LIBRARIES as Social Hubs
Darla Mulder
LIT 130
April, 2017
An old school, last century library comes to my mind. What used to constitute a library? I would see sterile, neat rows of books, hear the whispering, shushing older woman with thick glasses. She is the one there who scrutinizes movements,
"Go outside to talk!"
Things have CHANGED.
The change of the physical appearance or form of books meant that libraries met the digital world.
Some have downsized their need for "as many" hard-bound books and have taken a liking to the new available floor space and the ease of storing many more digital works. Emerging is a perpetual desire to reorganize, rethink, remission the role and embrace patron's social activity.
Even though the nature of computers at one time threatened people, thinking that de-socialization would occur, libraries in the community embraced the challenges and saved two problems. There is more library activity engaging people to be together and share, exchange, talk to each other.
Now they are in the form of new community programs, chat rooms, art rooms, museum rooms, task force rooms, study halls, lecture halls, movies, even sharing lunch and coffee.
"Go outside to talk!"
Things have CHANGED.
The change of the physical appearance or form of books meant that libraries met the digital world.
Some have downsized their need for "as many" hard-bound books and have taken a liking to the new available floor space and the ease of storing many more digital works. Emerging is a perpetual desire to reorganize, rethink, remission the role and embrace patron's social activity.
Even though the nature of computers at one time threatened people, thinking that de-socialization would occur, libraries in the community embraced the challenges and saved two problems. There is more library activity engaging people to be together and share, exchange, talk to each other.
Now they are in the form of new community programs, chat rooms, art rooms, museum rooms, task force rooms, study halls, lecture halls, movies, even sharing lunch and coffee.
Community information delivery needs have shifted slowly. The mainstream library's role seems to be changing. It is argued by some people that digitization is the force. Others see how a library is an affordable meeting place and not everyone has a computer. The optional computer headsets patrons wear block unwanted sounds, and a more inviting arena for ideas has slowly emerged. Rooms are welcoming it.
The articles listed below discuss Smartphones and tablets which offer digital technologies such as geo-location, audio, video, photo and web technologies. They feature much vocabulary that users engage in with established social networks and photo-sharing sites: All are able to share so much more content than ever before with more people both inside and outside the walls and the geographical boundary lines. (Hopkins)
As the libraries stress to serve beyond their county or city line boundaries, they are offering more activities and programs to gather the local neighborhood and community inside its walls.
Crossing Borders with the library is a great video from a library in Denmark
The articles listed below talk about how users in libraries are enjoying the social hub technologies using devices in the participatory culture context – tapping
into new communities, engaging with their stakeholders in meaningful ways,
enhancing their social impact and transforming their essential roles in today's
knowledge society.
Finding partners for social events and accessing information between them is a new techno-social set skill that libraries are administering. They continue to plan a seasonal program which invites and triggers the public interest. In order to maintain the information hub, the social hub, and the sharing hub, they invite the learning curve of an ever changing social need to "hub together". (Harris)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carlson, Scott. "The Library of the Future."
Chronicle of Higher Education 52.16 (2005): B23. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Apr. 2017. Accession Number: 19190222
Harris, R.,
Mayo, A., Prince, J. D., & Joan, M. (2013, October). Creating shared campus
experiences: The library as culture club. Journal of the Medical Library
Association, 101(4), 254-256. doi:10.3163/1536 -5050.101.4.005 Accession Number: 91555530
Hopkins, P.,
Hare, J., Donaghey, J., & Abbott, W. (2015, February). Geo, audio, video,
photo: How digital convergence in mobile devices facilitates participatory
culture in libraries. Australian Library Journal, 64(1), 11-22.
doi:10.1080/00049670.2014.984379
Senville, W. (2009, September). Public libraries: The hub
of our communities. Aplis, 22(3), 97-103. Retrieved April 24,
2017, from Academic Search Premier.
Accession Number: 44266947; Senville, Wayne; Source
Info: Sep2009, Vol. 22 Issue 3, p97
No comments:
Post a Comment