The Library of the Future Has Books                19

cal social changes which have accompanied our transition from an
industrial society to what is commonly termed the "information
society" have created an intensive demand for all sources of in¬
formation, including the traditional contents of research libraries.
Because of the increasing value of scholarly materials in the form
of printed books and journals, including engravings, etchings, and
examples of typography no longer produced, our philosoph\' of
the research library as openly available to the scholarly community
is in jeopardy. Older and unique materials in the Butler stacks, not
now designated as rare, are vulnerable not only to the unethical or
careless scholar, but to the professional book thief. There has been
a significant increase in professionally organized theft in major re¬
search libraries during the past few years, and formerly isolated
incidents are occurring with alarming frequency.

The unwelcome intrusion of self-serving and competitive
market-place values into a process based on the principles of in¬
tellectual freedom and disinterested scholarship poses a serious
threat to the integrity of our collections, the quality of our services
to scholars, and our responsibility for the preservation of our in¬
tellectual heritage.

The Libraries' priorities for the next decade must include, along
with our continuing programs of automation, management, and
preservation, a carefully designed funding program for the book
collections, a re-examination of our traditional policies governing
the organization, protection, and use of the irreplaceable materials
in the Butler Library stacks, and expanded and appropriate hous¬
ing for these resources as well as for our rare book and manuscript
collections. This challenge will demand the best efforts of all of us
—librarians, scholars, bibliophiles, managers, computer experts
and Friends—who are deeply interested in maintaining our proud
tradition of excellence in research library services to the scholarly
community.

The library of the future will undoubtedly contain a \'ast array
of technological devices, dispensing information on film, fiche or