Seth Godin on the future of libraries and librarians
Librarians that are arguing and lobbying for clever ebook lending solutions are completely missing the point. They are defending library as warehouse as opposed to fighting for the future, which is librarian as producer, concierge, connector, teacher and impresario.
Post-Gutenberg, books are finally abundant, hardly scarce, hardly expensive, hardly worth warehousing. Post-Gutenberg, the scarce resource is knowledge and insight, not access to data.
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We need librarians more than we ever did. What we don't need are mere clerks who guard dead paper. Librarians are too important to be a dwindling voice in our culture. For the right librarian, this is the chance of a lifetime.
2 comments
May 16, 2011
alfredtwo said...
Honestly hte man seems pretty clueless about how a modern library works. Real librariians are way ahead of him. Many are doing the things he talks about in this post and more. But real librarians also understand that there are many people with many needs and they have to work to met all of them. There is still a need for books but paper and electronic and in librarians don't fight for the tools they need to make every option available who will?
May 16, 2011
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