The frozen library: a model for twenty‐first century libraries

Abstract

Far from being ‘paperless’, libraries of the 21st century will not wholly convert from print to electronic formats, as many have predicted. Instead, libraries of the future will combine information in many formats, print and non‐print, and partition their collections into various electronic, computerised, media and print formats: in effect ‘freezing’ portions of the collection in their most appropriate formats based on the content and usage of the materials, in somewhat the same way as libraries of the late 20th century ‘froze’ their catalogues during their retrospective conversion projects. As part of the coming climatic adaptation, a new and important occupation of future libraries will be the design, construction and maintenance of unique, value‐added databases to hold information that is immediately pertinent to the specific needs of the library's patrons. In this new type of librarianship, the lines separating librarian, researcher and publisher will become flexible in order to capture information needed immediately by library users.