Trends in culture, community, and education point to increased potential for expanding the role of libraries of all types

This special section focuses on some of the key trends shaping libraries. It pairs with American Libraries’ an­nual coverage of the ALA Emerging Leaders. These librar­ians are, after all, representative of a new wave of library leaders who will help shape our futures—and likely have already contributed to, influenced, or led the trends that we will cover. The first piece, “Trending Now,” is a quick introduction to the Center for the Future of Libraries’ “trend library.” The trend library is designed to provide the library community with a centralized and regularly updated source for trends—including how they are developing; why they matter for libraries; and links to the reports, articles, and resources that can further explain their significance. As a collection, it will grow to include changes and trends across society, technology, education, the environment, politics, the economy, and demographics. Makerspaces are playing an increasingly important role in libraries. Four librarians from three library maker­spaces—Tampa–Hillsborough County (Fla.) Public Library System’s The Hive, the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Maker Jawn, and the Innisfil (Ont.) Public Library’s ideaLAB—talk about how maker culture is transforming their libraries and share ideas about this important trend’s direction, in “Making Room for Informal Learning.” Keeping up to date with changes in education is impor­tant for all of us but especially for those of us working in academic and school libraries. Joan K. Lippincott shares her thoughts in “The Future for Teaching and Learning” on how academic libraries can leverage growing interest in active learning, new media and information formats, and technology-rich collaborative spaces within the higher education environment. Natalie Greene Taylor, Mega Subramaniam, and Amanda Waugh, all of the University of Maryland’s College of In­formation Studies, look at how school librarians can in­tegrate three trends—the mobility of information, connected learning, and learning in the wild—to keep up with the future of K–12 education in “The School Librar­ian as Learning Alchemist.” There is news from two library science programs’ ini­tiatives exploring what’s ahead in library education, in “The Future of the MLIS.” This focus on the education of librarians is important for all of us.”