Where are we going?

The question on everyone's minds and lips is Where are Libraries Going? That has been an issue since I began library school, and is still an issue now as I finish.

As pointed out by Jessamyn Librarian.net, many library articles are about four topics:
1. Crisis: no library jobs for young librarians!
2. Crisis: no young librarians to fill jobs of retiring librarians!
3. Crisis: libraries are closing due to budget/Google/disuse/pick a scenario!
4. Crisis: libraries are the hot spot for everyone!

Somehow I think this is more about READ MY ARTICLE than about need-to-know information. Plus, I find this general panic mongering exhausting. I have plenty in my normal life to panic about without questioning and regretting the last 2.5 years of my life spent in library school (to the exclusion of more hobbies and time with my kids and spouse than I wanted.)

But the world of information is changing, and its tough to know where its all going to go. Is Google books going to replace libraries and turn into the Evil Empire? Maybe. Are brick and mortar libraries and books dying? Maybe. I still read. Will the Millennial Generation drive libraries--and the world--into a need for speed and digitalization? Probably (and not a bad thing, we all benefit when tools are easy to use and understand.)

This is all more than Web and Library 2.0. Digital Reference is part of it, and we are still in the infancy stages of the art. I am still waiting for the AHA! tool. Second Life is cool, but the world is not there yet. Chat Reference is not popular (in my very PERSONAL experience.) Blogs are fun, but its not reference as we knew it. Digital Libraries are getting there.....as are databases. For me, there is still a perfect tool on the horizon to integrate everything and really make it sing. Knowing loads about everything we have worked on in class helps us to be ready, but its just not here yet.

I remember the first time I played Donkey Kong; it blew my mind. Pictures and sound, things moving around, the joystick--it was amazing. Pong was fun, but it was nothing like Donkey Kong. Nintendo was the AHA! tool. Play video games at home without quarters? WOW!

I'll keep playing library Pong and wait for my Donkey Kong.