Computers in Libraries Magazine ran an article by Dan that covers his live research at the CiL 2024 conference.
The Serious Insights research at the Computers in Libraries 2024 conference (CiL 2024) ranked the key uncertainties shaping libraries’ future over the next decade, identifying ten critical areas where unpredictable shifts could profoundly impact libraries’ governance, operations, and social role.
Computers in Libraries 2024 Finding Summary
These ten topics capture the most critical and uncertain areas that will affect the evolving social, technological, and political dynamics that will affect libraries.
1. Access to Emerging Technology: The persistent digital divide highlights the gap in equitable tech access. Ensuring all users can access digital content and master technology will remain challenging.
2. Trust in Information: Rising misinformation is a growing problem, with information integrity threatened by politicization and AI-generated falsehoods. This trend challenges libraries’ role as trusted information sources.
3. AI’s Role: AI’s impact on libraries spans from beneficial automation to concerns about data privacy, transparency, and the potential for autocratic applications, requiring cautious, ethical integration.
4. Political Decision-Making: Politics increasingly blends evidence and ideology, impacting library funding and policy. Predicting political shifts affecting libraries remains fraught with uncertainty.
5. Equity and Inclusiveness: Algorithms used in social and government settings risk reinforcing biases. Libraries must navigate how technology either supports or hinders social equity.
6. Homelessness: The societal impact of homelessness affects libraries as public spaces. The trends will influence libraries’ roles in providing access and resources to underserved populations.
7. Reading Trends: With immersive technology and AI reading tools, traditional reading habits are transforming. Libraries will need to adapt to new reader engagement models.
8. Content Censorship: Libraries face an uncertain future in terms of censorship, balancing free expression with evolving online disinformation and societal norms around content accessibility.
9. Metadata Approach: As metadata generation becomes more automated, libraries may pivot to more AI-driven or hybrid management systems, impacting how information is categorized and accessed.
10. Library-Publisher Relationships: Libraries’ partnerships with publishers evolve as e-content grows. This shift may force libraries to rethink their models for content acquisition and accessibility.
These uncertainties can help libraries develop scenarios that allow them to not only position their institutions to anticipate change but to actively shape futures that prioritize equitable access to knowledge, adapting to uncertainty while upholding their foundational role in society.
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