Abstract

To some degree the Open Access Initiative has failed, because too few people, even in the library profession, know of its existence. More marketing should be done, thus making more people aware of it. MARC became obsolete and has to be superseded by xml-based standards. With the advent of Google, people don’t have any problems finding information. Instead they have problems knowing what to do with once they acquire it. A next generation library catalog should allow people to first find items in a library collection, and then to use the information in some way. Public libraries are devoted to their community. If they focus too much on books, then their future is less positive. If they think in terms of data, information, and knowledge, their future is only as limited as their imagination.