This paper suggests that by 2004, the traditional public libraries will have ceased to exist and new, attractive future libraries will have taken their place. The Libraries 2040 project of the Netherlands is initiating seven different libraries of the future. The Brabant library is the "ultimate library of the future" for the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant, and the impetus behind it is that the current public library system is no longer able to cope with the enormous production of books. Hotel Alphabet views the library as a dynamic building that takes the shape of a complete biotope of a large hotel open at all times, pleasantly anonymous and welcoming. The hormone library is designed as an "emotional interface" enabling young people to use the library in ways that respond to their rapidly changing moods. The survival library comprises almost 30 publications by writers from Noord-Brabant, hidden in the town of Oisterwijk and the surrounding countryside. The main aim of the virtual library of the future is to create an environment in which the terms "structure,""chaos," and "collectivity" are given new meaning. Not the books themselves but the experience of reading is the primary focus of the "Bibliotheque d'amis." In the partisan library, hidden in the scenery around Moerdijk, children became the librarians of their own library and only children were told of its whereabouts. (AEF)