The Future ofPublic Libraries
Including the Specific Future of Lawrence Public Library
Brad Allen,Director
About me
About me
First, a bit of history...
In the beginning...
Libraries protected and preserved books (texts were scarce)
"Libraries raised me. ... I couldn't go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years."
-Ray Bradbury
By the 20th Century, public libraries were the 'people's universities'
The world used to be analog.
Information existed in physical containers and libraries stored it.
Today, the world is digital.Computers are central to our daily lives.
Libraries have gone from this
To This
To this
The world has gone from this
To this
And this
And all this, too
And most recently, from this
To this
So that's the world,but what about Lawrence?
The existing public library is now 40 years old.
In November 2010, Lawrence citizens voted foran $18 million bond to build a new library.
We asked our community what was most important, and they told us.
More space for kids.
Enriching the lives of children is essential to the mission of our library.
More space for community meetings.
Providing meeting spaces for our citizens is crucial to the mission of our library.
State of the art technology.
Looking to the future,what else could (perhaps should)
libraries do to enrich the lives of the people they serve?
For public libraries,the answer should always be attuned to the specific community it serves.
Perhaps new services could accomplish
new missions?
"Content creation" stations
Collaborative Content Creation Stations
Multitrack recording studio
Video production
Our library will have a recording studio and audio-visual editing booths
to support the creativity of our community.
Makerspaces
There are public libraries that have makerspaces.
A community commonplace...
A final thought
"A library's function is to give the public in the quickest and cheapest way information, inspiration, and recreation.
If a better way than the book can be found, we should use it."
-Melvil Dewey
Thank you!
Questions?