Katina Strauch’s memoir, Doing the Charleston, which will be published this week, tells the story of her career in librarianship alongside the history of the Charleston Conference, which she founded in 1980. In this excerpt, she looks ahead to the future of libraries. As Katina puts it, many will disagree, and that’s okay!
Die aufgeführten Aspekte bieten sicherlich einiges an “food for thought”:
Obviously, no one knows what the future holds, but here are a few so-called “predictions” to start conversations.
We must reduce the silo mindset. A silo is a closed way of organizing work into separate areas that are unable to communicate with other systems. Public services, technical services, and administration are silos, which can run the risk of not being able to communicate with other areas. A silo refers to the way grains are stored, assuring that the components can be kept separate. However, shifting trends and technology mean that silos can create barriers to collaboration across departments. Silos and the silo mindset must be broken down.
End users deserve a place at the negotiation table. Who exactly are end users? The person or persons who uses or is intended to use a product. End users do not technically or typically have the expertise of product designers, and, in fact, are usually overlooked, which may be the reason to seek their input.
We must rethink our aversion to commerce and commercial companies. Great numbers of librarians bristle at the name “Elsevier,” a noble company that has served the knowledge industry since 1880. Where does this aversion come from? Is it a matter of the definition of the word “profit”? Profit means coming out ahead. Does this always involve money? No. You can get a benefit from your experience, for example, or your involvement or participation in a nonprofit. Let’s face it: commercial companies have the pocketbooks, personnel, and, yes, the interest in taking risks. AI and all the new tech that people are so enthused over are profit-motivated.
Startups are everywhere and will become more dominant. They will depend on investment and confidence about the future. What’s a startup? A newly established business or the process of setting something new in motion. It is in the first stage of operation, generally founded by one or several entrepreneurs who want to test a product or service for which they believe demand exists. Startups may frequently have the benefit of enthusiasm, youth, forward thinking, and probably some naivete. They also frequently do not reach their full potential by becoming successful.
How important is technology as a partner? How do we define technology? Technology is the study of scientific knowledge in order to create tools and processes that can change the world. It is a capability given by the practical application of knowledge. It is broader than computer technology, meaning it is important in several other processes.
Open access (OA) is a set of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. There are numerous levels of open access (green, gold, hybrid, and others). These levels, as well as predatory publishing, have muddied the discovery layers enormously. Can librarians and scholarly publishers develop more robust discovery tools to make OA more viable?
Libraries have been too passive when it comes to changing with the times, so the times changed them. Academic libraries will survive in some form, if only to train students to wend their way through the maze. Books and journals in the past have always been our go-to access tools. But as virtual tools and players—like ChatGPT and AI—emerge, books and journals must take a back seat.
Cataloging/metadata will disappear/be replaced by AI developments.
Interlibrary loan will disappear/be replaced by AI and OA.
Libraries made little effort to organize the explosion of information, and now it’s too overwhelming to even try.
Both librarians and publishers have access to huge amounts of data that is organized differently. We must join forces to organize and use the data to our best advantages.
Older, more mature librarians, publishers, vendors, and so on must be more respected as partners and must become more vocal. Let’s talk.
Artificial intelligence is the latest fad, but will it become a boondoggle—that is, give the appearance of adding more value than it is?
The Global South will have a seat at the table. Like end users, the Global South has an important perspective that must be shared in and with the ecosystem.
Consortia may break up or consolidate. Their goals must be shared and consolidated.
Publishers and libraries share much in common. Rather than bumping heads in disagreement, they need to agree on possible ways to move forward.
Finance will still be a necessary partner but will become part of operating expenses rather than a driving force.
Many of you will disagree with my predictions, and that’s okay! I’ve had a grand time watching it all, and I am confident the sky’s the limit as we reimagine libraries!
“Am 28. Juni 2025 tritt das Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) in Kraft. Es bringt neue Pflichten für alle, die z.B. “smarte” Produkte vertreiben oder E-Commerce-Angebote, wie z.B. Onlineshops betreiben. Das Ziel des Gesetzes, dass Personen mit Behinderungen gleichwertig an digitalen Inhalten und digitalem Konsum teilhaben können.
Was bedeutet das für Unternehmen und Selbstständige im digitalen Bereich? Dieser Beitrag klärt wichtige Fragen: Wer ist vom BFSG betroffen? Welche Online-Angebote müssen angepasst werden? Wie setzt man Barrierefreiheit praktisch um? Sie erhalten Antworten auf diese und weitere relevante Aspekte des neuen Gesetzes.”
Benutze ich unter Linux standardmäßig. Einzig das Signieren eines Arbeitergeberdokuments hatte letztes Mal nicht so gut geklappt, da das eingefügte Bild völlig off war. Inzwischen geht auch das, auch wenn nicht perfekt (aber war es evtl. bei Acrobat auch nicht?).
Ach: “Okular is the very first software product to receive the Blue Angel ecolabel for being resource and energy efficient”
“Okular läuft auf mehreren Plattform, ist schnell und vollgepackt mit Funktionen und ermöglicht das Lesen von PDF-Dokumenten, Comic- und EPub-Büchern, das Durchsuchen von Bildern, die Anzeige von Markdown-Dokumenten und vieles mehr.”
“Im Artikel stehen Passagen, die man der Nachrichtenlogik folgend eben einfach zitiert, denn man ist ja nur Nachrichtenredaktion, nicht Faktencheckabteilung. Und mit einem Faktencheck käme man an vielen Stellen auch gar nicht weiter, denn wenn jemand die Wirklichkeit bis ins Unkenntliche verdreht, müsste man oft schon ziemlich weit ausholen, um das zu erklären.”
Meiner Meinung nach einer der wichtigsten Newsletter zurzeit, weil er jeden Tag den Finger in die Wunde (des Journalismus, der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung) legt: Das Altpapier.
Sven Gigold referiert den Trend, dass Suchmaschinen eher zu Findemaschinen werden und dass der AI-Einbingungstrend dies noch verstärkt, so dass tendenziell weniger Traffic von Suchmaschinen zu Homepages, insbesondere zu mittleren und kleinen geleitet werden. Die diskutierten Lösungen – Blogrolls, Aggregatoren oder Linksammlungen überzeugen nicht recht, weil sie die Masse der Homepages gar nicht erschließen können und auch schnell(er) veralten. Zumal ja zu Recht gesagt wird, dass viele schon von den Suchmaschinen abgewandert sind und die Suche bei TikTok, YouTube oder Reddit verwenden …
Es ist schon krass, dass Unternehmen wie Meta, ChatGPT, Google und Co. KI einfach mit urheberrechtlich geschütztem Material trainieren, während Urheberrechtsverletzungen im privaten Umfeld gnadenlos verfolgt werden. Es scheint eine klare Doppelmoral zu geben, wenn es um den Umgang mit geistigem Eigentum geht.