Waiting for the (digital) barbarians

Law, Derek (2009) Waiting for the (digital) barbarians. Information Outlook, 13 (8).

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Abstract

Constantine Cavafy's 1904 poem "Waiting for the Barbarians" provides a useful metaphor for where libraries now find themselves. Decked in our professional finery, we wait for the digital natives to arrive. The danger is that by waiting and not acting, we will, like Cavafy's senators, find that the barbarians never come, because they have passed us by as being irrelevant.

• Item metadata

  Item type:	Article
  ID code:	16065
  Dates:	Date Event 1 December 2009 Published
  Keywords:	digital natives, digital libraries, forecasts, trends, internet, user statistics, Information resources, Electronic information resources
  Subjects:	Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > Information resources Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > Information resources > Electronic information resources
  Department:	Professional Services > Information Services
  Depositing user:	Professor Derek Law
  Date deposited:	18 Feb 2010 09:34
  Last modified:	06 May 2021 00:21
  Related URLs:	Publisher
  URI:	https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/16065

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