Changes

This is a critical time for libraries. The social environment around libraries has changed such that libraries need to transform as well. This is specifically a critical time for library technology. Digital services, content and tools have become a part of nearly every aspect of library operations. The “digital library” is already here, and most of us work in one. But these digital libraries of today need to be transformed into the digital libraries of tomorrow to meet radically new needs while carrying forward libraries’ principles of quality provision of information, and bringing libraries’ tradition of collaboration to bear on new challenges. This The mission of this journal is to cover "the intersection of libraries, technology, and the future," providing practical information to help the library community envision and achieve our technological future, one step at a time.

We are at an exciting juncture, with new opportunities to face these serious challenges. The same network and information technology that is responsible for foundational shifts in our environment makes possible tools to face this new environment that would have seemed a futuristic fantasy a decade ago, while the internet provides an ability to collaborate with each other over a distance on solutions, accomplishing through cooperation what limited resources make infeasible individually. Libraries are increasingly realizing that while there are risks to undertaking a transformation of our technology and our organizations, there are even greater risks to maintaining the status quo. In order to take full advantage of these possibilities, libraries are increasingly realizing they need to step up to a leading role in technological innovation towards our users’ needs, alongside our vendors.