Significant challenges facing libraries and archives are generally consistent across sectors. Among the responses to the ALA survey, the most common is funding. Levels of municipal funding are generally lower for smaller, rural communities. Respondents feel that libraries and archives will increasingly need to utilize alternative funding sources: grants, investments from private sector and fundraising. Related to this is the continual challenge of demonstrating impact in the digital age, an age in which traditional output measures do not fully tell the Library story, and in which public perception of libraries is often based on assumptions and tradition, and not of the 21st CenturyLibrary. These challenges create pressure to develop new vision, knowledge and skill sets and infrastructure.
