Recommendation

Libraries were once easy for anyone to describe. They held books and books and more books. People went to the Library to read and borrow books. That was then. Now, libraries have morphed into community centers that offer a wide range of services. The contemporary library’s menu of activities is a result of competition for user attention and taxpayer funding, and of the shortage of social service support for underserved populations, including the homeless. Schuyler Velasco’s survey of the changing nature of libraries for Experience Magazine will surprise library users and inspire librarians, library patrons and local government policymakers.

Take-Aways

• Libraries are morphing from book repositories into providers of a diverse, sometimes startling variety of services and programs.
• The library system in Adams County, near Denver, pioneered this change. Its main facility is called “Anythink.”
• Anythink’s transformation has made it a sensation and a model for the library industry.

Summary

Libraries are morphing from book repositories into providers of a diverse, sometimes startling variety of services and programs.

Libraries still have books, but they offer so much more than books alone that many branches no longer resemble traditional visions of a library. In part, they evolved because library use was declining so alarmingly that the Donald Trump administration suggested cutting library budgets. Becoming relevant to contemporary users is a matter of survival for these institutions.

“Library patrons need fewer tangible things.”

Not only do libraries differ in appearance and service from their traditional antecedents, but within a single library system, each branch may serve various communities in particular ways. Rapidly changing technology presents challenges to library leaders who attempt to keep their facilities updated. One system opened its computer lab just as the iPhone rendered it obsolete. The library repurposed the computer lab space for printmaking.

The library system in Adams County, near Denver, pioneered this change. Its main facility is called “Anythink.”

In the 1990s, Colorado’s Adams County library system had a budget of $4 million. Its buildings and books were old, and money was so tight the system could not afford rudimentary supplies. Then, regional economic growth and a tax increase brought the library system a $60 million infusion.

Instead of touching up the old buildings and adding new books, the library’s leaders decided to undergo a major renovation, build a new physical plant and take a new approach to cataloging the system’s collections.

Adams County’s resulting institution, called “Anythink,” offers the public access to 3D printers, music and podcast studios, and nearly 500 programs. Library visits rose by almost half of the pre-Anythink numbers. The in-house library coffee shop seems to draw new visitors who stay to take advantage of Anythink’s range of services.

“The folks who might self-select to go to library school might not be the people who are going to be happiest or successful in public libraries now.” (Pam Sandlian-Smith)

Pam Sandlian-Smith, director of Adams County libraries since 2007, instituted other changes. Her library system was the first in the United States to abandon the Dewey Decimal System. Taking a cue from bookstores, Adams County and other libraries now catalog their books under subject listings instead of Dewey number.

Under Dewey, patrons complained they couldn’t find what they were looking for without expert help. Sandlian-Smith suggests Dewey still has a purpose in academic libraries. She observes that the new library model demands a new kind of librarian, one who is outward looking and engaged with the community. To meet that demand, Anythink has found that job applicants and new staffers increasingly come from the hospitality industry.

Anythink’s transformation has made it a sensation and a model for the library industry.

As Anythink’s director, Sandlian-Smith has fielded invitations for speaking engagements and requests for advice from as far away as the Netherlands. Libraries elsewhere are adopting new names that don’t connote the hushed, shelf-lined personality of the stereotypical library, names such as “Idea Stores” and “ImagineIf.”

“Rural systems that can’t invest in new buildings or Anythink-style rebranding can still get resources more easily, thanks to the internet.”

Sandlian-Smith engages with real estate developers who are building new neighborhoods to help them decide where they could fit a new library space. This is, she says, an entirely new development in the library world. Sandlian-Smith envisions using future spaces to host art shows or to provide gig workers and entrepreneurs with coworking spaces.

About the Author

Schuyler Velasco is the deputy editor of Northeastern University’s Experience Magazine.

The post Article Summary: What Are Public Libraries For: Out with the Dewey Decimal System. In with co-working spaces, podcast studios, and goats by Schuyler Velasco appeared first on Paminy - Information Resource for Marketing, Lifestyle, and Book Review.