Connections

The ALA Center for the Future of Libraries is an excellent source to check out. I recommend going to their trends section. They are organized into seven categories using the acronym STEEPED for Society, Technology, Education, Environment, Politics and Government, Economics and Demographics. Their topics listed below provide insights into ALA’s view of the future and offer some great ideas for library adoption:

Aging Advances: Life expectancy is rising and populations are growing older.

Anonymity: “Understanding the role anonymity plays in free speech and intellectual freedom may become increasingly important for libraries and librarians.”

Badging: Is a form of micro-credentialing for recognizing specific skills.

Collective Impact: Alignment of a common agenda, shared measurement systems, mutually reinforcing activities and continuous communication.

Connected Learning: Using digital and social media to create peer-supported learning environments.

Data Everywhere: Data is being increasingly collected through the Internet of Things.

Digital Natives: “Children and young people born into and raised in a digital world (post 1980) may work, study, and interact in very different ways from “digital immigrants,” those who were born just a generation before.”

Drones: Drones provide new opportunities for content creation and research. 

Emerging Adulthood: Individuals in their late teens to early 20’s are taking longer to leave home and settle into careers.

Fandom: A community of people who are passionate about something, whether it’s a film, a band, a television show, a book, or a sports team.

Fast Casual: Individuals seeking more active social spaces with experiential value.

Flipped Learning: “students are provided lessons online allowing class time for working through and solving questions together. 

Gamification: More and more libraries are promoting games and game based learning. 

Haptic Technology: Wearable technology for search and navigation of library spaces

Income Inequality: Libraries help bridge the gap in income inequality by providing educational resources otherwise unavailable to low income groups.

Internet of Things: As more and more data is collected by devices around us, libraries may be involved in handling new informational sources revealing trends and patterns.

Maker Movement: Libraries are beginning to provide members with opportunities to create content for individual use, use by the community or for inclusion in the library collection.

Privacy Shifting: The way we view privacy is going through dramatic change and libraries can play an important role in shaping policies and practices.

Resilience: As libraries are called upon to provide assistance in disaster situations, they can help individuals cope through resilient practices.

Robots: Libraries will tap the potential of robots for facilitating learning alongside human beings.

Sharing Economy: Along with sharing resources, learning spaces and books, more libraries will also be sharing physical tools and skills.

Unplugged: By rebranding quiet spaces into unplugged or Walden Zones, libraries can offer members a break from constant technology bombardment.

Urbanization: Libraries may have to adapt to new usage patterns and new needs as our populations become more urbanized.