Sir Roly Keating, Chief Executive of the British Library

This speech considers the challenges and opportunities facing national libraries in a changing world, by focussing on the evolution of the British Library from its foundation 50 years ago and the development of its strategic vision for the future. It will chart the journey from many collections to one – the decades-long process of bringing disparate collections together into a single organisation, with a unified and coherent experience for its users. Also explored will be the challenges of growth and increasing scope – including new developments in terms of storage space and collection care; the advent of digital Legal Deposit collecting (including the web and e-books); the growth of digitisation of heritage collections; and the increasing use of AI to navigate and manipulate vast datasets which will transform what users are able to do in the decades to come.

A particular point of focus will be the continued importance of physical spaces and services alongside the growth of digital collections. While online is a huge part of what the Library does now, its physical sites are arguably more important than ever as a means for people to encounter, learn about and explore our collection. The speech will describe the Library’s major capital projects and its growing work to reach much larger audiences through partnerships with public libraries across the UK.

Finally, the speech will reflect on themes of sustainability, longevity, continuity – themes that connect the Library’s past and its future, underpinning the uniquely long-term role that a national library has and its leverage in terms of both visibility and convening power; its responsibility for and commitment to the long-term; and the crucial role of partnerships, at local, national and international levels, in making this happen.

這篇演說將透過關注大英圖書館成立50年以來的演變及其未來策略性願景的提升，探討國家級圖書館在瞬息萬變的世界中面臨的挑戰和機遇。文中描繪從多個館藏到一個館藏的旅程—長達數十年將不同的館藏整合到一個組織中的過程，並為其用戶提供統一和連貫的體驗。此外，探討增長和擴大範圍的挑戰—包括存儲空間和館藏、維護方面的新發展，數位法定送存的出現（包括網絡和電子書），文化遺產館藏數位化的增長，以及越來越多地使用人工智能來導航和操縱龐大的數據資料庫，這將改變用戶在未來幾十年的能力以及大英圖書館透過與英國各地公共圖書館的合作，為擴大受眾範圍而持續進行的工作。

最後，演講將探觸反思永續及連續性的主題—這些主題連接著圖書館的過去和未來，鞏固了國家圖書館所具有的獨特的長期作用及其在知名度和召集力方面的影響力，對長期的責任和承諾，以及地方、國家和國際各級夥伴關係在實現這一目標方面的關鍵作用。