Monday, October 25, 2010

Future-Proofing Your Libraries: Planning to Enable Your Library to Respond to the Needs of Today and Still Remain Relevant in the Future

This was a program presented by Randy Hudson of Hayes Large Architects

3 Things I Learned:

1. Shopping has colonized the world - patrons want solitude and social interaction in the same place, preferably with food oriented retail opportunities (especially for students and Mom's with fussy hungry children)
2. Library as a place to make things - create things (art and design programs)
3. Touch screens increase usage - what if the library catalog was as easy to use and interactive and VISUAL as the MTO screen at Sheetz?!

1 Thing I Squared Away
Patrons in general and younger users in particular want a good space to work/study/collaborate in and they want self-check but they also want help to be available if it is needed. "alone but not lonely" spaces

Something I need to work on or explore more:
U Penn has video software and equipment for practice interviewing - you can watch yourself and get feedback (from a librarian?)

1 Odd Thing in my notes:
The 70's were bad economically, but great for music. Be a punk rock librarian (loud, cheap, fast, fun and fearless) I don't think that this was an actual learning objective but I think we could work with it

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