Planning Our Future Libraries: Blueprints for 2025

With essays by Brett Bonfield, John Chrastka, Lesley Farmer, Dave Harmeyer, Megan Hodge, Ben Malczewski, Krisellen Maloney, and Hugh Rundle

In an information environment where the only constant is change, many wonder where libraries are headed. This edited collection brings together library leaders with some of the brightest new minds in the profession to envision the future of libraries. Drawing from their personal experiences, they bring their barrier-breaking perspectives to the task of reinventing the library in all its forms. From redesigning library services for the evolving needs of users, to functioning as a meaningful space in a digital age, implementing new infrastructure, and imagining the international future of school libraries, the contributors ask and answer questions such as:

• How do lessons from the past point the way forward?
• What should libraries look like in the future?
• Which safeguards will protect intellectual freedom, such as equitable access to information and anti-censorship policies, now and in years to come?
• How can we overcome obstacles such as feasibility, costs, and competing interests to realize the library of the future?

This thought-provoking collection will challenge librarians at every kind of institution to start planning today for the library of tomorrow.