Rethinking Libraries

Editor's Notes

• #5: To start with a bit about Arup - the firm was founded in London 1946 by Ove Arup, a Danish philosopher-engineer. The practice had an initial focus on structural engineering and really came to the world’s attention first with the structural design of the Sydney Opera House in the 1960s. This was followed by its work on the Centre Pompidou in Paris (1970s). Arup has since grown into a multi-disciplinary organization. Its work, such as the National Aquatics Center for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing has reaffirmed its reputation for delivering innovative and sustainable designs that reinvent the built environment. In the 1980s we also began to do more civil engineering and infrastructure planning, and we have since grown a consulting business, which works alongside our structural and civil groups, advising clients on everything from IT strategies to transaction advice, and complex asset management.
• #6: We are now a fully multi-disciplinary, global organization with over 13,000 staff working from 90 offices in 40 countries. Our ownership structure has also had a highly significant impact on the kind of firm we are and the way we do what we do. The firm is owned in trust for “the benefit of its members and their families” – as such it has no shareholders and no human owners and this gives the firm’s leaders the freedom to act in what they consider to be firm’s best long-term interests. I would like to emphasize “long-term” – it is a crucial differentiator and a source of what we believe to be a fundamental operating advantage. One such of these “freedoms” was the decision to create what we call “the Arup University”.
• #7: The Arup University provides a wide range of services and resources to help the firm remain better informed, more effective and more efficient in delivering quality work than our competitors. So, why does Arup put such significant investment into sharing knowledge, learning, research and innovation? …
• #8: Our answer to that is that change is, of course, constant.
• #9: Look at this view of Shanghai in 1990 looking out over the old customs house and the Huangpu river behind it …. and compare it to this…
• #10: …. one taken just 20 years later. An entire financial district, the Pudong district, was planned and built in the space of just 20 years. Quite remarkable.
• #11: So back to the Arup University – this is the organism within Arup that enables the firm to react to rapid change and help our business turn it into opportunities. It consists of 4 distinct functions that together support the development of People, Knowledge and Skills across of the firm. Learning and Development helps us all to gain greater expertise, be it technical or design-related, or in terms of becoming better leaders or managers, through the provision of training and specialist courses. Skills and Knowledge manage a number of different tools and networks, like the Skills Networks and forums, to help us share knowledge more effectively. FRI helps staff and clients think better about the longer-term context of the work that we as a firm do. And the Information Management Group provides a range of library services which provides staff with access to the information they need to be better informed, more efficient and ultimately, more effective. This is one of the motivations that led our interest in starting a research programme about the potential future of libraries – to understand how our own library services and the way we share our knowledge can work better for us in the future.
• #12: Arup University’s research on Future Libraries aims to shed light on the significant trends that will influence the future of public, academic and corporate libraries; it also outlines the implications on their design, their operation, the user experience and, notably, their presence in cities. It is the result of a collective exploration through a series of workshops held in London, Milan, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Melbourne, and Sydney, attended by a range of experts and library enthusiasts, including librarians, professionals in the design and management of libraries, policy makers, architects and urban planners.
• #13: For our workshops, we created a bespoke card deck which sets issues and research trends research specific to the libraries sector. The cards identify and describe multiple long-term trends and issues, which we call the “drivers of change”. The drivers are presented within the social, technological, economic, environmental and political domains that together are known as the STEEP framework; and each card depicts a single driver.
• #14: This format is most effective in a workshop environment as a way of engaging clients and key stakeholders in a discussion to consider key trends, rank and prioritise these in relation to their experience.
• #15: So, what are some of the drivers shaping the context in which libraries will operate in the future? We will see a much greater ageing population by 2050, with 16% of the global population being 65 or older (compared to 7% in 2000). As you might expect, this increases is even starker in the developed economies. Forecasts suggest that in 2050, 24% of the UK population will be over 65 - compared to 16% now.
• #16: Improvements in the overall quality of life and wellbeing will also translate into an increased expectancy of what a “life well lived” means. In an increasingly unpredictable labour market, threatened by the advancing sophistication of automated machines, lifelong learning is becoming an important measure to improve and develop skills and adapt to new career paths. Adult learning is no longer on the margins of educational theory and practice, but has gained new impetus within lifelong learning seen as a key element in helping to develop in people a sense in people of inclusion and empowerment. According to the third Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE III), produced by UNESCO’s Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), adult learning and education can improve health and well-being, employment opportunities and contribute to the development of thriving local communities. As this slide shows, the overall medium term trend in Adult Learning is clearly upwards and this has obvious and encouraging implications for libraries in the future.
• #17: The way people learn and access information is also continuously redefined by rapidly changing technology. The boundaries between physical and digital space are becoming increasingly blurred thanks to technologies such as location-based services and augmented reality. Ubiquitous – anytime, anywhere, any device - connectivity can enable fluid and personalised learning experiences; this is creating new opportunities for sharing and collaboration.
• #18: Sensors and data are also enhancing the level of mutual feedback between spaces and the people who inhabit them. This can enable a better level of understanding of building performance, usage and occupancy. This new level of interaction between buildings, users and operators can bring a number of benefits to libraries, including more engaging and meaningful experiences for users, and improved management strategies for the operators.
• #19: In many contexts, austerity policies are resulting in the alarming tendency to erode public funding for libraries – in the UK alone, over 340 libraries are known to have closed since 2010. Evidence of usage and performance can help substantiate the already well-known benefits that libraries bring to communities, something that has historically been challenging, due to the high cost of measuring libraries’ immediate impact. Social platforms are also enabling new philanthropic initiatives, introducing peer-to-peer funding. For example, between 2013 and 2014, more than 150 library-related projects have been successfully funded on Kickstarter. These emerging platforms, together with private-public partnerships, are proving to be viable alternatives to the seemingly unrealistic and apparently unsustainable model of top-down public funding.
• #20: I have so far described some of the global forces driving change – urbanisation is of course another. Their impact on different contexts is what we are trying to understand. In the case of libraries, looking at signals of change, we have identified a few interesting examples
• #21: In our research, we considered three key categories: How libraries can have a more meaningful interaction with cities The design of library facilities The user experience they offer (with a focus on a more user-centric service offering)
• #22: Small scale library outposts spread across the city can significantly improve the quality of public realm and services. Strategically placed digital connections (eg QR codes in a Metro) or indeed physical outposts of library services have, for example, the potential to transform the “experience of waiting” from what is possible “dead-time” into an active cultural experience when in situations such as public transport, medical facilities, launderettes, etc. For example, Beijing Metro passengers can access a curated collection of free e-books by scanning QR codes inside the train cars. New books are released monthly by the National Library of China, based on readers’ preferences.
• #23: This is Calgary library in Canada. It is set to open in 2018, and is part of a new development connecting two separate neighbourhoods and focuses on walkability. The building was designed to operate both as a public library and a social hub. The designers envision a fluid user experience, where theft detection is carried out invisibly, where reception desks are replaced with iPad support stations and where staff offer informal support to library users as they sit.
• #24: Conceived by Jason Griffey, formerly Head of Library Information Technology at the University of Tennessee at Chatanooga and now Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, the ‘Measure the Future’ dashboard can help library operators to understand visitor movements and document what patrons browse. This data can then be used to create a more efficient and effective physical space for visitors. Launched in beta 2015, the tool will allow for the smart running of library buildings and increased sustainability: for example, real-time data collected from the sensors will inform how the environment should be controlled and enable library operators to adjust lighting and heating based on the occupancy of the building. The data generated will enable what Griffey calls “attention management” and will also allow libraries to plan staffing predictively, test displays or furniture arrangements, check what rooms are most popular during different parts of the day or year, and much more. The end goal is to use data to help create a better library experience for the patron and to help librarians in their day-to-day work.
• #25: Finally and to conclude, it is clear that Libraries have the potential to be the focal points of cultural and social life within communities. Recognising and nurturing this potential can bring significant benefits for cities’ social infrastructure and cultural vibrancy. And this quote from Justin Hoenke of the Benson Memorial Library, Titusville, Pennsylvania quite nicely sums up what our research is showing: “When my library board of trustees asks me why circulation numbers for library materials are either remaining stagnant or decreasing from month to month, my answer isn’t one of half-truths and immediate reactions. No, the reason is actually kind of simple: The way communities use public libraries is changing. Gone are the days when public libraries can advocate for funding by showing off circulation and collection numbers. These days, the most important number libraries can collect and share deals with the number of people using the library building as a community center for work, lifelong learning, and gathering.” A “one size fits all” approach has long been left behind when planning the development of urban communities. And this is particularly valid for the design of libraries – both their premises and their services – which must mirror the needs and interests of their local cultural, social and environmental contexts, whilst intelligently adopting, and adapting to, ongoing technological and digital advancements to ensure their continued relevance and value to society and the greater good.