The stereotypical library is dying — and it’s taking its shushing ladies, dank smell and endless shelves of books with it.
Books are being pushed aside for digital learning centers and gaming areas. “Loud rooms” that promote public discourse and group projects are taking over the bookish quiet. Hipster staffers who blog, chat on Twitter and care little about the Dewey Decimal System are edging out old-school librarians.
And that’s just the surface. By some accounts, the library system is undergoing a complete transformation that goes far beyond these image changes.