The Library of the Future by Bodie Van Den Berg

Here is Bodie Van Den Berg's entry in the #YLibrary Writing Competition.

The library of the future will be a signpost, a repository, and a fortress. It will exist in virtual space and physical, even more than it does now. It will direct and inform, it will be active and reactive, and it will stand fast in the face of mis-, dis-, and non-information. It will be a playground where big data, open data, classic, pulp and pop literature all play together nicely, under the watchful eyes of librarians who tend and love them all, but send them off to whoever needs them. At the same time, it will be a place where myths are destroyed, housed, enjoyed and created. Elements of it will survive from the Present – the air conditioning and silence – but it will evolve as well, pointing the way if not able to annex the destination. Media of all sorts will eventually be included in its’ collections, even if metadata can’t yet quantify it, and might not ever be able to do so. Soon, the library won’t just be a community hub – it will be the community itself, and it will still be my favorite place when that happens.

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