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How libraries stay current in the digital age

I’m sure if you checked Foursquare’s geolocation data you’d see that libraries are more popular than ever. In the digital age, libraries are having a bit of a renaissance.

Libraries, like bookstores and coffee shops, are spaces of focus. They fill a desire to be in public but study within a private area. Just as the smartphone converged different aspects of technology–camera, wallet, pedometer–the library consolidates different atmospheres for the mind.

“a modern public library can be a place of exploration, play, performance and creativity, as well as of contemplation, reading and research.”

Libraries are also getting more social, providing the resources that inspire people to collaborate. Some libraries are building makespaces.

The makerspace themes at Perry Meridian include electronics, coding, video production, crafts, micro-manufacturing and fabrication. The space provides physical tools, digital and print resources, and electronic and craft supplies,

History shows that libraries have always evolved with the times as a “hybrid, multimedia space for knowledge access and activation.” They’re here for the long-term. But libraries also want you to carry them in your pockets. The New York Public Library created an app that allows members to browse and read over 300,000 books.

Libraries organize the chaos of the web, helping people rediscover books that get lost in the cloud. Libraries also help us appreciate each other. Humans crave connection, and they don’t always want to go to a bar or cafe to meet people nor stay at home and communicate from the couch. When the Detroit library opened in 1865, according to the book Parnassus of Main Street

“our nation was moving from the concept of libraries as storehouses of books — considered as precious physical objects for the use of the few — to the conception of books and libraries as people.”

 

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By Wells Baum

Wells Baum is a daily blogger who writes about Life & Arts. He's also the author of Discvr.blog and four books.
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