Wendy Schultz really hit a chord for me with her article, "To a temporary place in time..." For one, she places libraries in an evolving historical context, judging neither past, present or future, but accepting change and making sure that she is an agent of change by helping to guide it in the ways that she envisions:
"The ongoing Library 2.0 debate frames library renewal within the current trends transforming our information infra-structure. But those trends themselves will evolve, even mutate, under pressure from emerging change. A futures perspective asks us to reconnect this dialogue to the grand sweep of time from the treasured past to the adventure of the future—and to put people and meaning at the center of our concerns."
***PEOPLE AND MEANING*** Shultz values the past, imagines the future and sees the present as a continual transition...which is the way it has always been! I love her insight and humor...and her ability to dignify past, present and future at the same time. No haranging or criticizing, no placing technology in a superior position. Always keeping the good as libraries evolve, Schultz's Library 4.0 would include Library 1.0-3.0 rather than evolve beyond them...these ideas of library evolution are spherical, circular, fluid...not linear and rigid. And I love her final inclusion of the library piece that we will always need...the retreat, the WIFREE space, the sensual, the "relaxation spa"...part of, included in, not in opposition to, the multi-dimensional library that will live beyond our ability to experience it.
I read all the other articles, and could argue or agree intellectually with each of them, but none affected me like the Schultz article and made me feel glad to be a librarian and to see myself as part of an evolving cultural community.
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