Librarianship is a dynamic, evolving profession that reflects—and often anticipates—societal changes in how we create, organize, and share knowledge. From the tactile logic of the card catalog to the networked infrastructures of intranets, the open web, and now generative AI, libraries have continually adapted to new technologies and expectations. As they transform from repositories of information to centers of collaboration, equity, and innovation, understanding these trends helps future librarians envision where their passions and skills might thrive.
This section explores current and emerging themes in U.S. librarianship, including the impact of generative AI on knowledge work, new directions in information organization, and the expanding definitions of what it means to serve a community through information. It also highlights professional pathways across major domains of librarianship and provides resources for students considering entering the field.
Explore different themes in the future of librarianship below.
Generative AI tools—such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity—are transforming how information is discovered, summarized, and contextualized. Librarians are engaging these technologies to:
AI challenges traditional notions of authorship, authority, and curation. It also opens new possibilities for collaboration, accessibility, and creative knowledge synthesis. Professional organizations like the American Library Association (ALA) and International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) emphasize that librarians must remain active stewards of ethical information use and data privacy in an AI-mediated world. See the following:
Metadata—the information that describes an item and helps people find it—is central to how libraries organize and share knowledge. Artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to reshape how metadata is created and maintained, making it possible to describe, categorize, and even translate materials much faster than before.
In 2025, the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) launched a working group to explore how AI might support metadata creation. Their projects test ways to automatically generate short catalog records, process non-Latin scripts, and assist with describing special collections. They’ve found that using AI effectively requires careful planning—considering budgets, ethical standards, staff training, and evaluation of commercial tools. Similarly, the Center for Research Libraries ran a pilot where an AI program extracted information such as dates and barcodes from scanned serials. It processed 100 issues in just over eight minutes—about 60 times faster than a person could—but librarians still needed to check the data for accuracy.
These projects show how AI can save time and reduce cataloging backlogs, giving users faster access to materials. But they also remind us that machines don’t understand context or meaning the way people do. Librarians play a key role in reviewing AI-generated metadata to make sure it’s accurate, inclusive, and transparent. Ethical guidelines (like in OCLC's Libraries and AI: Managing Change, Advancing Access) emphasize values like fairness, privacy, and accountability. To help users trust what they see, metadata should also include information about how and when AI was used to generate it.
In the future, library work will likely follow a hybrid model: AI will handle routine or repetitive description tasks, while human experts apply critical judgment, correct errors, and ensure that collections reflect diverse communities and perspectives.
Archives and special collections face both exciting opportunities and new challenges. The American Library Association (ALA) notes that artificial intelligence (AI) can help organize large digital collections—such as Google’s “Life Tags,” which used AI to sort and describe thousands of LIFE magazine photographs. Northwestern University Libraries offers another example: its team developed a chat-based tool powered by generative AI that lets users ask questions in everyday language and receive synthesized answers along with search results. Projects like this show how AI and semantic search can make digital collections easier to explore and understand.
At the same time, AI brings ethical concerns. It can create realistic “deepfakes” and simulated images that blur the line between authentic and artificial records. To manage these risks, archives must develop new preservation strategies—ones that include risk assessment, regular format updates, and clear policies for using or reproducing AI-generated content (for a peek into this kind of work, see this Fixity Check, the blog of the Digital Preservation Unit of the National Archives and Records Administration). NARA is already testing AI tools such as automated metadata generation, semantic search, and redaction of personal information to see how they might responsibly improve archival work. These efforts highlight the importance of institutional capacity building and investment so that libraries can adopt new technologies in thoughtful, sustainable ways.
Community-engaged archives are also becoming more visible. These projects invite communities to help shape how their stories and histories are collected, described, and shared. A special issue of the journal Library Trends highlights how such approaches promote collaboration, inclusion, and empowerment. For the next generation of librarians, this means developing not only technical skills but also cultural awareness and the ability to work closely with the people whose histories they help preserve.
Access to information remains a core value, but it is complicated by legal, economic, technological, and legislative factors. Open access and open science initiatives aim to reduce barriers to scholarly communication by making articles, data and educational materials freely available. The IFLA trend report (2024) notes that global consortia negotiate transformative agreements while exploring sustainable models like diamond open access. Libraries must also address digital inequities: rural and tribal communities in Nevada and elsewhere rely on libraries for internet access and digital literacy (See the 2023 Nevada Statewide Digital Equity Plan draft; see this 2024 study).
Librarianship is a people‑centered profession. The IFLA 2024 trend report identifies professional development and staff retention as key challenges: many libraries face high retirement rates, burnout and insufficient compensation. Further, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of librarians and library media specialists is projected to grow only 2 percent from 2024 to 2034—slower than the average for all occupations. Yet about 13,500 openings are expected each year, primarily to replace professionals who retire or move into other fields, underscoring both the profession’s stability and the importance of ongoing recruitment, mentorship, and retention efforts. To remain relevant in an environment shaped by AI, open science, and social justice, librarians must continually reskill—learning data science, prompt engineering, copyright law, and community engagement. Collaboration and partnerships across institutions, as highlighted by the IFLA report’s section on global partnerships, will be essential for sharing expertise and resources.
To learn more about professional development in librarianship, see the following:
At its core, librarianship is a democratic institution—anchored in equitable access, protection of intellectual freedom, and the representation of diverse voices. But in recent years, libraries and librarians have found themselves on the front lines of ideological battles over which voices and stories are allowed in public view. Organized attempts to restrict or ban books have surged: in 2024, for instance, American Library Association (ALA) tracked 821 censorship attempts across public, school, and academic libraries, with 72 % of those initiated by government entities, elected officials, or pressure groups.
These pressures intensify the need for robust institutional capacity—legal, ethical, and organizational—to uphold access and defend diverse collections. For example, librarians who resist censorship efforts may face professional retaliation (such as termination or lawsuits), underscoring the risks inherent in the work. Such trends have prompted institutions like the ALA to curate resources to support libraries and library workers.
Librarians of tomorrow will need not only technical and archival skills, but also deep grounding in rights-based advocacy, policy literacy, and community-centered partnership. In environments where information access is contested, the ability to negotiate institutional power, respond to legal pressures, and build public trust will distinguish resilient leaders in the field.