With his experience as a library director, Palfrey could likely have provided valuable insights on this topic. They argue for an organization which is less hierarchical, more transparent, and more open to continuous innovation (Casey & Savastinuk, 2009 Denning, 2015). Some library leaders see the need for a new vision of organizational culture to accompany the revolutionary changes in library services. One development he doesn’t address, however, is in the area of library management. So Palfrey is less of a bleeding edge visionary than an impassioned advocate for trends which are already afoot in the library community. Another of Palfrey’s suggestions in the book, volunteer crowdsourced cataloging of digital information, has also been anticipated by programs such as the Library of Congress’s Flickr Commons Project, which started in 2008 and allows anyone to add keywords to tens of thousands of historical photographs, or the Smithsonian’s Transcription Center which solicits online volunteer help to transcribe historical documents (Zastrow, 2014).
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Such programs have already been implemented in places such as DOK Delft, where patrons can upload their own historical photographs to the library’s digital archive (Boekensteijn, 2011). User participation in digital preservation isn’t a new idea either. Library, which features multiple production facilities such as a video game lab, the Teaching and Visualization Lab that facilitates the creation of 3D simulations, and the Creativity Studio for multimedia production (Schwartz, 2013). Two years before the publication of Palfrey’s book, North Carolina State University unveiled its new James B.
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In 2011 the first modern library makerspace was installed at the Fayetteville Free Library in New York (McCue, 2011). Just how revolutionary is Palfrey’s manifesto? In fact, his suggestions have been implemented in various libraries for a few years now.
But in the long run, libraries will need to strategically position themselves in an increasingly virtual world if they are not to share the fate of the video store. So in the short term, libraries will not abandon their traditional model completely. Palfrey does recognize that there is still a lot of information only available in print, as well as a significant number of users who prefer the print format. Not surprisingly given his law background, Palfrey includes a chapter on how copyright law should be modified so that the doctrine of “first sale” applies to e-books as well, allowing libraries to lend them out no differently than they do printed volumes. Palfrey proposes a role for user participation in this: for instance, allowing library users to digitize and upload their historically significant media, or opening up digital archives to crowdsourced volunteer cataloging or other metadata creation. He sees consortia of libraries as best poised for the daunting task of digital preservation as well-everything from electronic books and government documents to tweets and emails. The sheer amount of electronic information demands such cooperation. To help provide access to quality electronic information to the public in a usable, organized fashion, free of corporate interest, libraries should collaborate both with each other and with people such as programmers, graphic designers, and user experience specialists. Second, Palfrey argues that libraries can make vital contributions to the burgeoning world of online information. (Though there are virtual reference services, Palfrey cites statistics that show patrons still prefer face-to-face assistance.) From a social justice perspective, library buildings provide internet access to those patrons who can’t afford it. The physical presence of librarians, Palfrey says, is also crucial to help patrons find and evaluate information. The library building provides quiet study space, a meeting place for collaborative learning and discussion, and a venue for “uplifting, informative programming.” It can enable not only the consumption of information but its production as well, through resources such as makerspaces and media labs where teens create 3D models, music, and videos. The book presents Palfrey’s vision for the role of libraries in a brave new digital world.įirst, Palfrey thinks the physical library will remain important as the locus for various services, if not as a storehouse for books.
This nostalgia is dangerous because such a model cannot be sustained as more and more information goes online. Though people still have a positive attitude towards libraries, Palfrey says this is based on nostalgia for the old model of libraries as places that collect and provide access to print materials. “Librarians must create new nostalgia,” urges Palfrey, former director of the Harvard Law School library and one of the planners behind the Digital Public Library of America.
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