The Next Big Thing: Is Your Library up to 21st-Century Speed?

Libraries of the future will primarily manage digital repositories of information rather than warehouse physical books. A more functional method geared toward easy browsing will replace the Dewey Decimal system. And computers will surpass human librarians in the ability to answer even the most complex reference questions. Guess what? The future is now. Welcome to school year 2010.

Digital Information: A highlight of the recent ALA Annual Conference in Chicago was the chance to speak with other librarians. One evening, the academic specialists at the table discussed a new vision of the library as information commons, with books relegated to rolling, condensed storage in the basement. Most information is already accessed digitally, they said, therefore demanding this shift. I’m not saying the book is dead, but print is being replaced by digital content. So what are we as school librarians doing to prepare our high school students for the digital information landscape they will soon face in college?

A good first step would be to consider a PreK—12 learning framework that provides support for the use of digital resources. A springboard for school or districtwide implementation of the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner, this also represents an opportunity to collaborate with public and academic libraries. One idea would be to encourage high school teachers to assign articles and book excerpts as digital reading. In lower grades, consider publishing and sharing class stories as ebooks.

Ditch Dewey: When the Gilbert Library in Arizona’s Maricopa County switched from the Dewey Decimal Classification system (DDC) to a more intuitive, user-friendly arrangement in 2007, it made national news. Today hundreds of libraries are opting out of Dewey. Some are looking to BISAC, the shelving/classification system used by many bookstores. While not a perfect fit for libraries, BISAC’s subject headings seems to make sense for our users. Some high school librarians I work with want to ditch not only DDC, but also the aged SEARS subject headings in favor of a new system for making nonfiction more accessible to students. Another alternative is LibraryThing’s Open Shelves Classification. Though designed for public libraries, the open-source format would allow adaptation by schools. This is a great opportunity for us to help make our media centers more accessible. And wouldn’t it be great to have more time to focus on real skills like inquiry?

Answers to Everything: The classic argument for why the Web could never replace libraries is that it can’t answer complicated questions. While this was true 10 years ago, it’s no longer the case. Just look at Microsoft’s Bing, which purports to be a “decision engine” rather than a search tool. Its goal is to take users through a decision-making process toward a successful outcome rather than just provide a list of results. Similarly, Hunch harnesses the power of the collective to help inform your decisions.

Even if we’re just talking about raw data, new tools, like Google’s Squared, use semantic analysis of multiple sources to present a grid of information akin to an on-demand reference service. These applications won’t replace librarians (yet). Wouldn’t it be great if we were the ones introducing them to our schools and administrators, reinforcing the message of librarians as information guides capable of teaching the new tools?

These are not just the ramblings of a crazy dreamer bent on change. In truth, I abhor change and only survive the process by assuming leadership and taking control of the inevitable process. So how can individual librarians embrace and manage the changes now upon us? Step one is to accept the new reality. Only then can we look at ways to work toward the future.