Brian Gambles

From August 12-13, 2014, the IFLA Public Libraries Section held a satellite conference, Public Library Futures in a Global Digital World, at the new Library of Birmingham, England. Its director, Brian Gambles, opened the conference with a keynote speech about change. “Leadership has to be hungry for change,” he stated. Small steps were made: a redesigned organization, a new dress code, shared desk space and welfare facilities, as well as new working practices. But change is not embraced by the whole organization: according to the 20:60:20 rule, 20% of staff agrees, another 20% is against. For Gambles, this last minority has to be left alone and “invited to exit the organization.”

The conference confirmed that these are the days of a “renaissance of space.” Here are four experiences of new spaces built by incredible staff and successful branding.

 Vera Binz and Sarah Dudek presenting the “Themenraum”

Themenraum

If you had an empty room in your library, how would you use it? 3D printers? The latest high-tech gear? Games? No way! Imagine a book display on a specific topic and let it explode in different dimensions. At the “Themenraum,” or “topic room,” at the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek (Berlin, Germany), web links are next to print bibliographies, while printed books sit next to a Twitter wall and news items. The topics, often inspired by the latest news or important anniversaries, change every month. The patrons’ favorite ones so far have been the Leipzig Bookfair, fairytales, the diversity of Islam, and “poor and rich.” The Themenraum shows how digital curating has emerged as a new skill required by librarians, as well as the public’s need for digital literacy.

Corinne Hill presenting the 4^th Floor

4^th Floor

“Transformation” is one of the main values of the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Public Library’s mission. The 4th Floor is a space in continuous transformation, thanks to a high performance staff. Before a chaotic repository of unused materials, now the 4^th Floor hosts programs and events about coding, genealogy, STEM, and makers. Print collections are still relevant though: “responsive collections” is another strong value of theirs.

Henriette Dybdal and Allan Thomsen Volhoj presenting the FolkeLab

FolkeLab

Public and academic libraries in Aarhus and Roskilde (Denmark) created a project with six temporary innovation spaces, such as TechLab, Wastelab, or GuitarLab. The lessons learned can be summed up in a decalogue: (1) people are not reduced to just guests; (2) people are more important than technology; (3) people have opportunities to engage at different levels; (4) people determine the clout of the maker culture; (5) people create together; (6) staff must be willing to change the frames and expand the ideas; (7) staff uses its own creativity and skills; (8) staff must assure different thresholds; (9) learning is something also done with the hands; (10) creativity comes from chaos and mess.

BiblioTech

BiblioTech in San Antonio (Tex.) went far beyond the library as a book repository, eliminating books completely. Despite being a recent pilot experience, BiblioTech enjoyed terrific global press coverage as the first “bookless library” [1]. The advancement of digital literacy, intended as something more than knowing how to use technology, is one of the main goals. The equipment includes 600 e-readers for external circulation, 45 iPads for internal use, and four surface tables. The library’s success is based on its programming (for seniors too), community partnerships (i.e. with the San Antonio Spurs Foundation), and an attractive brand.

Jens Thorhauge, the guru of the 4-space model, ideally closed the conference describing how the traditional role of public libraries has been challenged during the last 20 years. His provocative assertion that “access to information is not the librarian’s business anymore” hit the mark, considering it preceded by just a few days the launch of the Lyon Declaration on access to information and development.[2]. Thorhauge highlighted that nowadays libraries struggle to compete with fast-movers in the media market (i.e. Facebook), and with commercial media streaming services (Netflix or Spotify). He can’t see a new standard model for libraries though, so the discussion continues.

Table tennis at the Library of Birmingham

References

[1] BiblioTech – An Entirely Bookless Library, by Elena Rivera on February 21, 2013. BiblioTech opened in September 2013. Two satellite facilities were opened more recently.

[2] The declaration will be one of the main advocacy tools for IFLA in the next months.

The post Report From the IFLA Public Libraries Conference first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

In a recent article written by the San Antonio Express News, Bexar County judge Nelson Wolff shared the proposed plans to launch the very first bookless library system to a county that lacks a library system all together.[i] Up to this point, Bexar County had been paying the San Antonio County $3.7 million a year so that its residents could use San Antonio’s library resources, but this year they would have to pay $6.7 million.  Faced with such a costly situation, Wolff set out to find the most efficient way to create a library system for his residents. In the article, Wolff is quoted, “We wanted to find a low-cost, effective way to bring reading and learning to the county and also focus on the change in the world of technology.”

For a county in such dire financial circumstances, this proposition is incredibly promising. The proposal revolves around creating a library specifically for the digital age as opposed to simply adapting an existing library. Despite the existence of bookless libraries,“BiblioTech” as it will be named, will the first of its kind in the United States as a county-wide system. Bibliotech will have no print legacy and will be the first to be entirely bookless from the very start. Having a prototype location in San Antonio Texas it will be offering its patrons the ability to check out books through their own e-readers, and if needed can even borrow one of their library’s 150 e-readers.

In the past there have been other attempts to create bookless libraries, but something has never worked quite right.  In one example the public didn’t have enough computer access to successfully use the library, and in another case the public was simply against it.  In 2002, Tucson-Pima Public Library in Arizona opened a branch that was planned to offer only e-books, but due to community demand the library  soon began stocking printed text as well.  In 2011, Newport Beach considered closing its city’s library and replacing it with a community center-like branch where people could visit and read, but not where physical books would be found. Due to community outcry, the plan was scrapped. In Bexar’s case, the community welcomes and supports the bookless proposal. Instead of reacting with doubt and fear, community members are looking forward to how their library system will be set up and what resources will be available to them.  Residents are ready to be involved in the development of an incredibly modern library system and are excited to see how they will benefit from this new way of interacting with text.

Times have changed, libraries are evolving and traditional ideals of what a library should be are changing. Perhaps, the world isn’t ready for all libraries to be bookless,but just as there are different community needs, there should also be appropriate libraries to suit those needs. It will be interesting to watch Bexar County’s bookless public library system evolve over the years.

The post BiblioTech – An Entirely Bookless Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.