“A library is a repository of books” sounds dry and unambiguous. The library is a realm of information and knowledge, a refuge for the lonely and a meeting place for friends. This is a place where you can not only replenish your luggage of knowledge, but also spend your leisure time interestingly.
Let’s take a look at the past. Previously, books were not accessible to a simple working person, books were a luxury. Libraries were only in churches or in rich houses, the literature in them was mostly specific. Today you are waiting for open spacious rooms, many shelving with books, electronic rooms with computers, televisions, projectors, acoustic equipment for events. This is not surprising, because you need to keep up with the times. Global technologization obliges, there is a chance that in a couple of decades all public institutions will appear on social networks. The time has come for libraries to listen to new trends and update resume on LinkedIn, why not, because pet accounts have long existed.
So what does a modern library of the 21st century look like? In order to keep existing readers and attract new ones, the library has to constantly change, adapt to the changes that are taking place in modern society. Librarians themselves conduct funny noisy events, put speakers in the windows and read the works of classics into the microphone.
Fancy libraries
In one of Singapore’s public libraries, a new service is successfully operating – the Silent Studio music studio (Quiet Studio). It has equipment that minimizes sound volume and does not disturb other library visitors. Library users can come to the studio with their portable musical instruments or use library ones.
The Charlotte Public Library (North Carolina, USA) organized a special area for teens – Loft (attic), where young people can record music, create animated videos, play video games and, of course, read books and magazines. Only teenagers from 12 to 18 years old and those librarians who serve them have access there.
“A loft is a kind of refuge where there are no parents or teachers, and where teenagers communicate with each other, make noise, paint glass walls with markers.” – says Bob Parker, lead editor at https://lpws.pro/ who shares his impressions of what he saw.
In English libraries, young people are involved in the formation of a single library fund. Young people, along with pickers, participate in the selection and acquisition of fiction, industry and educational literature.
What’s next? What awaits the library in the future? For fans of science fiction, everything is seen in this way: a lot of cells, in these cells of the book, in the middle of the hall there is a huge mechanical robot with countless grabbing devices. Readers click on the request button, and the robot presents him with the necessary book in no time. Or, for example, librarians fly on aero boards along high shelves with books in search of the right book, which is brightly highlighted for convenience.
Modern Library Innovations
But innovation does not end there. Already, there are many different technologies that will later find application in the library.
Surely, instead of library cards that readers forget at home or simply don’t carry with them, a special smartphone application will be developed. That would be very convenient. In addition to personal information about the reader, it may contain information about books received on hand, about the timing of the return. Notifications of upcoming events may come, with the possibility of recording online, of new arrivals, and polls of various topics can also be conducted.
To take a book in the library, you can go and find it, or wait until it finds you. The future lies with unmanned aerial vehicles, and just like Amazon drones deliver goods to customers, libraries will be able to deliver books to their readers.
Library drones are not even the near future. They already exist. Flirtey, a young Australian company, teamed up with Zookal’s book rental service to create the world’s first textbook delivery system. This system uses hexacopter – drones with six screws – to deliver the ordered textbooks. The most interesting thing is that the drone can find you by the location of your smartphone, so it is not necessary to provide your specific address. That’s very good feature for working with readers with disabilities.
Bookless libraries are constantly being opened in which it is impossible to find a single printed book. Naturally, they will not supplant traditional libraries, just as electronic books do not supplant printed libraries. E-books have their drawbacks. It seems to me that in every electronic library there should be the possibility of instant printing of the selected book. Let’s postpone the question of who will pay for it. Most importantly, in some cases, only a printed book can benefit.
An espresso book machine does exist. It was developed by Xerox, and is sold by On Demand Books. While you wait, she will print a paperback book at a speed of 150 pages per minute. This device is connected to an online catalog of seven million books: among them are copyrighted, as well as open sources. In addition, books brought by the customer can be printed on the Espresso Book Machine.
The current trend of youth engaging in a “living” book gives hope that in the future libraries will become even more popular, and the state will finance this cultural field more and more every year.