Through the Looking Glass: Non-Fungible Tokens & Libraries

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to help information professionals understand the foundational concepts of this technology and how these are related to libraries so that they can evolve services alongside it.

Design/methodology/approach

This column will define what a non-fungible tokens (NFT) is, explore the relevant trends impacting its development and examine how it intersects with the traditional roles of the library.

Findings

NFTs represent a new and growing technology that intersections with many of the same concepts that are core to librarianship. Libraries are community institutions that engender widespread trust, whereas NFTs are built atop cryptocurrency that seeks to enable anonymous peer-to-peer interactions.