Will the New Technologies Kill the Public Library?

Fuente: ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wicklein, John
Format: Recurso educativo Open Access
Language:en
Published: 1983
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author Wicklein, John
author_facet Wicklein, John
Wicklein, John
collection Education Resources Information Center
contents Will the New Technologies Kill the Public Library? Wicklein, John Databases Futures (of Society) Home Programs Information Dissemination Information Networks Library Role Library Services Public Libraries Telecommunications With fiber optic networks that can deliver library materials directly to the user from computerized data banks, is there any need for the library function? For the short term, public libraries will survive. The answer for the medium and long-term is much less certain. Libraries will survive if librarians see themselves as active providers of information and services that the public needs to function effectively in a society changed by the communications revolution. Public libraries must continue to exist because they are central to maintaining the tradition of providing the free access to information necessary to have an informed public. Librarians will have to campaign to preserve free access to government information, as private data services may preempt the libraries' traditional role as information suppliers. Cable companies may be able to bar distribution by libraries and other nonprofit organizations from their two-way, interactive videotex systems, and thus become the gatekeepers of information. To preserve their relevance to the community, libraries should become production centers for educational, governmental, and public access channels on local cable television systems, programming some of the channels themselves. (Author/LMM)
format Recurso educativo Open Access
id eric_ED237115
institution ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
language en
publishDate 1983
record_format eric
spellingShingle Will the New Technologies Kill the Public Library?
Wicklein, John
Databases
Futures (of Society)
Home Programs
Information Dissemination
Information Networks
Library Role
Library Services
Public Libraries
Telecommunications
Will the New Technologies Kill the Public Library? Wicklein, John Databases Futures (of Society) Home Programs Information Dissemination Information Networks Library Role Library Services Public Libraries Telecommunications With fiber optic networks that can deliver library materials directly to the user from computerized data banks, is there any need for the library function? For the short term, public libraries will survive. The answer for the medium and long-term is much less certain. Libraries will survive if librarians see themselves as active providers of information and services that the public needs to function effectively in a society changed by the communications revolution. Public libraries must continue to exist because they are central to maintaining the tradition of providing the free access to information necessary to have an informed public. Librarians will have to campaign to preserve free access to government information, as private data services may preempt the libraries' traditional role as information suppliers. Cable companies may be able to bar distribution by libraries and other nonprofit organizations from their two-way, interactive videotex systems, and thus become the gatekeepers of information. To preserve their relevance to the community, libraries should become production centers for educational, governmental, and public access channels on local cable television systems, programming some of the channels themselves. (Author/LMM)
title Will the New Technologies Kill the Public Library?
topic Databases
Futures (of Society)
Home Programs
Information Dissemination
Information Networks
Library Role
Library Services
Public Libraries
Telecommunications
url https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED237115