(This article reprinted from New England Libraries, Vol. 2, No. 3: April, 2006.)
The Future of Libraries: It's Up to Us
by Cheryl Bryan
The DaVinci Institute, a non-profit think tank, issued a report last fall on “The Future of Libraries”. We can agree or disagree, but they characterize the library, as we've traditionally known it, as consisting of “large collections of books and other materials, primarily funded and maintained by cities or other institutions... often used by people who choose not to, or can not afford to, purchase books for themselves.” The report goes on to point out the conclusion we often hear from those who don't use libraries, that “people who in the past visited libraries to find specific pieces of information are now able to find that information online. The vast majority of people with specific information needs no longer visit libraries.” So what are libraries to do to accommodate the changing mindset of their patrons?
While the full report (www.davinciinstitute.com/page.php?ID=120) is worthwhile reading, the institute's final four recommendations to libraries are:
- Evaluate the library experience.
- Embrace new information technologies.
- Preserve the memories of your own communities.
- Experiment with creative spaces so the future role of the library can define itself.
How do library planners take these abstract recommendations and make them part of our planning for library design and renovation, staff training and management, and services and program planning? I'd like to focus on two of the above recommendations: “evaluate the library experience” and “experiment with creative spaces so the future role of the library can define itself”.
Earlier in the report, Thomas Frey, Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute, points out that our culture is moving from a primarily product-based economy toward an increasingly experience-based economy. The easy availability of products for most Americans has led us to place a lower value on the product itself and a higher value on new, inspirational, or learning experiences. (Think of our library's moving from providing books to programming and computer instruction.) When we ask community members what they would like from their library, we often hear now that they want the library to provide a place for people to find others with similar interests. They expect to make those matches through the library's programming efforts, access to and experimentation with new technologies, and through the experiences created for them by our books, DVDs, audio books and other resources.
Let's place the library's desire to attract broad community participation in the context of the cultural trend toward an experience-based economy, mentioned previously. An excellent resource and guide to understanding this trend is James Gilmore and Joseph Pine's The Experience Economy. As they examine this growing phenomenon, Gilmore and Pine conclude that when people are time- and money-stressed, they will invest both time and money in new and inspirational experiences. This is illustrated by the popularity of adventure travel, enterprises like the Build a Bear children's parties, and the popularity of weekend seminars on all kinds of topics from fly fishing to meditation. How can we apply this knowledge to the library experience? James Gilmore advises us to “focus on the experience of the user and magnify it.” Here are some specific techniques to go about doing that:
- Surprise and delight the user. How can we engage the senses of our patrons to enhance their experience in the library? One of the libraries in our region placed an exhibit of meditation books on display in a quiet area with a temporary fountain nearby to enhance the exhibit. Think about your own building. Is there a sense of engagement – something to “delight the senses” – when entering your library? What could you do to create this?
- Find the “sweet spot” between passive and active engagement and absorption and immersion experiences. A reader snuggled in to an armchair with an engaging book can be an example of this, as is an open poetry reading where participants are encouraged to bring a favorite poem (their own or someone else's).
- Personalizing services adds value for the customer. To quote James Gilmore, “Customers don't want choices, they want what they want.” He goes on to point out that the difference between what a customer wants and what they get is the area of customer sacrifice. To create loyal customers, our job is to lessen that sacrifice where possible. Think of it this way: If Amazon can develop software that not only welcomes back users by name, but remembers their recent searches to make recommendations of new books, shouldn't we be working to provide the same level of service? Of course, libraries have a responsibility to maintain our users' confidentiality, but must that confidentiality imply anonymity? We need to personalize our services while maintaining patron confidentiality; developing this model and embracing it wholeheartedly will be one our biggest challenges in improving existing services, and offering new ones, over the next few years.
- “ing the thing”: To encourage more fun and active participation, we need to think about making our programs more engaging. Here's a way to think about that. Take those nouns that describe library activities and add “ing” to them to create more involvement. For example, people in our libraries can engage in learning, gaming, or searching. How can we expand this? Some easy directions might be discussing, sharing collections, expertise or opinions, or creating.
Now consider the report's fourth recommendation for spaces where the library can define its new and future roles. We have some wonderful examples of libraries “experimenting with creative spaces so the future role of the library can define itself”. The best place to begin defining new roles is in conversation with the community. We need to ask them what they would like to see and do in their libraries. It is important to complete a formal planning process to determine service priorities for your library before you begin to change the use of space and implement new services. We all need to use our library's resources in the most effective way possible and that begins by asking the community what their service priorities are. You can use any of a number of planning processes. PLA has endorsed the Planning for Results process and that can serve as a good starting point if you have never done any formal planning.
Most communities I have worked with endorse the idea of the library as a community commons. But when our community members begin to describe the look and feel of their envisioned library, we often discover two competing visions, two seemingly conflicting experiences. The traditionalists tell us they value the library as a place of retreat. They desire a quiet place, a comfortable armchair, in which to read. Then there are those who tell us they look to their library as a safe place to try out the latest technologies. This group wants to learn to use new media forms: downloadable books for their MP3 players, new movies on DVD, or a facility for digitizing their family memorabilia. And then, just to spice things up, we sometimes find both in the same person! Our best new libraries, like the Cerritos Library, Cerritos CA, successfully create havens for those seeking a quiet place to work, study, or read. They then provide other spaces to access new technologies, and still others for shared exploration and workgroups – all in the same floorplan. The trend toward open spaces with defined areas, allowing the space to be reconfigured to current demands and uses, is reminiscent of the simplicity of the traditional Japanese house, the shining example of using space as needed. Western architects have long marveled at the many uses the open space in a small three-room Japanese house serves for the residents and surrounding community.
Some new uses for your space might include podcasting stations, blogger stations, town band practice rooms, art studios, video and sound recording studios, dance and drama theater rehearsal space, and practice rooms.
What will your library do to create a space for the future role of the library to reveal itself?