The libraries of old are a far cry from what now constitutes a library. From far back in history, people have felt the need to record their histories, family genealogies, formulas and recipes and record folklore and stories. As populations have grown, as well as have technologies and ideas, there have been many advances and libraries have been at the forefront of taking advantage of those new ideas.
From the advent of paper and writing utensils, when records became portable and savable, libraries have made records, books, other forms of historical accounts available to the wide public audience. Technology has helped to take us from local storage and accessibility to a global reach and audience.
Technology takes many forms. It can be mechanical in nature or it can be electronic. It can also be in the form of organizational techniques such as how we store items on the shelf or how we access items once they are there. Mechanical technologies were the earliest forms of technology which gave us the ability to create written records in the form of books that could be stored and recalled when needed. Organizational techniques helped to keep things easy to find as collections of printed materials increased in size and complexity. Two examples of this are the Dewey Decimal System and the Card Catalog (Burke, 2013). Electronic technologies are the most current forms of technology and with each new form, there seems to be no end to the advances that continue to arrive. Computers allowed card catalogs to become less physical in nature and more data driven. They also allow us to access information at a much faster and efficient rate. When I was in high school in the 1980’s, I accessed the most recent information in the Periodical Guide. This led me to the most current information on any given subject published in monthly magazines. Today, I don’t know if these are even published anymore because it is quite a bit easier to access information from my computer at home.
Since technologies are so widely available these days, I think libraries have needed to keep up with and even be ahead of the curve with new technologies. A library is no longer the place where we do all our research, but a place where we can access technologies that we might not be able to afford for home. Items like 3-D printers, copy machines, audio recordings and audio players, books to borrow instead of buying, and simply a place to access the internet if we don’t already have access.
We can see that the evolution of libraries is clear. Technology in its many forms has evolved the library to be much more than a place to check out a book!
Burke, J. J. (2013). Library Technology Companion. Chicago: Neal-Schuman.