OCLC's The Future of Libraries

In the report The Future of Libraries: Beginning the Great Transformation, the DaVinci Institute, a nonprofit futurist think tank, has put together 10 key trends that are affecting the development of the next generation library. They are:

• Time compression is changing the lifestyle of library users
• Libraries are transitioning from a center of information to a center of culture
• We are transitioning from a product-based to an experience-based economy
• The stage is being set for a new era of global systems
• The demand for global information is growing exponentially
• Over time, we will be transitioning to a verbal society
• Search technology will become increasingly more complicated
• We havenÃ?’t yet reached the ultimate small particle for storage, but will soon
• All technology ends and all technologies commonly used today will be replaced by something new
• Communication systems are continually changing the way people access information

Their recommendations:

• Evaluate the library experience
• Preserve the memories of your own communities
• Embrace new information technologies
• Experiment with creative spaces so the future role of the library can define itself

From the e-mail message OCLC Abstracts.

I'm not so sure about "Over time, we will be transitioning to a verbal society." They seem to mean folks will be talking to their computers. Well, if you can imagine a room or plane full of people all talking to their machines you can see the drawback. And you thought mobile phones were a disturbance. Maybe if they could be used in a cone of silence.

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