The death of libraries? Towards the e-evolution

Abstract

Starting from the premise that future information flows will be transmitted exclusively via electronic formats and that the future of books in their current structure is uncertain, the article analyzes the situation of uncertainty for libraries´ survival in the new systems of global information, where the immediacy of access to sources and collaboration are becoming standard. The authors invite a rethinking of paradigm tools that prevail in libraries. The study also aims to discuss the old paradigms as opposed to the changes that are taking place and focuses on defining a model of innovative thinking which can sustain the e-evolution" of libraries. Analyzing the perspectives from a qualitative research method founded on the triangulation of three or more different perspectives, the methodology-driven approach defines the paradigm changes that will be more influential in the near future and hence poses new ways to think about the interrelationship between different actors that will positively affect a sustainable e-evolution" of libraries if they are considered and seen from a global human-centered point of view.