Librarians Without Libraries

I recently rediscovered this article by Seth Godin about The Future of the Library. I find it even more relevant than when it was written, 15 years ago.

As the article explains, libraries started as warehouses for books worth sharing. As the number of books grew, the librarian appeared. The librarian, who is not a clerk in the library building, became “the interface between reams of data and the untrained but motivated user.” The library became the house for the librarian. However, “[p]ost-Gutenberg, the scarce resource is knowledge and insight, not access to data.” The library may no longer be the default place where information is found. But the librarian’s work—selection, orientation, context, and judgment—has become more valuable, not less.

I was thinking about this from my own perspective. When was the last time I went to a library? Probably when I was in college, many years ago. The librarians weren’t particularly helpful, but that probably was a thing of that particular library. They probably saw themselves more as clerks and custodians of the building’s silence than proper librarians.

My current go-to librarian is a mix of AI (very good at access, average at selection and judgment), the hand-picked list of people I follow online, and recommendations from friends and network. In a sense, I’m my own librarian within a narrow scope of topics I’m interested in.

From another point of view, I’m also a librarian for friends and people in my network. I often get asked what I think about a book or article, or where can one find information about a specific topic.

In the future, most librarians won’t be formally recognized as such. They won’t live in libraries. Many people who won’t consider themselves librarians will be one.