The world is our lobster: Rethinking traditional attitudes

Purpose - The purpose of this article is to explore the changing skill sets, operating environments and community engagement activities which can create a robust and valued future for libraries and librarians. It is easy to paint a doom-laden picture of the future of libraries against a background o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:New library world 2014-01, Vol.115 (5/6), p.200-210
Main Author: Law, Derek
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic libraries
Budgets
Colleges & universities
Cultural Background
Cultural heritage
Design engineering
Digital
Digital preservation
Higher Education
Information science
Information systems
Investment
Job Skills
Learning
Learning Analytics
Librarians
Libraries
Library Personnel
Library Schools
Library staff
Lobsters
Middle Schools
MOOCs
Online instruction
Preservation
Public libraries
Public Schools
Scholarly communication
School districts
School Libraries
Seizing
Skills
Social networks
Students
Trends
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Description
Summary:Purpose - The purpose of this article is to explore the changing skill sets, operating environments and community engagement activities which can create a robust and valued future for libraries and librarians. It is easy to paint a doom-laden picture of the future of libraries against a background of library cuts, professional deskilling and the relentless advance of ever more powerful digital information systems. However, these self-same threats offer new challenges for information management. Design/methodology/approach - Personal view of the future based on current literature. Findings - It is better to seek forgiveness than permission. Seize the day. Research limitations/implications - Just one point of view among many. Practical implications - Librarians need to act. Social implications - The library can remain core to civilised societies. Originality/value - Others must judge that.
ISSN:0307-4803
2398-5348
2398-5356
DOI:10.1108/NLW-05-2014-0054