ARL's Future Visions for Libraries

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that the Association of Research Libraries previewed at their annual meeting and now has released their scenarios for different futures that research libraries may face. The publication, "Envisioning Research Library Futures: A Scenarios Thinking Project," includes a User's Guide, and is entirely open and free on the web. The four scenarios imagine different futures for researchers, and do not explicitly mention libraries at all. The ARL imagines this may open the way for other types of organizations to use the scenarios as planning or visioning tools, as well. While the scenarios and membership are based on large research libraries, the thinking and futures may be worth considering for all types of libraries.

The ARL website includes:
* the User's Guide,
* a PDF of the Scenarios,
* a link to register for a free webcast scheduled for November 4, 2010, from 1-2:30 PM, Eastern Daylight time, on how to use the scenarios;
* a link to subscribe to an e-mail listserv discussion group on the scenarios