Seth Godin and CEOs for Cities raised the issue of what do to with public libraries in the 21st century. Over time, all books will be available on the internet, which will mean fewer people checking out the hard-cover, hard copy versions.
Seth thinks they should “train people to take intellectual initiative.” Not a bad goal, but we have universities for that and increasingly they are reaching out to the broader community.
So what to do with all these small and large public places dotted around a city that belong to the taxpayers. Why not make them into “third places” that are free as well as community resource points. Currently, small business people and others wanting to network or discuss an idea need to spend money to “rent” a table at Starbucks or another wireless cafe.
What if libraries offered comfortable spaces for people to meet and chat, as well as spaces for silent reading or working –free wireless, of course, plus the ability to borrow a computer while you’re there. Maybe for a small fee (or free), small meeting rooms could be reserved complete with technology like projectors. Maybe local groups including meetup ones would have a free place to meet: a novel writing support group or political campaigners.
What if these existing places could also become community resource points staffed by volunteers. Tourist and travel information in one corner, help with your resume in another, tax advice in a third place and maybe legal help at certain times in another area.
At certain hours childrens’s programing (typically available now) would continue– story time, song time, etc.
All the books libraries currently own would still be available and people would still come to read them. Children love the magic of books with bright colours, fun pictures and pages they can “turn by self”and this won’t change when it’s possible to download the same books.
Rooms to watch classic movies and documentaries could exist for those who prefer to watch them in a group and discuss the content afterward with fellow aficionados.
What do you think? Would this work?
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How would you keep these third places from turning into day-care for the mentally ill and homeless?
Starbucks is vigilant about keeping people upsetting other customers out of their stores. The logic is simple “This customer has paid for a coffee and is entitled to be here, you have not and are bothering them… please leave.” Even so, every now and then someone makes it to me when I’m in Starbucks and asks for change.
But libraries are common space, that belong to the people. The premise of the books to read and borrow still allows for patronizing, and someone making a scene or failing to make use of the resources can be asked to leave by the staff. But once you eliminate the resources, and expected code of behaviour… then what? When the big smelly shaggy man who’s off his meds, or the screechy twitchy woman looking for her next hit decide, as public citizens, to be in “the third place” what is our response going to be? On what grounds will we tell them to leave?
I think I’d just keep using the Starbucks.
R.
Libraries can and do function as third places. As I discuss in this article — http://works.bepress.com/adam_arenson/6/ — they have been doing so for two hundred years.
I agree with the comment above that the third place of the library is more democratic than, say, Starbucks — those seeking conversation or a space to think do have to contend with enthusiastic children, outcast adults, and more. But in some ways that makes the library-as-third-place more robust, not less. Just more unpredictable.
Out here in Oakland, Calif., our public libraries have become just the third places you describe. There’s free wi-fi, meeting rooms in many of the well-placed branch libraries, lectures, presentations, and, yes, tax and legal help.
That doesn’t keep them invulnerable to city budget cuts. But you should’ve heard the outrage, the hue and cry, when the Oakland city government tried to shut down some of the branch libraries. These libraries have proved themselves invaluable to patrons, even without offering espresso drinks.
About three years ago I lead the charge to develop a customer centric library using the concept of third place, as best we could. That lead us to talk to costumers and potential customers and we broke new ground by dropping the Dewey Decimal System in favor of a modified bookstore model based on BISAC. Three years later it is still a Hot topic among Libraries.
[...] Posted by marshallshore on January 14, 2010 Libraries as public 3rd places [...]
Some of you read my mind.
When I was writing that post, I constantly wondered whether the homeless would take over such spaces. And I think it might be a significant obstacle in some places to having libraries work for everyone in this way.
But, that said, perhaps there could be a “code of conduct” for these places. For example, asking others for money is not allowed and will result in your being escorted off the premises. Perhaps sleeping should be banned as well for anyone over the age of 2 (this is not a shelter). Banning alcohol, drugs and even most food and drink (this is still a library afterall) might also serve to keep the space from becoming a shelter replacement.
Public parks have similar potential issues, and yet many/most are still great spaces to hang out in. So what if there is a homeless person sitting on a bench minding her own business. Many of us still use parks and playgrounds, so why not a library with a homeless person warming up and reading the newspaper.
I’d say simply because someone reading the newspaper and getting warm isn’t disruptive. Homeless or not, it doesn’t matter. What about someone going chair-to-chair asking for change? Or shouting at the top of their lungs?
In a confined space, it’s very disruptive, and it’s unpleasant to deal with. And in a library, who has the incentive to ask such a person to leave, or conform to social norms?
Because if no one does, then those who find it unpleasant will not participate in the libraries at all (again, why would you, when Starbucks will provide a harassment-free locale for $5?) You’re then stuck in a downward spiral, and are basically running a drop-in centre.
I think there is a role for libraries as places of study and quiet, and while I think they may have to adapt to new media for storing information… this is a model of space meeting a need that dates back centuries, and I don’t see a necessity to replace it, or risk it disappearing.
R.
[...] Fun | Tags: Chicken Little librarianship, putting the public in This started as a response to an article my dear friend Katie(@katiecharland) sent from All Cities sent about how libraries can evolve to [...]
Public libraries have been dealing with the tricky problem of keeping the space pleasant for everyone for many years. It’s never been unusual for someone who is homeless to find solace and warmth in the library. Many of my colleagues who work in public libraries will tell you that they try their best to ensure that everyone’s experience is pleasant. They gently escort the smelly person (homeless or not!) out, and if there is someone being disruptive, they are told to leave. Many libraries have security on staff to help manage these incidents.
For many, libraries are our 3rd place and increasingly are offering so much more than information storage. They offer a variety of spaces (quiet or not) for work, leisure and collaboration.
The challenge lies in changing people’s perception of what a library can be as a public space. This goes hand-in-hand with changing people’s perception of the the library profession (but that is another post for another day). In an information economy, it’s not about the books; its about creating new ideas and sharing with others. If that exchange occurs in a library, that’s great. We’re doing our best to create spaces that incite and facilitate creativity, and we need people to use them to demonstrate their worth.
Kimberly – Librarian.
Interesting conversation. I can’t imagine a third place operating without at least some form of food or drink. People have been communing over a common lunch or coffee forever, and it’s hard to imagine asking somebody to meet simply to discuss something. Ihe food is the social entry point, even if not the final goal. That’s not to say libraries couldn’t branch out in this direction …
An interesting post to be sure – I have been thinking about this topic myself for some times. I wonder why the focus here is so much on libraries as warehouses of information rather than services? Many public libraries provide literacy instruction, job hunting assistance to immigrants, computer classes for many people and other services. The services provided by librarians are the reason that libraries are as valuable as they are.
To Daniel’s point above, I agree. Third places do need food and drink in some capacity. Quite a few public libraries already have coffee shops or some description.
[...] shuttered for good, we should think about rescuing them as public “3rd space” in the same way libraries have become community focal points. Many predicted the demise of the public library in the digital information [...]
Next question; what will we do with post offices and their support buildings? They face a similar fate if people do not act to reinvent them as 3rd places as well.
shameless plug:
http://urbesaereperennius.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/us-postal-services-infrastructure-how-can-we-maintain-and-expand-our-public-realm/
Good point. In the US there are still small, local post offices which could be transformed into some sort of community space.
At the very least, if the government owns the land, they should give serious thought to reinventing the space when post offices are no longer needed.
I wrote an article for the Planning Commissioners Journal last year, “Libraries at the Heart of Our Communities” that is available to download at no cost: http://www.plannersweb.com/412.pdf . The article focuses on the changing mission of public libraries, and how they are increasingly serving as the hub of their communities, providing a broad range of services and activities. The article also reports on how libraries are becoming important “economic engines” of downtowns and neighborhood districts.
[...] say that Google threatens the existence of the public library, others say it’s going to be a “third space”. I see it as a place to serve its community, for people to come and access whatever information [...]