Introduction

We hear occasionally of schools and colleges that have been built with no library. Public libraries are being closed because it is felt that they are there just to loan books and that fewer people need this service. Funding to many library services is being cut because of perceptions that learners can get everything they need from the world wide web.

Some of this could be because our physical libraries are getting increasingly divorced from the rich variety of online as well as physical resources that they hold. They are repositories for many physical items, such as books and print journals. They also often serve as study space, with desks, computers, and perhaps rooms for activities such as group or silent individual study. Physical libraries are also a place for library and information professionals and paraprofessionals to base themselves and offer help and instruction.

But these functions no longer necessarily sit together very well. You don't need to have physical study space co-located with physical copies of books if the members of your library use most of their information resources online. If the majority of your information resources are easily accessible online from anywhere, by focusing library help within a physical location you can miss many of the people who may need help from the library's professional staff.

Even the traditional print resources often don't meet our users’ expectations. People who are used to searching for information using Google, YouTube or Flickr can find a physical library confusing and difficult to navigate. We send people to clunky-looking catalogues that are available either online (but rarely mobile friendly) or in fixed locations within our buildings. These catalogues may then provide minimal information about items, including a secret librarian's code (call number) that users must attempt to decode in order to find the item. Only when (or if!) a user physically finds the item can they really start to assess whether it will be useful.