I have had the opportunity to contribute a chapter titled "The Public Library in 2020" to a book edited by Joe Janes of the University of Washington Information School. The book collects a number of visions or speculations about how libraries will change in the next few years; working with Joe on this was a delight. My chapter is available at

“The Public Library in 2020”

Author: Clifford A. Lynch View Online

Two comments.

First, this should be seen as only one possible future for public libraries; and perhaps a rather conservative one. For example, it doesn't discuss Makerspaces, which may be a very important development for our society broadly, and one that may well have an interesting developing relationship with public libraries.

Second, for more on the issue of mass market e-books and how they relate to the evolution of public libraries, my recent piece for American Libraries (available at http://www.cni.org/publications/cliffs-pubs/ebooks-2013-promises-broken-kept-faustian-bargains/) may be of interest as a complement.

Information on the full book -- available both as an e-book and a printed book, which is titled "Library 2020: Today's Leading Visionaries Describe Tomorrow's Library", is available from the publisher at

There is a very nice interview with Joe Janes about the book overall that ran very recently in Publisher's Weekly, this is at

ALA 2013: The Library of 2020 Will Be…

Wondering about the future of libraries? You don’t need a crystal ball—just pick up Joe Janes’s new book.

Clifford Lynch Director, CNI