Library Space and Digital Challenges

The spread of the knowledge society and the growth of digitalization challenge the current configuration of the physical library space. In coming years the library environment will change radically, irrespective of which kind of library we are talking about. This article focuses on the library’s evolution, and on the spatial and design changes that lie ahead for the traditional library in both the Danish and general contexts. The article provides a brief description of certain innovative changes in two new Danish public libraries, in Aarhus and Hjørring. The Library in the Google Age What’s the point of the library when we have Google? This is a question we increasingly hear. But can an Internet search engine actually replace goodquality, locally targeted culture and knowledge communication? Like the book, the library is occasionally declared as good as dead by futurologists. That is not true. In the global information society, the library’s best days still lie ahead of it, provided it is allocated the necessary resources and permitted to adapt in an age where a greater proportion of the world’s information, knowledge, and cultural services are disseminated digitally. But the library building is undergoing considerable change: a transition from the bookand the shelf-dominated library to a broad cultural and knowledge-bearing holistic library, where the focus is on the user’s stay in the library and on the user having access to both physical and digital resources. The book still has a central role to play, but it is increasingly appearing in other formats: in audio and online e-books. In addition, there are many other media, tasks, and activities that are offered as part of a modern 175 library space and digital challenge/niegaard library’s services. Improving these services is no longer just about providing access to websites and online catalogs; it is also about librarians working with architects to consider carefully which design opportunities are available to accommodate new digital technologies. There may well be opportunities to improve the current manner in which libraries are run. There could be new ways in which the user can utilize the physical library space, which in turn could create brand new library experiences and services. The requirements for the application of intelligent IT and the integration of technological media formats in the physical environment are, indeed, great. Today, of course, these requirements apply to more or less all types of architecture. But in particular they apply to open, public institutions and, not least, to the knowledge and communicationbased institutions such as the libraries. Across the world people are discussing, planning, and designing libraries to meet these new opportunities and challenges. Why? Because the qualities the library has—eo ipso—must be described as synonymous with the knowledge society. The question is whether the library is capable of transforming itself from the industrial society’s book-library to meet the demands of the knowledge society. Three conditions exist that make the rethinking of the physical framework and layout absolutely necessary: users’ new media habits and changes in behavior; changes in the library’s resources and tasks, which are often described as shifting “from collections to connections” and “from transactions to relations”; and the transition from manual to automatic work processes, including the growth in self-service facilities. The Public Library’s Role in the Knowledge Society On Wednesday, October 27, 2010, the Danish government’s special committee of culture met to debate the future development of Danish public libraries. The background to the meeting was the new report The Public Libraries in the Knowledge Society, published in March 2010 by the Danish Agency for Libraries and Media (Styrelsen for Bibliotek og Medier, 2010b), part of the Ministry of Culture. The report investigates the need for follow-up development in the public libraries in accordance with the Act Regarding Library Services passed a decade earlier (Danish National Library Authority, 2001). The report points out that, with its 36 million visits in 2009, the public library is without comparison the Danish cultural institution that enjoys the greatest number of users and visits. However, a series of societal changes require a new way of thinking about library space, and in particular the accommodation of the Internet and digital resources. Moreover, account needs to be taken of the fact that library use is changing. While book loans have fallen slightly, Internet usage has risen sharply. The total number of loans in 2009 was 48 million plus renewals. In addition, there was an increasing number of downloads—7.4 million 176 library trends/summer 2011 in total—while there were 26 million visits (homepages and bibliotek.dk). Furthermore, over 10,000 diverse events were held at the public libraries; “citizens’ services” was established at 10% of the public libraries, while even more intended to include this new type of service (Styrelsen for Bibliotek og Medier, 2010a). The physical library is used for more than just the borrowing of materials. Danish surveys from 2004 and 2005 (Kommunernes Landsforening, 2004; Møller, 2005) show that more than 50 percent of citizens visit the library for other reasons. They come to meet, study, and to work, and to take advantage of the many other services offered. According to the new report, Danish libraries will in the future function as cultural centers having a distinct digital profile. Increased accessibility together with an increased focus on “inspiration” and learning will transform physical libraries into active cultural and citizen centers; among other things the libraries must systematically work together with workplaces, housing associations, and cultural and learning institutions to develop new services for citizens. The report focuses on how the library can develop in step with citizens and their changing media usage and needs, for instance, developing the right learning opportunities within Internet information searching. In the report the following questions are asked: How do we retain the existing users, while at the same time attracting new ones? Which role is the library to play in the knowledge society, and how do we deal with media development in libraries? Is there a need for new concepts of library service in order to meet the need for enlightenment, education, and local cultural activities? The central recommendations of the report are new content and concepts for the physical library; the Danish Digital Library, a national digital library service for all based on individual sign-on-to library web-based services; and partnerships as a means of creating greater outreach in library services and programs. It is of course too early to say how these recommendations will specifically be carried out and what consequences they will have for the physical library and its digital challenges. As Jens Thorhauge (2010), director of the Danish Agency for Libraries and Media, described the report’s background: it is a question of “change or die” (p. 2). Reconstruct the Library! Another recent Danish publication is Library Space: Inspiration for Buildings and Design, published by the Danish Library Association (Niegaard et al., 2009). The idea behind this publication is to inspire new approaches to library building internal design; urge the building of libraries characterized by quality, flexibility, creative courage, and a desire to move in new directions; and help create library buildings, which by their design, layout, and urban location are able to establish the library as a powerful asset in the development of the twenty-first-century knowledge society and in the strengthening of democratic society. The book gives numerous examples 177 library space and digital challenge/niegaard of how it can be done, in a variety of different ways. Moreover, the book includes practical information, tips, and tools for municipalities embarking on the planning of new buildings as well as the renovation or updating of existing premises in order to satisfy new user needs and accommodate new library functions. Rolf Hapel is the driving force behind one of Denmark’s most exciting and future-orientated projects, Urban MediaSpace in Aarhus. Hapel, who is head of administration, Citizen Services and Public Libraries in the municipality of Aarhus, declares in the book that if libraries did not exist then we would need to invent new open, resource-filled institutions: The Knowledge Society represents both traditional and new challenges, accentuating the need for institutions and services that can ensure cohesion, identity creation, lifelong learning, public service supply of culture and literature experiences, and knowledge and competency development. An open public space with learning facilities and cultural opportunities including contemporary and competent instruction. As we do have libraries, let’s reconstruct them. (Niegaard et al., 2009, p. 30) How this can be expressed in the physical library space is illustrated through various examples given later in the article. “The new library,” its tasks and content, can be characterized in two ways: • The library’s collection and presentation focus has been widened from essentially the printed documents of the Gutenberg “universe” to coverage of multimedia, music, images, and Web-based services. • The library is used as a local community’s interactive meeting, learning, and transformation space, one which is open to all. As mentioned, Danish surveys point out that half of library users don’t come to borrow books but to use the library as a place of sanctuary and a place for information, inspiration, and work. Therefore, the task for all the municipalities now is to rethink the library so it can fulfill its new role in a rapidly developing e-society—a library focused much more on professional face-to-face services and with a stronger and more conscious presentation of the growing amount of digitized resources. The Library Universe Is Growing An important new dimension in relation to the library’s special universe is its development toward the “experimentarium.” With the help of new media types and communication and computing technology, a completely new space is being created in the physical library. Librarians are working together with architects, designers, and artists in order to create spaces for new interactive experiences related to print culture and other document formats, ultramodern art, and cultural heritage—space and facilities that stimulate personal experience and play with arts, information, 178 library trends/summer 2011 and knowledge as a new means of personal learning and enlightenment. The tendency is toward connecting with society’s growing interest in the “experience economy” as well as learning through creativity, reflecting the individualistic nature of modern society. As Dorte Skot-Hansen (2007) has pointed out in Byen som scene, “experiences” are increasingly being used as an indication of values, attitudes, and feelings, and help to develop the personal identity of individuals. The question is, what does this mean for the physical library and library buildings? What needs and demands must be taken into consideration when planning for new attractive, efficient, and future-orientated library buildings; buildings that satisfy the demands of existing and new users, and staff? New Architecture on Its Way The library and the global information society are a perfect match. As the church did in earlier times, the library today functions as the meeting place for local communities. And just like churches in the past, and later museums, libraries have become prominent in the category of groundbreaking architecture—most famous in this regard is perhaps the Seattle Central Library, inaugurated in 2004. Library architecture is undergoing a process of transformation; the library has not only to be flexible, accommodating, and energy saving; it must also be seen! However, most of the library buildings in Denmark are not particularly “sculptural.” Exceptions are, for example, the Black Diamond (the Royal Library’s new building, opened in 1999), and the Middelfart’s Culture Island (2005) incorporating a library, cinema, restaurant, tourist office, and marina. Danish municipalities have not yet seriously dared to use library architecture to create local “lighthouses” of cultural attraction. Libraries are more often than not discreet, straightforward buildings in tile and glass, like Arkitema’s new library in Skive. But maybe we are on the point of something new. The internationally known Danish firm of architects BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), in connection with the Copenhagen Metropol 2007 Zone Hearings at the Scala grounds a few years ago, stuck its neck out and came up with something different on a very large scale (130 meters high). However, for such projects to be realized, the interest and support of politicians is required—politicians who are able to understand and adapt to a new library era, where the focus is on access and users’ needs and on new media resources, rather than on yesterday’s collections-centered library. Currently in Copenhagen, politicians and the city council are not supportive of the need for a new main library in the capital. This contrasts with what has happened in Norway’s capital, Oslo, where Lund Hagem Architects and Atelier Oslo have won the competition to design an impressive new main library building, called the Diagonale, located on the 179 library space and digital challenge/niegaard harbor front adjacent to the stunning new Oslo Opera House (http://