repose the question as, what would a public library look like in the future?  One idea is that we are shifting from a place that only stores knowledge, to a place that supports and/or participates in creating knowledge.  For this to happen, our library needs to be engaged in the process of learning, rather than merely housing the results.  So, what do you want the future Silver Lake Branch Library to be?