ABSTRACT
Any forecast about the future direction of local studies libraries and librarianship in the UK must be largely based on an evaluation of current trends both here (as outlined in Chapter 1) and abroad, as described below. Such a forecast may be misleading, based as it is on a limited number of examples instanced in the professional literature, and the future could also be severely distorted by unexpected events and developments. Predictions cannot, in any case, be put in an orderly timeframe. Nevertheless, it is the duty of a chapter such as this not only to look to the future, by monitoring trends abroad and at home and their likely implications, but to seek to influence that future by suggesting appropriate changes and developments in local studies provision in UK libraries and within the broader local studies scene.
