What We Do
Through active engagement, we provide librarians, policymakers, and community leaders with the tools, knowledge, and resources necessary to protect, advocate for, and advance a fair digital future for libraries and the communities they serve.
Our Mission
Librarians and library staff are already experts at providing free and unfettered access to critical information, tools, and resources for their community members. But in our increasingly digital world, accelerated technological innovation and unjust laws governing digital rights require librarians, policymakers, and community leaders to confront new challenges that will shape the future of libraries and our society.
Library Futures believes librarians, community leaders, and policymakers can and should be knowledgeable about:
- the effects of current policy on libraries’ digital rights,
- the opportunities and threats digital access holds for libraries,
- and how to advocate for current and future digital rights policy that better serves their communities.
Through fresh research, visionary policy and advocacy initiatives, and engaging education efforts, Library Futures empowers these critical audiences with the information and resources they need to protect, advocate for, and advance a fair digital future for libraries and the communities they serve.
Issues We Address
Advancing Clear Policy Solutions
Library lending is enshrined in the Copyright Act, and libraries provide broad access to information by lending materials without restriction. But the advent of digitization has uncovered weak points in current policy that must be addressed.
We support digital lending that uses technology to mirror the library’s right to loan legally acquired books under controlled conditions while respecting copyright.
Fighting Against Corporate Consolidation
Consolidation among corporate publishers is affecting the quality, value, and price of the digital collections available to libraries.
To ensure a fair digital future, librarians need access to a competitive marketplace of high-quality publishing partners and distribution platforms so they can meet the growing needs of their communities.
Promoting a Technology–Forward Future
Technological innovations hold both promise and peril for libraries and public life.
Librarians can and should engage with the technologies that have the potential to shape the future - including artificial intelligence, machine learning, publishing platforms, Web 3.0, surveillance technologies, and those that will emerge in the coming years.
