Libraries go digital

Libraries are like churches – you observe silence.  But unlike churches, libraries are evolving in a manner that used to be unimaginable.

The library we are all used to will soon be gone – no more of the ladies shushing you to shut up, the damp smell, and shelves upon shelves of books with it.

Books are being pushed aside for digital learning centers and gaming areas. “Loud rooms” that promote forums and group projects are taking over the bookish quiet.  Chic staffers who blog, chat on Twitter and care little about the Dewey Decimal System are edging out old-school librarians.

But the goal of the library remains the same: To be a free place where people can access and share information.

Authors, publishing houses, librarians and Web sites continue to fight every search engine’s efforts to digitize the world’s books and create the world’s largest library online.

Meanwhile, many real-world libraries are moving forward with the assumption that physical books will play a much-diminished or potentially nonexistent role in their efforts to educate the public.

This shift means the role of the librarian — and their look — is also changing.

In a world where information is more social and more online, librarians are becoming debate moderators, givers of technical support and community outreach coordinators.

While librarians, or whatever you may call them now, and the patrons still see each other, the latter will no longer be subjected to the hush-hush orders and there will no longer be silence to observe.

Freedom of speech and movement is back!

[via cnn.com]