Future Libraries

Libraries lead us through a flood of analogue and digital information, can be a platform for exchange, space for encounters or social anchors in the city. With our focus on “Future Libraries”, we shed light on challenges, trends and examples of success around the future of the library.

The roof garden of Warsaw University Library.

Green libraries
“We have to react to social change”

More than just a place for bookworms – will the library of the future have vegetable patches on the roof and a repair café in the basement? Tim Schumann works at the Heinrich Böll Library in Berlin’s Pankow district and is co-founder of the “Green Libraries Network”. Here he explains why public libraries have to redefine their role.

Congress and exhibition
Overview of the German library system

Guaranteeing free access to knowledge and information is the primary goal of public and research libraries in Germany. How is the German library system structured, and what challenges do they face within the sector?

Renaissance of libraries
New heyday

Hardly anyone still prophesies the end of the libraries. Instead, the discussion is about how to support them for the benefit of all. A thoroughly optimistic summary of our series “The Future of Libraries”.

A library book, I imagine, is a happy book.

Cornelia Funke, German author

Grand Bibliothèque (Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec)
In the heart of Montreal, a cathedral of knowledge

In the era of digitization, the impending death of public libraries has often been announced. Faced with all these upheavals, they have managed to reinvent themselves, and the Grande Bibliothèque, located in Montreal, is a fine example of success and popularity.

Evolving library architecture
“No future as book warehouses”

Libraries increasingly define themselves as educational and meeting centres. One important element is architecture – which sometimes calls for climbing in hiking boots!

Media competence versus manipulation
What can libraries do against fake news?

Libraries are ill-equipped to fight fake news, critics say. Maybe they were celebrated too soon as bastions against misinformation. But as part of a network they can certainly act against manipulated reports.

The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history.

Carl T. Rowan, American journalist

Up-to-date library work
Libraries are about People, not Media

Libraries create a future. Their own is uncertain. Start of the “Future Libraries” series on the libraries of tomorrow.

Modern Work in Librarys
„We need to diversify“

When modern libraries are discussed, the staff is often envisioned as experts in digitization, integration, inclusion. „But it’s unfair to ask someone to learn everything“, says Nate Hill, Metropolitan New York Library Council.

Libraries as Learning Locations
“Knowledge for everyone, for free. Period”

Public and accessible meeting space becomes increasingly rare and high quality education remains out-of-reach for many people. Nico Koenig and Grif Peterson from “Peer 2 Peer University” talk about the potential of libraries as a shared space for community building and lifelong learning.

I must say I find television very educational. The minute someone turns it on, I go to the library and read a good book.

Groucho Marx

Libraries and Social Media
“Make libraries great again”

Ville Vaarne, communications manager of the Finnish Library Association, has received over 200,000 hits with a Youtube video about US President Trump. For Vaarne the proof that social media is a must for libraries.

Centres of knowledge and well-being
Inclusion as an offer for everyone

For some time inclusion has been one of the chief buzzwords of modern library work. It usually means accessibility and a stock of books in simple language. But that can be only the beginning.

Places of inclusion
„There’s still work for us to do“

Libraries are confronted with the demand to counter the uneven distribution of opportunities for participation. But merely talking about diversity and inclusion will not be enough, according to design principal Traci Engel Lesneski.

Libraries and Civil Society
Just saving the world, by the way

“Nobody expects libraries to save the world, but we are in a perfect position to do just that,”say Rebecca T. Miller and Rebekkah Smith Aldrich. In this interview, the two US library experts explain why the belief that digitisation makes libraries irrelevant is a myth.

Libraries between tradition and progress
Preserve and move forward

Libraries have always offered their users a share in cultural memory and knowledge of the times. This has not been changed by digitization. But the manner of knowledge transfer has.

Authors

Leonard Novy © Photo: Otto Kern Leonard Novy

Leonard Novy
is a journalist and political scientist, co-director of the Institute for Media and Communications Policy – a Cologne-based think tank providing research and advice on media policy, digitalization, journalism and political communication – and co-editor of the multi-author blog CARTA.

Samira Lazarovic © © Samira Lazarovic Samira Lazarovic

Samira Lazarovic
is a freelance journalist and author specializing in culture and literature as well as in business and the stock market. She has also been working in project management at n-tv.de for three years.

Next Library® Conference Berlin 2018

This series was produced on the occasion of and in cooperation with the Next Library® Conference in Berlin, September 12-15, 2018, at which the Goethe-Institut was also a guest.

Next Library® Conference – Internationale Zukunftskonferenz für Öffentliche Bibliotheken © Next Library® Conference – Internationale Zukunftskonferenz für Öffentliche Bibliotheken Next Library® Conference – Internationale Zukunftskonferenz für Öffentliche Bibliotheken

Next Library® Conference – The Future of Public Libraries

An event of the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin (ZLB)* and the Kulturstiftung des Bundes** in cooperation with the Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH and Aarhus Public Libraries. Next Library® Berlin is a Satellite Conference of Next Library® Aarhus.

*Central and Regional Library Berlin | **German Federal Cultural Foundation

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Future Libraries

Green libraries “We have to react to social change”

Congress and exhibition Overview of the German library system

Renaissance of libraries New heyday

Grand Bibliothèque (Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec) In the heart of Montreal, a cathedral of knowledge

Evolving library architecture “No future as book warehouses”

Media competence versus manipulation What can libraries do against fake news?

Up-to-date library work Libraries are about People, not Media

Modern Work in Librarys „We need to diversify“

Libraries as Learning Locations “Knowledge for everyone, for free. Period”

Libraries and Social Media “Make libraries great again”

Centres of knowledge and well-being Inclusion as an offer for everyone

Places of inclusion „There’s still work for us to do“

Libraries and Civil Society Just saving the world, by the way

Libraries between tradition and progress Preserve and move forward