Future of Libraries: 7 Questions Librarians Need to Answer

My earliest memory of a Library involves a calm space where I could go to quietly read, reflect or study.

But in the last few years, the idea of the Library as a quiet reflective space has been dirtied by educators claiming that this makes the Library old fashioned and outdated. They want the Library/Information Commons/Information Resource Centre to be dynamic, loud, colourful. It should be a happening place that sparks interest and encourages questioning. 

But once you have that question, what do you do?

The Pew Research "Future of Libraries" presentation makes some interesting statements

• Libraries as maker spaces
• Emphasis on teaching inquiry research skills (how do students search through the info-glut to find what they need for their learning?)
• The need for quiet or thinking spaces within libraries
• slide 34 has an interesting break down on spaces within a library
• the idea of a technology "petting zoo" or genius bar where students can try out new technologies or gadgets. 3D printers?

I am loving the idea of Libraries as maker-spaces, and Gary Stager's newish book "Invent to Learn" goes back to those fundamental ideas that in order to learn deeply, students need to engage in what Negroponte called "Hard Fun" in Being Digital, constructing their own knowledge with the systems that we have helped them put in place.

At the same time the overlay for this maker space should be the guided inquiry process, or a system that similarly assists students to structure their thinking and approach to problem solving. I don't care if this is Big 6, PBL or GIL. Just so long as it provides the student with a scaffold to build their learning experiences around.

What do you think?

Further Reading:

• The Future of Libraries, ABC Big Ideas: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/the-library-of-the-future/5286116
• The Future of Libraries: Where are the books?
  Some great links to talks about how Libraries have to evolve to survive.
  http://www.2machines.com/articles/181239.html
• What Will Become of the Library?: How it will evolve as the world goes digital.
  http://www.slate.com/articles/life/design/2014/04/the_future_of_the_library_how_they_ll_evolve_for_the_digital_age.html
• The Future of Libraries: Beginning the great transformation
  http://www.davinciinstitute.com/papers/the-future-of-libraries/