Representation of Books and Libraries in Depictions of the Future

The future has long been the subject of speculation and debate, especially in terms of how knowledge and information will someday be represented, stored, and accessed. In the approximately one hundred years before the full development of digital technology, numerous fiction writers, essayists, and library professionals presented their visions for the future of books and recorded knowledge. For most, the future would bring exciting technological improvements; for others, advanced technology would only make potential totalitarian states more capable of suppressing knowledge.