“Libraries Must Change” is the Title of a New Op/Ed by Anthony Marx, President of the New York Public Library, Published Today in the New York Times

“Libraries Must Change” is the title of a new op/ed (845 words) by Anthony Marx, President of the New York Public Library,  published in the New York Times today.

From the Op/Ed:

To remain true to their mission, all libraries must undergo radical change. To serve the public in the face of unprecedented challenges, libraries will need to transition their services to the virtual space and explore new avenues to serve the public and bring people together, even while we are apart.

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This experience has made it clear to us that libraries must invest — or continue to invest — in digital and virtual technologies and expertise. There is so much more we can do. Every library should aspire to provide the broadest possible digital access to all books and the world’s accumulated knowledge, not just the snippets now available on the web. The digital public library is a piece of necessary public infrastructure that must be built with the same care, collaboration, and adherence to values — including privacy — that we have used to build and run our branches.

But it we would be irresponsible, and dare I say dangerous, to declare that the “library of the future” is here, and it’s only online.

Read the Complete Op/Ed
 845 words

Filed under: Libraries, News, Public Libraries