Staying in the Game

Abstract

I have been thinking about the future of libraries, especially what I would call “special collections” or “research” libraries, for much of my career. During this time, technology has played an increasingly significant and positive role in libraries. In recent years as others wrote books about the demise of printed books and the end of the library, I dismissed this view and have been content to believe in a future for libraries that many have labeled as “hybrid.” I thought that this hybrid state of books and other printed materials coexisting in libraries alongside digital collections would last a long, . . .