The Library and the Future of Everything: Hard Choices in Uncertain Times

Here's the blurb I just wrote for a talk that Clem Guthro from Colby has asked me to give next month:

The Library and the Future of Everything: Hard Choices in Uncertain Times

What is the future of the library? Does the library have a future? In the face of a rapidly changing technology landscape, the library finds itself increasingly having to justify its own existence. The good (or bad) news is that it is not alone in this. The educational landscape in general finds that the challenges and opportunities of new technologies, new business models, and new demographics are forcing a re-thinking of many of its core institutions and practices. This talk will place the question of the future of the library in this broader context, arguing that the entire system of teaching, learning, research, and scholarly communication must be understood as a complex, interdependent system, and that we can expect the changes in one area to impact all other areas.