2015 NYLA Annual Conference - Keynote Address

R. David Lankes

Thursday, October 22
9:00 – 10:15 AM

Day 45,626

This year NYLA celebrates its 125th anniversary (45,625 days). 45,625 days ago Melvil Dewey, one of NYLA's founders, saw the future of libraries in standardization, efficiency, and industrialization. 45,625 days ago the future of libraries was in shared structures, shared methods, and librarians devoted to the maintenance of institutional libraries. On day 45,626 this is the formula for disaster. On day 45,626 the future of libraries is in librarians building libraries around the unique communities they serve. The success of the next 125 years is intimately tied to the success of the counties, cities, towns, and villages of New York. Our next 125 years is in the dreams and aspirations of New York's citizens, students, and scholars not our stacks.

About the Speaker

R. David Lankes is a professor and Dean’s Scholar for the New Librarianship at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies and director of the Information Institute of Syracuse. Lankes has always been interested in combining theory and practice to create active research projects that make a difference. Past projects include the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology, the Gateway to Education Materials, AskERIC and the Virtual Reference Desk. Lankes’ more recent work involves how participatory concepts can reshape libraries and credibility.
 
Lankes is a passionate advocate for libraries and their essential role in today’s society. He also seeks to understand how information approaches and technologies can be used to transform industries. In this capacity he has served on advisory boards and study teams in the fields of libraries, telecommunications, education, and transportation including at the National Academies. He has been a visiting fellow at the National Library of Canada, the Harvard School of Education, and the first fellow of ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy. His book,The Atlas of New Librarianship won the 2012 ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Award for the Best Book in Library Literature.