20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

The world changes… so the library changes.Exploring the transformationof public libraries in the NetherlandsMarian KorenThe Association of the Public Librariesof the Netherlands – The HagueThe world changes…Libraries are the memory of the world. They are the sustainableinstitutions and services surpassing individual lifetime and single culturetime spans. Libraries seem to be for ever, but the world changes. Modernsociety with its challenges of technology, multiplicity and globalisation hasan enormous impact on libraries.The internationalisation brings peoples and cultures closer together,knowledge exchange is possible, but global economics tend to createunbalanced access to information and use of sources. At the same timelocal identity becomes more important for people, and they seek to expressthis with the help of modern technology.The technological advances in creating more information, a high speedinformation exchange, accessibility form home and more personalisedinformation. Libraries are faced with the future of printed books nextto e-books, and copyright free texts on Internet. Digital materials poseproblems of sustainability.Public libraries base their mission on human rights of freedom ofexpression and of access to information. Deregulation and liberalisationof the market, however, leave less space for the public domain; anddevelopments in copyright make libraries more dependent on publishers ingiving digital access to content. The publishing industry with its marketingapproaches focuses on bestsellers, leaving niche markets, ’the long tail’,