Imagining the Future Library

To imagine the future library, we first need to reckon with libraries’ collective failure to adapt to the pace and scale of the data economy.

Libraries are traditionally based around structured knowledge systems. They expertly curate and manage significant collections of knowledge for the benefit of their users and the wider society. The transition to a data economy, however, moved society away from a traditional structured knowledge system to a non-structured data system, fundamentally altering how value was created, captured, and distributed. We saw a significant rise in the importance of data science, which allowed people to generate value by turning vast quantities of unstructured data into actionable insights.

While libraries recognized this transition, they didn’t rapidly adopt this new knowledge system or prepare themselves for the scale of the challenge. Their slowness to act was partly due to underinvestment in the task of adjusting to an emerging knowledge system while continue to be responsible for the established knowledge system, and partly due to libraries’ own inability to make a politically astute case for why they were the primary units with knowledge expertise. It is only recent that we have started seeing roles like data scientists being recruited in the library world.

We are now going through another fundamental shift. While the vast amounts of unstructured data have barely been converted into actionable information, the value generated has already been immense. The digital world, however, keeps producing significant amounts of data and approximately 80 percent of it remains unstructured (IBM, 2011; Dahal, 2023). I believe this will remain the case for the next decade.

With an insurmountable amount of data and limited human capacity (and capability) to process it into useful information (and knowledge), we have moved into a world of algorithmic economy, made possible over the last decade due to improvements in computing capabilities and the development of GPU-based architecture that enabled parallel processing of large datasets. These advances have led to Generative AI—from large language models trained on datasets from across the web (and other sources) to focused, narrowly trained machine learning models. As the compute power in our devices continue to grow, we will see more edge AI models as well as more agentic AI models emerge, the latter of which could spawn new agents with different capabilities and coordinate the results to provide value, closely resembling human intelligence. The algorithmic economy moves at a fast pace.

Unfortunately, many libraries still lack the foresight to predict the impact of algorithmic economy on our curatorial practice. The picture becomes even more convoluted when you add external factors: geopolitics, technological and regulatory shifts, societal impact concerns, existing biases of and hierarchies in data, and the capability-capacity disparities between different parts of the world. All these factors are going to change the way we think of and manage knowledge.

In my view, libraries should now make an active and confident move from Knowledge Curation to Knowledge Stewardship.

Library Transformation in Context

The disparities between Global North and Global South continue to increase, and equitable co-production of and access to trustworthy knowledge remain fundamental to the delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The English-language based knowledge system still dominates academic and global communications, with algorithms further perpetuating this disparity. At the same time, the wealth and power of big tech companies grows exponentially. If the current market valuations of Nvidia, Microsoft, or Apple were GDPs, they would fall behind the US, China, and Germany as the fourth, fifth, and sixth richest countries in the world.

Academic publishing platforms are increasingly AI platforms. Taking inspiration from social media and its algorithmic approach, the academic publishing world is now fully focused on developing AI tools to keep users engaged within their own ecosystems, further narrowing the lens through which we assess research impact and outcomes. We are no longer a product-focused society; we are increasingly a platform-focused society.

When we add to this already complex picture geopolitical conflicts, attacks on knowledge, such as book bans or selective curriculum erasures, and the wider Trusted Research landscape, where certain knowledge can only be shared with certain allies (a list that can change rapidly), we are facing unprecedented global challenges and disruption.

A Crucial Role for Libraries

Libraries, as values-based organizations, have an important role to play. We must start thinking about the issues that our users and our society will face in the near- and medium-term future and align our strategy accordingly. Considering the algorithmic economy shift and the wider landscape, I believe we should build a stronger focus on six areas of crucial importance: critical thinking; information literacies; knowledge equity; knowledge security; digital ethics; and curatorial practice.

Libraries already prioritize critical thinking and information literacies; but we will need to create stronger algorithmic and media literacy programs and ensure that the next generation of university graduates are both technically skilled and deep critical thinkers. I would argue that we need to take our civic responsibility seriously here and scale training programs in these areas for our local communities while sharing our materials openly for global benefit.

An increased focus on knowledge equity will require us to think beyond open access to academic publishing, prioritizing equity in open access publishing, co-production of open educational resources (OERs) across Global North and South institutions, and delivery through shared open infrastructures. Other pressing challenges will include developing a deeper understanding of different knowledge systems, the benefits they bring, and the ways in which we can work across political boundaries to enrich the global knowledge ecosystem.

Knowledge security and digital ethics are emerging priorities that libraries must take ownership of within their organizations. As misinformation, disinformation, cyberattacks, geopolitical conflicts, and rapid technological change threaten the integrity, security, and accessibility of knowledge, societies risk losing trust in the very systems that underpin democracy, innovation, and sustainable development. Libraries hold a powerful role as conveners of research and dialogue around knowledge security and ethics, with a focus on the protection of knowledge assets—digital, intellectual, and cultural—from threats that undermine their integrity, accessibility, equity, or safe use. They are also essential to fostering informed public discourse around knowledge preservation, digital inclusion, and the ethical dimensions of technology.

Last but not least, we need to seriously focus on our own curatorial practice and its transformation. Our curatorial practice is being significantly impacted by technology, social co-production, and shifting expectations of how knowledge and culture should be preserved, trusted, interpreted, and shared. We need to embrace this shift from custodianship to stewardship, collaboration, and innovation.

As algorithms continue to transform even more data into information, the job of libraries and knowledge professionals will further shift toward adding deeper synthesis, enhancing experiences, and integrating social context to enrich information into contextually relevant knowledge. This will lead to the need for two new capability requirements: 1) digital storytelling and 2) digital creativity and imagination building, potentially through the ecosystem of immersive technologies, digital platforms, experiential learning, and maker and creative spaces.

A well-recognized definition of a library is by George Eberhart, published in The Librarian’s Book of Lists (2010):

A library is a collection of resources in a variety of formats that is (1) organized by information professionals or other experts who (2) provide convenient physical, digital, bibliographic, or intellectual access and (3) offer targeted services and programs (4) with the mission of educating, informing, or entertaining a variety of audiences (5) and the goal of stimulating individual learning and advancing society as a whole.

While this is an excellent definition, I would like to build on it to make it relevant for today’s world:

A library is a collection of resources in a variety of formats that is (1) organized, enhanced, and enriched by knowledge professionals and other experts who (2) provide convenient bibliographic, algorithmic, or intellectual access, expertise, and insights (3) through physical and digital channels, and (4) offer targeted services, platforms, and programs (5) with the mission of educating, informing, or entertaining a variety of audiences (6) and the goal of stimulating individual learning, energizing imagination, and advancing society as a whole.

Libraries operate in a complex nested system, with regulatory, geopolitical, technological, information, and financial disruptions all creating a wicked challenge that requires a reconfiguration of our approach. I look forward to seeing how libraries take on this challenge and transform over the next decade.

References

Dahal, B. (2023, Jun 23). Unleashing the power of unstructured data: the rise of large AI models. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2023/07/24/unleashing-the-power-of-unstructured-data-the-rise-of-large-ai-models/

Eberhart, G. (2010). The Librarian’s Book of Lists. ALA.

IBM. 2011. Bringing smarter computing to big data. https://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/data/sw-library/data/IBM_Smarter_Computing_BIG_DATA.pdf