The social responsibility of libraries in the digital age

Abstract

This study analyses the – significantly expanded – functions of libraries in the 21st century and their active community role in society, richly illustrated and supported by international examples. It also draws attention to the continuous changes of environmental factors and the significance of forecasts in proactively serving the ensuing new demands. After pinpointing the cornerstones of strategic planning for the library network and urging their Hungarian adaptation, it outlines the international situation by introducing the developmental efforts and programmes of IFLA. The study discusses the Lyon Declaration and the IFLA Strategic Plan 2016-2021 on the basis of the IFLA Trend Report 2013 and its update, the IFLA Trend Report 2016. While its principal focus lies in IFLA’s complex action plan – built on the UN Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the related rich documentation background (manuals, toolkits), it also deals with the Library of the Future project of ALA, and the introduction of the Hungarian library trends and tendencies.