The Uncertain Future

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

I wouldn’t call myself superstitious or a big believer in Astrology, but I would say that I have had experiences that I can only call deja vu.  Dreams that seem to occur in real life, and moments that feel familiar- or repetitive.  For me, the COVID-19 falls into the damning place where I have to look at what I have been saying for years such as- This economy cannot grow like this forever, we are looking at a bubble, there will be a crash again soon (said to my very good friend Sara last fall when we were talking about all the crazy building and growth happening in Denver).  She and I both graduated college during the 2008 recession era and were lamenting the general state of our careers and potential futures.  Also, my line standard line for the last decade as concerns about climate change have been growing and gaining traction: We will not kill the Earth, the planet will kill us off and reset itself.  Climate change is going to change our world, but it is not going to end the world.  This one was usually followed by a conversation about natural disasters and diseases, one that feels now super creepy, because here we are- and the world is getting better as we quarantine- proving that the world will function just fine without us.

https://www.fox2detroit.com

For me, the question of what this means for libraries, public, school, archives, etc. is a serious question that raises my personal anxiety based around the struggles of finding a job fresh out of college during the 2008 recession- here I go again! 

My decision to become a librarian was an attempt to fix what I saw as my failure to plan appropriately for my future post 2008.  I thought to combine the things that I love the most, words, books, reading, and customer service, into a life-long pursuit.  As a child I read voraciously, and throughout my life, I have continued to read.  Sometimes I would read less, only a dozen or so books a year- but I have never gone more than a few months without picking up a book and falling into its pages.  During this pandemic and quarantine, I had so many plans.  Ideas to finish my novel, and read 10-20 books.  But between my job, schoolwork, and the general malaise of questioning my life choices and the future I will have left when this is over, I cannot say I’ve finished more than 2 books.  And the novel?  Let’s not even talk about it. 

Fahrenheit 451 -2018

Still, aside from that malaise and my personal anxiety, there are so many things to consider about what the literary world is going to look like in 20-50-100 years post COVID-19 and whatever we are going to call this new global recession in the future.  Maybe the robots will take over and drive us all underground.  Perhaps the world of Science Fiction will become current events and books will go the way of the new remake of Fahrenheit 451 and be reduced to emojis because reading is dangerous to the way of the state.  

I truly hope not.  But, if you believe the naysayers today, people are already reading less than before, addicted to technology and devices- eschewing the pleasure and education that books can bring. As Ursula K. LeGuin commented in an editorial in 2008;

“To read a story well is to follow it, to act it, to feel it, to become it—everything short of writing it, in fact.  Reading is not “interactive” with a set of rules or options, as games are; reading is actual collaboration with the writer’s mind.  No wonder not everybody is up to it.”

But that doesn’t mean readers are disappearing from the world- not yet.  And perhaps this pandemic has changed things- helped some people to readjust their priorities and return to or rediscover a love of stories- in book, ebook and audiobook formats.  I hope so. 

There were many people who said that the book was dying when ebooks and audiobooks went digital and became so much easier to access and use.  But eboooks have stabilized in the market- and only represent a small portion of the market.  There were people who said that libraries were ghosts- useless and purely there for Nostalgia.  But now libraries are reclaiming their place in our communities, offering so many more innovative and vital things than just being temples to the written word.  As Michael Agresta writes for Slate,

“If the current digital explosion throws off a few sparks, and a few vestigial elements of libraries, like their paper books and their bricks-and-mortar buildings, are consigned to flames, should we be concerned?”

If we are smart- we will already be growing into new offerings that honor books, even as they may become less central to our overall missions.  Though, truthfully, I will cry if I ever work at a book-less library. 

As an X-ennial (born in 1985) I was not raised with technology as the answer to everything- I had to learn how to use the internet and I have seen so many changes with cellphones, personal computers, and the digital world.  Later millennials and Gen Z grew up in a digital age.  Now we are all looking at an uncertain future.  It will be up to us all to determine what that future will be- and how we will address changes post COVID-19 to make our public spaces safer as we reopen the economy.  As an article in the National Geographic notes, “Generation Z may be profoundly impacted by the pandemic, but it is also true that as the world’s first generation of digital natives, they are better equipped for the future,” (Parker, 2020). 

Libraries, who have been making strides creating interesting and innovative ways to drive their physical and digital collections- as well as prove their place in their communities as third spaces and gathering places for people from all walks of life are looking at very different long-term question-marks these days.  When will libraries be able to reopen safely?  How will these prolonged closures affect their patron base?  How will the stunted economy affect their bottom line?  I have no fear that libraries are going to disappear.  If anything has really emerged from the world-wide quarantines, it is the desire for distraction- and I know many people who picked up books during this time that hadn’t read regularly for years.  Additionally, if we cannot recover our economy quickly and this turns into a massive depression as is being suggested in the Medium article The American Economy is Dying,  libraries are going to become even more important to providing access to the internet, job assistance, and a place to be that is free to users.

So for now, I say we focus on today, and the next few months focusing on reopening and serving our communities one step at a time.  I have a feeling that for now, we are going to need libraries as much as ever. 

And in that far-distant future?  Well, those of us in the Millennial and Z Generations will cross that bridge when we get there.   

References:

Agresta, M. (2014, April 22). What Will Become of the Library? How it will evolve as the world goes digital. Slate. Retrieved from https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/04/the-future-of-the-library-how-theyll-evolve-for-the-digital-age.html

FOX TV Digital Team. (2020, March 25). Air pollution drops across the globe amid COVID-19 pandemic, data suggests. Retrieved May 1, 2020, from https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/air-pollution-drops-across-the-globe-amid-covid-19-pandemic-data-suggests

Haque, U. (2020, April 29). The American Economy is Dying. Medium. Retrieved from https://eand.co/the-american-economy-is-dying-f05a9f09af5a

LeGuin, U. K. (2008, February). Staying Awake, Notes on the Alleged decline of reading. Harper's Magazine, 33–37.

Parker, L. (2020, April 28). For Gen Z, two defining events: COVID-19 and climate change. National Geographic. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/gen-z-pandemic-will-define-formative-years-coronavirus-climate-change/