I had the strangest experience once in the library. It was winter and, under strain of heating, my vision filled with red and my hearing tuned to static.
When this cleared I found myself in the same library, but many years into the future. There were rows of books as ever before but new systems of various kinds were in play. I saw patrons talking and signing their information needs to the OPAC, not just typing. If what they wanted was in stock, a lighted and raised line appeared on the floor to guide them. If it was not available, the JISC-enabled transfer scheme, JET, kicked into gear and the item was beamed in from a library that did have it. And the “walk out to check out” system was a dream. Except when it didn’t work.
So much was different but something the same was the people. The patrons, the staff, all as we know. Out front and round back were the same helpful faces, the same expertise lovingly crafted into responses, the same eagerness to see each patron’s needs fulfilled. Whether they needed a place to be or something to see.
In development, they told me, was a time tunnel that would take you, as a ghost tourist (one that exists in the past but is unseen), to the library at any point in its past to discover books long since out of print or disappeared. And an actual cloud of knowledge, known as Dust, that will replicate the parts you need and float down to download into your brain. So far a little controversial and resisted because, well, people like to learn and distrust “just knowing”.
After I returned, until now, I hadn’t known what to do with this vision.
Thank you for the outlet.
I wrote this as a strange application for a conference I couldn't attend (and possibly went online as it was in 2020). I also published it already on Twitter.
