My favorite theory to apply to all aspects of life is the "survival of the fittest." While this theory was originally applied to species that did not last (because they did not adapt), it can be applied to the institution and field of libraries and librarianship. Professor Lankes, in The Atlas of New Librarianship, mentions Ranganathan's fifth law of librarianship: "The library is a growing organism" (128). After reading (and agreeing with) it, the analogy of a library, as a living thing that's always growing and changing, helped me connect libraries with evolution. Now I do not claim to be the first person to think of this, but it's a cool thing to discuss again and again. As man had to develop from ape to an upright homo sapiens who could develop his own tools, so libraries must adapt and develop according to the needs of the community. The introduction of the electronic and digital age has forced libraries and librarians, sometimes uncomfortably, to make the necessary changes. For example, now that e-readers and e-books are becoming more widespread, the policy for developing and maintaining a physical collection isn't going to be as important. Now, I'm not trying to say that, just like some species that died off and can't adapt or survive, books and physical artifacts are going to disappear. I just believe that the act of physically checking out books or searching through reference books are not what the community needs anymore. Libraries and librarians must survive the constant and innovative changes that the community desires, in order to be successful and not stuck in the mentality that libraries are going to die off.
We, as librarians, must evolve and keep up with new developments and help contribute to the new innovations, so that we can maintain a functioning and developing role as facilitators in our communities and in this world.
Good news! We can and have evolved from this:
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