Libraries have always been the foundation of knowledge. For centuries, if not millennia, they have played an important role enriching the minds of the future generation. In recent decades, libraries were for students researching their homework, working on school projects, or even just passing time to read books that were otherwise unavailable in their homes.

However, libraries have been facing many challenges brought about by technological advancements. In the advent of information being readily available online, the vast selection of diversions made available to the public at their fingertips, and finally, the worldwide pandemic which brought the world to a standstill, libraries now are in more than danger than ever.

Joined by representatives from the National Library, the Miguel de Benavidez library of the University of Santo Tomas, the Ortigas Foundation, and the Aurelio Montinola Jr. library of Alliance Française de Manille, a roundtable discussion was mounted by the Instituto Cervantes de Manila in Intramuros last 19 November.

El Futuro de las Bibliotecas (The Future of Libraries) tackled the importance of libraries and their future in the ever-changing landscape of information, the pandemic shutdown, and how these repositories of knowledge can cope with the challenges.

Carme Fenoll, 45, director of the Culture and Community Area of the library of the Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya, cheerfully shared her ideas on how we can help libraries withstand and adapt.
One of Fenoll's biggest suggestions is to bring the library closer to people.

"Take the library to the streets, you know, or I know that you have a privileged climate so share the public spaces with terraces, put plugs and shelves at the entrance with resources in the style of 'libraries of trust,'" Fenoll said.