Introduction

Since the 1990s, libraries have been grappling with significant and accelerating changes, resulting in new strategies for serving their communities. The relationship between library and community has always been central to the value and impact of libraries, but the nature of the relationship between library and user need has changed dramatically. As we consider the ways in which digital information technologies, changing practices within higher education and broader societal movements impact upon the roles of information in everyday life, we observe how academic libraries have been developing and evolving strategies for library work centred on deepening engagement with users, with other units at their institutions and with other libraries. This model of increasing engagement and even interdependence has many implications for future libraries.

While there has been frequent discussion of the ubiquitous nature of the library of the future, such discussion has often focused on instrumental understandings of this concept. For example, with the use of digital technologies, library collections and services will be available at the user’s point of need, regardless of spatial, temporal or other barriers to physical access. They may even be integrated into digital learning platforms or other online environments where library users work. While these aspects of future libraries are certainly important, these are not the only ways in which libraries are becoming ubiquitous or hold value for their users and communities. The social trajectory of academic libraries, as described by the contributions in this book, is one in which libraries are deeply embedded within the social networks of their user communities through which they co-construct services, resources and value with their users.

This emergent model of practice places the social assets of the library – its people, expertise and relationships – on equal footing with the information resources, spaces and services they provide. This is a significant shift for libraries, but the trends impacting on libraries are also impacting on society at large. Theoretical frameworks developed from the late 20th century to the present to describe and explain social and organisational changes, such as those covering social and intellectual capital and social networks, provide a conceptual framework for the future trajectory of academic libraries. As the arguments presented throughout this book demonstrate, the applicability of these frameworks is not strictly academic.