Exciting Vision for Library of the Future

Posted on: 23 May 2016

With revolutionary shifts underway in education, research, teaching and learning, there has never been a more interesting time for libraries. This was the basic concept at the heart of the recent ‘Library Futures’ symposium held recently in Trinity.

A packed-to-capacity PACCAR Theatre in the Science Gallery heard the thoughts of a stellar panel of invited guests. First to speak was Chief Executive of the British Library Roly Keating, formerly of the BBC.

He was followed by the innovative Stanford University librarian Mike Keller. Mike is also director of academic information resources at the US university and a digital preservation advocate.

The line-up was completed by Bodley's Librarian Richard Ovenden, the senior executive at Oxford’s main research library the Bodleian, and Jeffrey Schnapp, founder and faculty director of Harvard’s metaLAB. Jeffrey spoke about possible scenarios for libraries in the digital age.

‘Library Futures’ was organised by Trinity Librarian and College Archivist Helen Shenton, who commented: “There are revolutionary shifts underway in education, in research, in teaching and in learning. At the same time, revolutionary shifts are underway in information, in technology and in libraries.

“Cumulatively, these challenge the very notion of what a Library is and blur the boundaries between a 24-hour bookstore and coffee shop, a pop-up learning commons, a data visualization lab, a social collaboratory and a collection repository and offer exciting potential for what the library can become."