The singularity and the library
Kirstin Steele · The Bottom Line Managing Library Finances · 2011
Purpose This article aims to consider what libraries might be used for after machines become smarter than humans. Design/methodology/approach The article considers how Vernor Vinge's novel Across Realtime and his essay “The coming technological singularity” inform possible library futures. Findings Libraries might become havens for humans left out of the high‐tech future, or museums for defunct technologies, or vanish completely. Originality/value The article expands discussion of the library's future beyond the foreseeable.