The End of Wisdom?: The Future of Libraries in a Digital Age

The End of Wisdom? The Future of Libraries in a Digital Age assembles opinion pieces, forecasts, strategy options, and case studies from leading worldwide politicians, academics, educators, authors, publishers, captains of industry, senior public sector workers, library directors, IT gurus and other key players in the field of information provision who discuss their views on the hypothesis surrounding the "end of libraries" and the "death of books." The contributions – ranging in length from 500 to 2000 words are analyzed and summarized to create a rich picture of current trends and likely futures for libraries of all types, with digital options discussed in detail.

Focuses on the key issue facing library and information services for the foreseeable futureTakes a much broader view by asking a wide range of key people and representative stakeholders and user groups for their view of the future of libraries of all kindsPresents a comprehensive analysis of likely directions and options for libraries, library managers, and usersIncludes a route map for the futureBuilds on the successful approaches adopted in A Handbook of Digital Library Economics and Libraries and Society

1. Henrik Jochumsen, Dorte Skot-Hansen and Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen - The four spaces of the public library 2. Charlie Smith - The influence of digital media on the design of libraries 3. Julie Arndrup - The best of both worlds 4. Mai Aggerbeck, Kirsten Maibom and Karen Frederiksen - The disembedded librarian: A vision of the librarian’s future role in an educational context 5. Patrick Lo and Dickson Chiu – Informal interview with school librarians 6. Diana L.H. Chan - Using formal and informal channels to update librarians’ skill sets 7. Tibor Koltay - Library 2.0: Lost illusions? 8. Matthew Naughtin - Digital music preparation in the modern orchestral library 9. Bruce E. Massis - The academic library in 2020 10. Bernard Scaife - Using technology to make more digital content openly available 11. Evgenia Vassilakaki - New trends in higher education: can information professionals rise to the challenge? 12. Joachim Schopfel - Six futures of academic libraries 13. Cherifa Boukacem-Zeghmouri - From being libraries to becoming the "Switchmen" of scholarship in the digital age 14. Steve Bowman - Digital pedagogy and the student voice 15. Vivien Sieber, Julia Anthoney, Heather Barker, and Ellie Roberts - Information literacy in a digital age: embedding information literacy in the curriculum 16. Louise Overgaard - Playing, creating, learning: the future public library for children and families 17. Stephen Akintunde - The future of libraries in Nigeria 18. Daniella Smith - Reinvigorated opportunities: libraries as essential institutions for youth 19. Bas Savenije - A cooperative model for a national digital library 20. Belen Fornovi Rodriguez - In the core of research 21. Dr Rafael Ball - Information management of the future 22. Niels Brügger - Webraries and web archives — the web between public and private 23. Karen Carden - Not only but also?