The Information Professional

By Futurist Thomas Frey:

"Libraries are not about books. In fact, they were never about books.
Libraries exist to give us access to information. Until recently, books were one of the more efficient forms of transferring information from one person to another. Today there are 17 basic forms of information that are taking the place of books, and in the future there will be many more…"

 

"Here is a list of 17 primary categories of information that people turn to on a daily basis. While they are not direct replacements for physical books, they all have a way of eroding our reliance on them. There may be more that I’ve missed, but as you think through the following media channels, you’ll begin to understand how libraries of the future will need to function:
Games 
Digital Books 
Audio Books 
Magazines 
Music 
Photos 
Videos 
Television 
Movies
Radio 
Blogs 
Podcasts 
Apps 
Presentations 
Courseware 
Personal Networks 
Each of these forms of information has a place in future libraries. Whether or not physical books decline or even disappear has little relevance in the overall scheme of future library operations."

Via Dennis T OConnor