Just as pundits are predicting the demise of libraries and politicians are cutting their funding, a new kind of library is rising from the ashes of the old. And books are not being burned ether. Far from it.
The rise of Google, Wikipedia and Amazon has not dealt the death blow to libraries that everyone imagined, simply because the ultra-high-tech needs of 21st Century citizens is driving an ultra-high-touch or interpersonal response. And just as the Internet is everywhere, so too are libraries.
Some libraries are taking on a new role as a community anchor. Cafes and Wi-Fi to meet and communicate. Computers for learners with no computer or Internet access of their own. A place to get help with a resume. An honest broker to help communities find the data they need to make better decisions. Meeting rooms and facilitators to deal with complex issues or conflicts. Fun stuff for kids to do. Incubator spaces for start-ups. Market research support. A reputable source of health information. A place to design and print your new whatsit or replacement part on a 3D printer, make jam, create works of art, process cheese, make furniture with artisan qualities, and support you while you discover how to grow better organic vegetables. Or a reliable place to charge your phone after the hurricane.
Our love affair with libraries blossomed in 2013 when we helped the libraries of New Jersey create a "living" strategic plan. The New Jersey State Library, which supports libraries of all kinds, and Library Link NJ, the association of 2000 libraries across the state, developed and began implementing some 33 initiatives - to collaborate with stakeholders, develop the leadership capacity to adapt to change, create safe nurturing spaces for people to meet work and learn, reinvent their methods and processes and diversify their sources of funding and delight their customers.
You can access a copy of the strategic plan at the LLNJ website ), or track the strategic planning process on Mindmeister. The process shows all the steps in the process and you can download the workshop inputs/outputs. Here are the kinds of questions we asked during our workshop with the New Jersey libraries:
The rise of Google, Wikipedia and Amazon has not dealt the death blow to libraries that everyone imagined, simply because the ultra-high-tech needs of 21st Century citizens is driving an ultra-high-touch or interpersonal response. And just as the Internet is everywhere, so too are libraries.
Some libraries are taking on a new role as a community anchor. Cafes and Wi-Fi to meet and communicate. Computers for learners with no computer or Internet access of their own. A place to get help with a resume. An honest broker to help communities find the data they need to make better decisions. Meeting rooms and facilitators to deal with complex issues or conflicts. Fun stuff for kids to do. Incubator spaces for start-ups. Market research support. A reputable source of health information. A place to design and print your new whatsit or replacement part on a 3D printer, make jam, create works of art, process cheese, make furniture with artisan qualities, and support you while you discover how to grow better organic vegetables. Or a reliable place to charge your phone after the hurricane.
Our love affair with libraries blossomed in 2013 when we helped the libraries of New Jersey create a "living" strategic plan. The New Jersey State Library, which supports libraries of all kinds, and Library Link NJ, the association of 2000 libraries across the state, developed and began implementing some 33 initiatives - to collaborate with stakeholders, develop the leadership capacity to adapt to change, create safe nurturing spaces for people to meet work and learn, reinvent their methods and processes and diversify their sources of funding and delight their customers.
You can access a copy of the strategic plan at the LLNJ website ), or track the strategic planning process on Mindmeister. The process shows all the steps in the process and you can download the workshop inputs/outputs. Here are the kinds of questions we asked during our workshop with the New Jersey libraries:
- Our role: What are the roles of libraries and librarians in a world that is ever more complex, and where many more people are involved in the creation, dissemination, remixing, categorization and publishing of works (film, books, research, learning resources, etc.)? What is it important to keep that we have done in the past? What is our new work/activity?
- Our brand/identity: What are we known for? How will our citizens regard libraries and librarians in the mid-21st Century? For what will we be recognized/valued? How will we help people, where are they located? How do we interact with our community?
- The context: What are the major trends in the world of libraries and librarians? What might we borrow from other industries/sectors, e.g. hospitality, publishing, communications? Where are libraries—or the new functions of libraries—needed where they do not exist already?
- Our customers and other stakeholders: Who uses libraries now? What are our customers’ needs and do we serve them well? Who might use libraries in the future? How might we engage more people/new groups of people in becoming part of the library community? What other stakeholders are important to our future and why?
- The value of libraries: How is the value of libraries perceived and by whom? How are libraries perceived as entities that embrace the future? If not, how might we change that? What value/perceived value might we add so that libraries become known as a great thing to fund?
- Competition: Who are the competitors to libraries? Where do we compete where we can’t be successful? How and where might we compete where we have a strategic advantage? How might we collaborate with competitors to offer higher overall value?
- Knowledge leadership: How can we play a leadership role in the fields of knowledge management, knowledge creation and the wise application of knowledge? What are the gaps in society/business where we can make a difference or be influential?
- Structures and processes: How might we structure/organize and co-ordinate our activities across our network so that we integrate the interests of our member organizations and their communities/customers/stakeholders? How might we apply economies of scale to take advantage of resources? What activities require local/custom/just-in-time services and how might we best deliver these?
- Professional development and support: What new skills/capacities will librarians and their staff need and what old skills do we want to maintain or further develop in order to perform our new role(s)? How might we support each other, individually and collectively, in reducing stress and developing proactive ways to deal with life and work in these challenging times?
- Resources, technologies and methods: What kinds of buildings, equipment, processes and methods will we expect in the library of the mid-21st century? Describe a day in the “life of the library," virtual, physical or otherwise?
- Sources of funding: How will our work be funded? Who will want to pay for our services/support our work, and why will they want/need to do this? What will be free and why? What new sources of funding might we tap? How might we expand on or manage existing sources of funding more effectively?
- Situation analysis: What are we doing well that we want to KEEP? What is an obstacle or barrier to our success that we might ABANDON? What new activities or revised activities are we drawn to INVENT/REINVENT?
- Envisioning the future: Craft a definition of “library” for Wikipedia in 2050. Be sure to describe librarians/other library people, the people who use libraries and how they use them, as well as their structure: physical and/or virtual.
- Vision to action: What is a project we might to start today to create or further develop our new vision, including enhanced services, systems, roles, methods, processes, governance models, funding mechanisms, etc.?
- Measure of success: How will we know when we are successful? What will we have achieved and how will we be able to measure it, e.g. number of new library users and positive experience satisfaction reports, number of people trained, number of documents published?
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