Kathryn Greenhill was sending out tweets the other day from a conference she was attending in the Netherlands. Helene Blowers (who originated the 23 things idea for libraries) was presenting at the time and I was watching the ustream thanks to a tweet from Kathryn. Helene referred to the extinction timeline from the Now and Next website and had it on the screen while she was presenting. Unfortunately I couldn’t see the slide and asked Katherine if she had a link. While I was waiting for a reply I searched for Now and Next and found the timeline. I was able to send the link to Kathryn who then tweeted it out. How’s that for communication across the globe!
The timeline itself is very interesting. In small print it does say ‘not to be taken too seriously’ but it does pose some scenarios that are plausible. Some are even likely to occur even earlier I suspect. Post offices and Size O are predicted to go in 2019, but Libraries are also touted as going in that year. Ten years from now!
Hopefully Librarians are going to be proactive in re-envisaging their services to respond to our changing society. Both Helene and Kathryn have uploaded presentations to slideshare that address issues facing libraries and the type of thinking required to ensure survival of the buildings and the profession.
Helen’s presentation; Finding the Phoenix: Feathers, Flight and the Future of Libraries.
Kathryn’s presentation; What kind of better than free is your Library?
Great ideas Ladies. Thanks for extending the thinking.
Lucacept - intercepting the Web 
Hi Jen,
Have you seen this link? http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/
More food for thought!
Chris
Haven’t seen that Chris. I’ll be checking it out. Thanks for adding that something extra.
“Hopefully Librarians are going to be proactive in re-envisaging their services to respond to our changing society”. This is the line I’m taking very seriously. How much of this is happening?
I have attended many workshops and conferences as well as networked with many forward thinking librarians, which leads me to believe that all librarians are being proactive in re-envisaging their services. At today’s seminar on library design facilitated by Kevin Henneh, there was however, some anecdotal evidence that some library staff are stuck in the past and are afraid of “letting go” I loved his comment about “just in case” librarians. It was disheartening to hear all this – if there are staff who cannot modernise their physical space, will they rise to the challenge of rethinking their services. I hope that the numbers who are innovators and who challenge the old order outweigh those who don’t.
@Tania @Angela I’m hopeful most librarians are at least thinking of the changes that need to be implemented to respond to a changing world. It is quite daunting wondering how we manage to be innovative and proactive when we are often weighed down by the day to day realities of tasks that need to be done and busy lives.
Agreed, Jenny, and not all those tasks are ones we may view as vital.