Possible Futures for the Research Library in the 21st Century

We live in a time of great change, an increasingly global society, knitted together by pervasive communications and transportation technologies and driven by the exponential growth of new knowledge. It is a time of challenge and contradiction, as an ever-increasing human population threatens global...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of library administration 2009-04, Vol.49 (3), p.217-225
Main Author: Duderstadt, James J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
cyberinfrastructure
Future developments
Information technology
library of the future
metauniversity
Research libraries
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Summary:We live in a time of great change, an increasingly global society, knitted together by pervasive communications and transportation technologies and driven by the exponential growth of new knowledge. It is a time of challenge and contradiction, as an ever-increasing human population threatens global sustainability; a global, knowledge-driven economy places a new premium on workforce skills through phenomena such as off-shoring; governments place increasing confidence in market forces to reflect public priorities even as new paradigms such as open-source technologies challenge conventional free-market philosophies; shifting geopolitical tensions driven by the great disparity in wealth and power about the globe, national security, and terrorism. ( Friedman, 2005 ) Yet it is also a time of unusual opportunity and reason for optimism as these same technologies enable the formation of new communities and social institutions, better able to address the needs of our society.
ISSN:0193-0826
1540-3564
DOI:10.1080/01930820902784770