The future of national libraries

Abstract

National libraries are the institutions responsible for the conservation and transmission of the culture manifestations that countries have generated throughout their history. Their evolution has accompanied the changes in different media for developing people’s capacity for creation and their history is comparable to the development of the countries where they were founded. It is therefore clear that the strongest national libraries are those from countries with a long history regarding the concept of state and support for cultural creation. Although the above may seem obvious, this will continue to determine the keys to the national libraries of the future. It is sufficient to know, albeit superficially, which milestones have been definitive in their evolution to give us an idea of the factors that are already marking the present, and therefore the future, of national libraries. The rationale of national libraries is based on the existence of legal deposit legislation. The development of the publishing industry and the generation of different types of media have determined the need for national libraries to adapt to the conservation requirements of the different collections and the service demanded by their users. One cannot talk about creation and dissemination of knowledge without an awareness of the foundations and trends of an industry as complex as publishing. The evolution of the legal deposit legislation is proof of this. The adaptation of this norm to the evolution of the publishing and cultural industries has enabled national libraries to guarantee the conservation and transmission of culture for hundreds of years. This issue is particularly complex and, in view of the rapid changes that are taking place in different cultural areas, a great deal of uncertainty exists. The instruments used for new creations are no longer traditional media. Many new works are freely created and disseminated and often these are not controlled by the publishing industry. In this rapid