Library 21 : Advance Announcements

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PNLA QUARTERLY
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An automated Library of the Future, designed by the American Library
Association in cooperation with leading firms in the electronics field and
employing the latest techniques in
storage and retrieval of information,
will be on display at the Seattle
World's Fair, April 21-Oct. 21, 1962.
"Library 21, as it will be called,
will show how technological change
will Introduce a new dimension in library programs. We fully expect that
printed materials will remain basic to
all education and civilized thought In
the next century. Library 21's objective is to depict how we can enrich
our personal lives through books and
community services, but electronics
and information technology will have
great impact on the methods we use
for storing, retrieving, and communicating knowledge in the libraries of
tomorrow/' said David H. Clift, executive director of the ALA, in announcing the Library 21 project.
Industrial participants in the project include: Remington Rand,
UNIVAC, RCA, IBM, National Cash
Register Co., Magnavox, Thompson
Ramo Woolridge, Encyclopaedia Brit-
annica, Xerox, Inc.- University Microfilms, and others.
Featuring personalized reading lists
tailored to individual interest, age, and
educational level, the electronic machines are currently being packed with
information by librarians so that questions on nearly every conceivable sub
ject  will receive prompt,  accurate response. Visitors will be able to query
the great minds of the western world
through the machines on a variety of
subjects,   and  teaching machines,  and
closed circuit television also will play
their part in the library of the future.
Library 21 is a prototype of the six
or seven core libraries designed to service vast areas of the nation in the
next century. These central libraries
will be tied together in a communications network and will provide service to virtually all libraries in their
regions so that every important document, book, pamphlet, and other piece
of information will be available to
every library user no matter where he
might reside,
"In drawing up the program for
'Library 21', the ALA hopes to project Fair visitors into this 21st century library environment by demonstrating the dynamic role which the
library of tomorrow will play in the
field of information communication/'
said Clift.
A children's world, adult reading
area, and learning resources center
equipped with programmed learning
devices and the newer educational
media also will be included in ALA's
9,000 square foot exhibit area in the
Coliseum, an eleven story high building with no interior columns.
Visitors to Library 21 will walk up
ramps or be carried by a "cloudalator'1,