I like the points Rick Anderson makes about "rowing away from icebergs". Yes, yes and yes to no "just in case collections" when people should expect access to everything the digital world offers, no need for "teaching research skills" (but a responsibility for making searching easier), no assumptions that people must "come to the library" when their library can come into their home, workplace, coffee shop etc.
I love using NVDPL from home (and by extension other libraries in BC and elsewhere) via the internet, and I definitely look forward to the goodies on the upcoming version of our website.
Since I've come back to work at the info desk (after a retirement break), I notice that library users are much more comfortable about using resources from the internet and library databases than they were two years ago. I don't come across many now who have a big problem when I point out, for example, that a document we don't have in the library is available online in PDF, or that there are lots more audiobooks out there, downloadable from the library's website.
It's not that I could ever live without library buildings, books, people, reading spaces....it's just that we can offer infinitely more as well.
I like Dr. Wendy Schultz's concept of the future and Library 4.0: "the knowledge spa: meditation, relaxation, immersion in a luxury of ideas and thought". Our next mission statement?
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