Libraries creating spaces for existing.
Yesterday I enjoyed a behind the scenes look at the Biblioteca Vasconcelos’ greenhouse and it is amazing. Sitting adjacent to the library it is connected via the library’s garden. There’s talk of turning it into a reading room with wireless access. !
Here are some full color views of this amazing and unique library space.
The space has a really nice feel due in part to pleasant natural light and smart furniture. Without looking temporary, the desks and stacks seem modular and I bet the space could easily be configured in different arrangements.
One service desk. No chair for the librarians. Love it. If I remember correctly, this is one of MCL’s branches doing a good job with reference beyond the desk.
MCL has a great collection called “Lucky Day.” The items are popular books exempt from the usual reserves queue. This is a fun idea that puts a positive spin on someone’s experience when they connect with a book they want. Offering a variable ratio schedule of returns, I bet it could be an effective way to get people into the building. Get lucky at the library.
It would have been my lucky day if I hadn’t already bought this book.
The library is in the midst of a bunch of neighborhood shops, restaurants and bars – a central location for the neighborhood. The “LIBRARY” sign looks great, appears to use the sign fixture for whatever was in that space before and is contextually appropriate. Nice job MCL!
UConn plans a bike-sharing test program in the next few months, in which anyone with a current UConn identification could borrow one of 20 bicycles at the Homer Babbidge Library.
The Undergraduate Student Government purchased the bikes. If the pilot program is successful, more bicycles will be purchased.
I wonder if this was a library idea supported by the student government or if the student government approached the library. Either way, I’m into it.
Other bike related stuff here at Walking Paper:
– Reading Rickshaw +
– P+ Bike System
– Libraries can Learn from Rivendell Bicycle Works
Here’s a rather twee video that briefly celebrates the library as a good place to be alone. Not exactly what we’re going for, eh?
I am way into this program from the Baltimore City Health Department and the Enoch Free Public Library:
On a bright spring morning in Baltimore, retiree Gwen Tates goes over her weekly grocery list — oatmeal, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, pea soup. But it’s where she’s shopping that might surprise you: at the public library.Under a new city program, patrons can order groceries online and pay with cash, credit or food stamps. The orders are filled by Santoni’s supermarket, a longtime Baltimore grocer. They deliver the items to the library the next day. Tates says she loves the convenience.
“I pay with my charge card. They swipe it right here. I come back to the library tomorrow and they’ll have it all bagged up and ready to go,” she says.
[via].
Libraries can become so much more than content mausoleums by facilitating a suite of useful community services. I do worry a bit about feature creep, however. More about this in a forthcoming post about the Garage Library in Malmö.
I visited some great places as part of my participation in the Gates Foundation’s 2010 Global Libraries Peer Learning Meeting.
The libraries I saw have overcome their addiction to circulating content. Now they’re all about doing, making, publishing, working, and experiences revolving around content. People are still getting print books and CDs for the library, sure, but other stuff seems more important. Here’s a little report.
Finland has two official languages. Finnish and Swedish.
The first place I visited was the Helsinki CIty Library’s central location: Library 10. Even though it is the central library it is considered a music library and there aren’t many books. Right now about 70% of the space is devoted to people and 30% to materials. Their next design will expand the space for people to 80%.
Instead of books people check out guitars.
Or record music and edit music videos.
There’s a radio station and the library broadcasts a small segment locally every day, and nationally once per week.
The library is certainly nice looking but it isn’t flashy. That’s a pretty accurate description of Helsinki in general so it fits.
The chairs of this area are often moved out and a stage is set up. They host cultural events and record many of them. They’re interested in the library as publisher of content. One great fact about the events held at the library. Over 80% of them are organized by library users. Librarians just facilitate hosting the events.
Modularity is a big part of the library. All of the big furniture is on wheels and can be easily moved. They’re not limited by outlet placement because there are outlets everywhere in the ceiling. While most of the staff furniture stays put, people rearrange the public’s furniture daily. It is straightened up every morning and staff look for patterns to help plan future layouts.
It is impossible for library patrons and staff to sit on opposite side of a desk. They work together answering questions. Staff were resistent at first but quickly came to fully embrace the arrangement and wondered why they didn’t make the switch 10 years earlier.
Speaking of work, chief librarian Kari Lämsä says he prefers the concept of Library as Working Room rather than the more common Library as Living Room because living rooms are too passive.
There are all sorts of other interesting things about the library. They have a group of people working on cool web stuff. I wrote about their country-wide library searching iPhone app in January.
They have a mobile events van that takes gaming equipment to other libraries. It also travels to music events in the Summer, changing out the content to be event specific. Library 10 tries put the same kind of people on both sides of the desk. Staff aren’t your typical library workers. A bunch of them are 20-something guys.
This Helsinki CIty Library location is across the street from Library 10 in a building full of stores and cafes. There are no materials to browse or check out. People bring in their computers to the Laptop Doctor for repair and for lessons. Most of the interactions are one-on-one but there’s a Laptop Club during which many people gather for instruction.
Other services include Citizen Media Computers with multimedia and publishing tools, a new and popular VHS to DVD setup and a few computers dedicated to finding a job.
Their next project is the Urban Office Workspace for people in the city that need a temporary place to conduct business. Two successful business have already been started at Meetingpoint.
A place like Meetingpoint couldn’t work without an enthusiastic staff. Everything I observed indicated that they’re super stoked on doing what they do.
A group of us heard a bit about how Nokia learns from their R&D prototypes and incorporates ideas into their final products. We also got a tour of the Nokia Lounge which is a showcase of their products. They seem most excited about their phones for the developing world and they billed all of their smartphones as being extremely affordable. It almost seemed like they’ve given up on doing anything to combat iPhone-mania.
This was the neatest thing I saw. Wireless charging.
And, just for fun, here’s the first library sign using the Cyrillic alphabet I’ve ever photgraphed!
I visited some great places as part of my participation in the Gates Foundation’s 2010 Global Libraries Peer Learning Meeting.
The libraries I saw have overcome their addiction to circulating content. Now they’re all about doing, making, publishing, working, and experiences revolving around content. People are still getting print books and CDs for the library, sure, but other stuff seems more important. Here’s a little report.
Finland has two official languages. Finnish and Swedish.
The first place I visited was the Helsinki CIty Library’s central location: Library 10. Even though it is the central library it is considered a music library and there aren’t many books. Right now about 70% of the space is devoted to people and 30% to materials. Their next design will expand the space for people to 80%.
Instead of books people check out guitars.
Or record music and edit music videos.
There’s a radio station and the library broadcasts a small segment locally every day, and nationally once per week.
The library is certainly nice looking but it isn’t flashy. That’s a pretty accurate description of Helsinki in general so it fits.
The chairs of this area are often moved out and a stage is set up. They host cultural events and record many of them. They’re interested in the library as publisher of content. One great fact about the events held at the library. Over 80% of them are organized by library users. Librarians just facilitate hosting the events.
Modularity is a big part of the library. All of the big furniture is on wheels and can be easily moved. They’re not limited by outlet placement because there are outlets everywhere in the ceiling. While most of the staff furniture stays put, people rearrange the public’s furniture daily. It is straightened up every morning and staff look for patterns to help plan future layouts.
It is impossible for library patrons and staff to sit on opposite side of a desk. They work together answering questions. Staff were resistent at first but quickly came to fully embrace the arrangement and wondered why they didn’t make the switch 10 years earlier.
Speaking of work, chief librarian Kari Lämsä says he prefers the concept of Library as Working Room rather than the more common Library as Living Room because living rooms are too passive.
There are all sorts of other interesting things about the library. They have a group of people working on cool web stuff. I wrote about their country-wide library searching iPhone app in January.
They have a mobile events van that takes gaming equipment to other libraries. It also travels to music events in the Summer, changing out the content to be event specific. Library 10 tries put the same kind of people on both sides of the desk. Staff aren’t your typical library workers. A bunch of them are 20-something guys.
This Helsinki CIty Library location is across the street from Library 10 in a building full of stores and cafes. There are no materials to browse or check out. People bring in their computers to the Laptop Doctor for repair and for lessons. Most of the interactions are one-on-one but there’s a Laptop Club during which many people gather for instruction.
Other services include Citizen Media Computers with multimedia and publishing tools, a new and popular VHS to DVD setup and a few computers dedicated to finding a job.
Their next project is the Urban Office Workspace for people in the city that need a temporary place to conduct business. Two successful business have already been started at Meetingpoint.
A place like Meetingpoint couldn’t work without an enthusiastic staff. Everything I observed indicated that they’re super stoked on doing what they do.
A group of us heard a bit about how Nokia learns from their R&D prototypes and incorporates ideas into their final products. We also got a tour of the Nokia Lounge which is a showcase of their products. They seem most excited about their phones for the developing world and they billed all of their smartphones as being extremely affordable. It almost seemed like they’ve given up on doing anything to combat iPhone-mania.
This was the neatest thing I saw. Wireless charging.
And, just for fun, here’s the first library sign using the Cyrillic alphabet I’ve ever photgraphed!
Eli’s Twitter account will probably have updates.
But like I said before, libraries might not provide content in the future & it’s okay. So come on everybody. Create some meaning for your library beyond shuffling books around.
Let’s get to it.
The five library parks in Medellín, Colombia are amazing and not just because of their architecture.
Included in the network are five library parks, known as “hearts of knowledge.” Located throughout the city in some of Medellin’s most marginalized communities, the library parks have become cultural centers, providing broad, community access to information and educational resources. The network’s libraries offer a range of training programs, including how to use the computer and access information online, and English for the Internet.
“Libraries have become spaces to not only access knowledge and learning, but also areas of community action and pride,” said Clara Patricia Restrepo, executive director of the EPM Foundation. “By continuing to bring new information and resources to our users, libraries are now perceived as dynamic centers that offer accessible, relevant learning opportunities.”
The organization behind them, the Fundación Empresas Públicas de Medellín was recently awarded the 2009 Access to Learning Award by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
NPL has shifted people’s perceptions of libraries from traditional “bookshelves” to dynamic centers—places that offer tools for personal development and economic improvement, places that create a sense of local community and provide a connection to the global community.
By bringing citizens together in a communal setting, libraries are encouraging unity and learning. Historian and library coordinator Gabriel Jaime Vanegas said, “We believe that you can learn better if you’re part of a community.” Now, according to Gabriel, the young people of his district have a place where they can interact with the rest of the world, and that place is their library.
I highly recommend looking at more photos of the libraries at Parque Biblioteca León de Grieff / Giancarlo Mazzanti
[thanks, Erica!]
On Wednesday afternoons during the Summer outside of the MLK Jr. Memorial Library in Washington DC you will find a table full of friendly librarians talking to the passersby. The librarians also bring out an assortment of library materials to illustrate what’s available in the library. It is a great program and I’d like to see it go even further.
A compelling picture of comprehensive outreach forms when you combine this physical space effort with digital space efforts:
