Hope in the Library

What is the role of the library in an increasingly complex information environment filled with and redesigned for artificial intelligence?

Hope in the Library presents a compelling case for the continued relevance of libraries in an age increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence. Michael J. Paulus, Jr., shows how libraries, as human-centred and human-scaled institutions, have enduring roles as archives for reflection and understanding, sites of imagination and hope, and catalysts for human agency. This book argues that, by providing an essential counterbalance to impersonal and automated systems, libraries are essential for not only surviving but thriving in our emerging information environment.

Hope in the Library is structured as a series of essays organised by explorations of the library in the past, in imagined futures, and in our digitally-enhanced present. Firsthand narrative and archaeological history are interspersed with literary meditations from writers including Mary Shelley, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Jorge Luis Borges. The book can be read a few different ways: from beginning to end; following topical pathways suggested in the final section; or in any other order chosen by the reader. Each essay and section, like a book or section of a library, may be read independently.

Informed by over two decades of leading and studying libraries, these essays include the author’s professional as well as personal reflections and encourage a more radical reframing of how AI may be integrated into libraries and society to help create a better future.