Libraries in the Digital Age

The ways that people access, use and share information is being changed at a rapid pace by technology and libraries are adapting to keep up with these changes. The digital age is shaping the role of libraries and how they are adapting to the changes of the age.

The traditional role of libraries is changing. Discussing academic libraries, Kahn and Underwood state that as use of the World Wide Web becomes more commonplace, the idea of the role of library as the brick-and-mortar place to find and borrow books is disappearing (p. 10). Anderson (in Kahn and Underwood) states: “the library is not about books; it’s about information.” Kahn and Underwood point out that academic libraries must offer access to online materials or become obsolete (p. 10).

Dame Lynne J. Brindley, in a speech entitled Challenges for Great Libraries in the Age of the Digital Native, touches on the perception of many that all information can be accessed via search engines and correlates diminishing reading and comprehension skills with the rise of visual information in the digital age. These are a few of the challenges that Brindley suggests libraries should focus upon going into the future (n.p.).

While Kahn and Underwood view the traditional role of the academic library as changing, Linda Ballew, in TheValue of  School Librarian Support in the Digital World,  states that although the tools and technology may change, the essential role of the school librarian remains the same: to be a bridge between students and information. In the digital age, librarians must be the experts in their schools on the use of information technologies and how best to use them to support their school’s missions (p. 65).

References

Ballew, L. M. (2014). THE VALUE OF SCHOOL LIBRARIAN SUPPORT IN THE             DIGITAL WORLD. Knowledge Quest, 42(3), 64-68.

Brindley, D. J. (2009). Challenges for Great Libraries in the Age of the Digital Native. Information Services & Use, 29(1), 3-12. doi:10.3233/ISU-2009-0594

Kahn, M., & Underwood, P. G. (2013). Issues related to the adoption of e-books in academic libraries: a literature review. South African Journal Of Libraries & Information Science, 79(2), 10-17. doi:10.7553/79-2-141