Are We Experiencing the End of the Library as We Know It? Speculating on the Future of Libraries as “Space of Flows”

Abstract

Social networking facilities alongside the massive digitization of information resources and popularity of search engines clearly impact on the nature and conditions of public library services. This has also affected the public library’s societal role and institutional identity. The new digital information environment and social software tools such as blogs, wikis and social networking sites have contributed new perspectives to discussion of the future of public libraries as information providers. Within the profession, in LIS academic environments and in the wider media, varying views of the public library’s future have been presented. Whereas some professionals, library directors and LIS academics see a bright future for the public libraries, believing in their flexibility and pointing to their potential for survival, there are analysts and commentators who are much more pessimistic about the need for public libraries in the next 20-30 years. But however uncertain their future, there does seem to be a need for public libraries to critically review their aims and objectives and consider redefining their service identity. In discussing the survival of public libraries in the digital age, a range of visions have been proselytised while ways of widening and enhancing the role of libraries have been indicated. Some emphasis has been given to exploring the public library as “space of flows”, a term proposed by Manuel Castells. By analysing key papers reflecting on the public library as a space for communication and networking, this paper intends to examine the nature of the communications dimension of the public library in a phase of reorientation and struggle for survival. Included in this analysis is the library’s role as a democratic agora and as a hybrid learning space. The library can thus host conventional face-to-face meetings and seminars and actively initiate e-discussions that aim to involve citizens in discussions of cultural, political and community-related issues. In contributing to the development of a conceptual basis for the study of communication and networking activities in public library settings, the paper presents an analytical approach that is structured around Manuel Castells’ spatial division of “space of flows” and “space of place”.