The Future of Libraries: Interview with Thomas Frey — from Thomas Frey, Senior Futurist at the DaVinci Institute, and Google’s top-rated futurist speaker
Example questions include:
Sloan – Unlike many futurists, you have stated that “libraries are here to stay.” Why?
Sloan – You’ve said that within 10 years the ink-on-paper publishing industry will not be a sustainable economic model. What will the new business model be?
Sloan – You have written and spoken about libraries becoming “Electronic Outposts.” What is an Electronic Outpost library?
Sloan – What is the “Empire of One” business model and why should libraries be interested in this trend?
Sloan – In the 2006 book The Long Tail, Wired magazine Editor Chris Anderson said, “When the tools of production are available to everyone, everyone becomes a producer.” What new roles and functions can libraries adopt to support producers?
Sloan – In addition to libraries, you write and speak about the future of business, education, government, and transportation. What trends in these areas do you think will have the greatest impact on the future of libraries?
The future of education will revolve around hyper-individualized learning, self-paced, organically generated content that is modality diverse, and available on-demand 24/7. Any topic, anywhere, anytime … it will be less dependent on teachers, less dependent on schools, and offer more personal control. Libraries have the potential for becoming the working laboratories for people creating new courseware.
Sloan – Over the past few years you have visited hundreds of libraries and spoken to many library groups across the country. What have you learned about libraries that you didn’t know prior to your visits?