This document provides an overview of libraries and their evolving role. It discusses how libraries are transforming from traditional spaces focused on physical collections to becoming more community-centered places that facilitate knowledge creation, learning, and social interaction. The document highlights several trends driving this change, such as new technologies that expand access to information but also risk exacerbating inequality, the rise of online education, evolving conceptions of privacy, and empowerment of new voices. It also shares examples of innovative library programs and services that exemplify this transition, from mobile libraries and 3D printing to collaborative workspaces. The overall message is that libraries continue to play an important role in society but must adapt to remain relevant by becoming more open, people-oriented institutions that see

1. “The New Library" - looking at what
libraries might look like and why we still need
them now
and in the future
Presentations in Czech Republic
-9 – 11 September, 2013
-Prague and Olomouc
Maija Berndtson
Emerita Library Director, Helsinki City Library

2. Georg Flegel (1566-1638): Stilleben – with apples
”The traditional library”

4. Pieter Brugel the Elder: The Fall of the Rebel Angels,
c.1562
”The Internet Library”

6. Benoit Mandelbrot: Fractals
”The People´s Library”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_GBwuYuOOs

8. ”Fantasy is more
important than
knowledge”.
”Logic will take you from
A to B
but imagination takes you
anywhere”.
Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

9. Library

10. WHAT ARE LIBRARIES FOR?
Culture
all arts, continuity
Democracy
information, versatility
Development
lifelong learning
Integration
social cohesion, equality
Exploration
research
Serendipity
,2

11. THE STRENGTH OF
THE LIBRARY

12. Customer is the “doer”

13. Creative milieu for everyone

14. Face to face personal guidance

15. CHANGES IN THE LIBRARY
OPERATIONS

16. The physical form
of the library collections
loses its meaning

17. Hybrid media
Metadata
Open
data
refinery
New knowledge
creation Cloud computing
Exhibition and
knowledge center
Open learning
National
digital
library
Electronic books
Classical
literature,
music,
movies
Meeting forum
Challenge
New building architecture
for digital universe
Helsinki Central Library Project, Feasibility Study 2010
by Klaus Oesch

18. More diverse clientele

19. The concept of the learning,
working and leisure time
environment expands
The growing significance of
collaboration and interaction
The clients’ need
for independent
activities increases

20. The growing importance of
supporting social and digital equality
Locality and physical encounters
are still important

21. Library
services
diversify

22. Pocket Library in Helsinki Metropolitan Area
https://github.com/helsinki-city-library/pocketlibrary
• Pocket Library is a new kind of a
service for library patrons. It runs on
modern iPhone and Android
smartphones.
• The service expands the traditional
notion of checking out materials,
making it possible for library users to
check out books and other items
directly from other users anywhere.
The latest is that the mobile is library
card, too.
• To be more generally useful as a
library users personal information
assistant, it also has the ability to
manage the users' loans and explore
the library catalog.

23. Laptop doctor
The Laptop doctor helps customers
one-on-one with updates, security issues,
and installation of programs

24. Modern equipment, free work and business
negotiation place
Skype calls, scanners, headsets, printing,
WLAN-N wireless, web cams for loan, chargers
Urban Office Meeting Point open for all

25. 3D-printing at Meetingpoint
http://www.helmet.fi/en-
US/Libraries_and_services/Meetingpointlasipalatsi/Whats_going_on/3Dprinting_at_Meetingpoint(22405)
• With our 3D-printer you are able
to print your own 3D-models or
free models from the internet.
Free and ready-to-use models
can be found for example from
www.thingiverse.com The main
purpose of Meetingpoint's
printer is to experiment and to
get familiar with the new
technology. The printer is also
great for prototyping and
creating hobby gadgets.

26. Helsinki City Library – moving around

27. Share and learn – a recipe for learning
(Get the tools from:osaavat.org/peerlearning)

28. Hakunila branch library in city of Vantaa
- new active way of working with citizens

29. Hakunila library – before and after

30. Hakunila library
- children´s area before and after

31. Hakunila library – before and after

32. Hakunila library youth area – the plan and the
real one

33. Services and devices in Hakunila Library
• Computers
• Wi-fi
• Scanner
• i Pad tablets
• Copying machine
• Printers
• Playstation 3 games
• VHS-DVD converter
• Cd-player for listening
• Document shredder
• For loan
- Board and outdoor games
- Energy meters
- Trash tongs

34. Mobile furnishings
Light furniture
Low furnishings

35. The library as facilitator
The library provides its customers
with space, equipment, and know-
how as needed. The customers describe what types
of events, materials, and guidance
they need.
The library and its customers develop
activities and events together.

36. Drivers of library development
1985 1990 1995 2000
2005 2010 2015 2020
Interactive communal
Information in digital
format
Literature, magazines and collections
Digital media
Meeting
place
Meeting
technology
Refinement of
open communal
civic information
Database and
semantic
ontology
services
Borrowing and
information
services
Electronic and
hybrid books
Games and intelligent
everyday digital
content
3D virtual
artefacts
Metainformation
Information
and exhibition
centre
Open
learning
environment
Linear
published
information
Passive
customer
Active customer
community
Education
Communications
Technology’s
critical mass
Data procedures
Copyright Helsinki City Library

37. Drivers of library development
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
2005 2010 2015 2020
Creating
values
IT and telecommunication
Digital media
and the internet
Library
as a passive
subject:
Separate
libraries
as data resources
Interaction
and collaboration
Prevention of
social exclusion
Democratic
agent
Development of social
capital
Building and strengthening
the structures, processes
and networks
of the information
society:
Interactive
IT
Development
of the value network
and ecosystem
of libraries
Value-adding
communities
Web 2.0 methods of
participatory economy
Exploratory learning and
interactive communication
as drivers of development
Library as an active agent:
Citizens as active and
informed agents and as
intelligent communities
• Thinking and problem-solving skills
• Working skills
• Skills to master working tools
• Skills of active citizenship
Copyright Helsinki City Library

38. Idea Stores – the story of change of library
service in Tower Hamlets, East London
• Asking and listening what people
want
- combine library visit with other
visits (shops, banks)
- more than a library (education, fun,
meeting etc)
• Total rethinking and remodelling
- the design and image
- the staffing and training of staff
- (According to Judith St. John,
Head of Idea Store)
- http://www.ideastore.co.uk/

39. Idea Store Whitechapel

40. The site of the new central library in
Helsinki,www.keskustakirjasto.fi

41. The winner of the architectural competition of Helsinki Central Library, by ALA Architects,
Käännös

43. The New Central Library in Helsinki - Facts
• A hub of knowledge, skills and stories
• 5,000 - 6000 visitors a day
• 1.5 – 2.0 million visitors a year
• 200 000 items (books etc) to borrow
• Events and guidance
• 10,000 m² of the library of the future
• Open public space, free for all
• Open 24/7 – part of it
• Every day something new
• Construction cost about 75 million Euros
• Finished 2017-2018; 2017 The Centennial of Finland´s independence

44. Some aspects in and for the planning
process
- This is not a new main library with the administration and the book
magazine – it is ”a people´s palace”
- User-oriented service design
- Not one style all over the building
- Ubiquitous building: from audiovisual to sensomotoric media culture
- All senses
- Knowledge, emotion and fantasy
- Special attention to the acoustics and the ecology

45. Ambience design for knowledge creation practices
of the information society
• Dynamic architecture and design thinking
• Investigative learning: data queries, participation
• New knowledge creation methods
• Ambience design; personified service design
• Ubiquitous environment information flow
• Learning experiences using multimodality
• Open learning based on science or storytelling
• Telepresence
• Virtual empowerment based on the growth of the
• media technology and value adding communication
• Which kind of media information architeture 2020?
Helsinki Central Library Project, Feasibility Study 2010
by Klaus Oesch

46. Target: Knowledge creation&sharing ecosystem
• Personal library in the pocket
• Meeting forum and open data refinery
• Value adding, knowledge creating communities
• Open knowledge creation environment
• Personal publishing services
• Persuasive digital reading communities
• Visual& animation workshop services
• Book/Vook on demand printing and ePUB service
• Personal &community e -commerce
• Intelligent media library
• The Helsinki downtown as a living lab of
intelligent citizens communities
Helsinki Central Library Project, Feasibility Study 2010
by Klaus Oesch

47. World of thrills, frills and adventure
• Lobby, lounge, creative office, oasis, silent areas, exhibitions spaces,
Suomi-experience, studysauna, studios, auditorium, cinema,
wintergarden, meeting rooms, free speaker’s corner, brainstorm, play
room, family space, space for young people, restaurants, cafés, shops,
market, gallery…

48. The hottiest topic - the Sauna
• Helsinki citizens already expect the new central library
to have a sauna for their own and tourists’ delight

49. Birmingham library – a people´s palace
The next chapter for libraries, 3rd
September, 2013
http://www.apm.org.uk/news/next-chapter-libraries#.UaTwyUXfrIU

50. Birmingham Public Library by architect Francine Houben.
We are not building a library for the city. We are
building the city.

51. PLACEMAKING
Public spaces and
activities created
by people

52. Placemaking according to PPS (Project for Public
Spaces)
”Placemaking is a multi-faceted approach to the
planning, design and management of public spaces.
Put simply, it involves looking at, and asking
questions of the people who live, work and play in a
particular space, to discover their needs and
aspirations. This information is then used to create a
common vision for that place.”

53. The concept of public by Rosalyn Deutsche
”has democratic
connotations. It implies
”openness”,
”accessibility”,
”participation”,
”inclusion” and
”accountabiblity”…
”Public space” in this view
does not simply refer to
already existing physical
urban sites as parks,
urban squares, streets, or

54. The concept of public (space) (cont.)
”Public space can also be
defined as a set of
institutions where citizens
… engage in debate; as
the space where rights are
declared, thereby limiting
power; or as the space
where social group
identities and the identity
of society are both
constituted and
questioned.”

55. IFLA:s Trend Report -The Insights Document
http://trends.ifla.org/
• The Insights Document pulls together
and summarises all of the
information contained on the Trend
Report website for IFLA members. It
identifies five high level trends and
considers possible future "collision
points" between trends affecting the
role and identity of libraries.
• The Insights Document is the
conversation starter for the library
community. It's the ‘way in’ to the
Trend Report, and opens up
discussion about how information
trends are shaping your library,
whether it's a public, academic,
specialist or national library, within
your region.

56. TREND 1:
NEW TECHNOLOGIES WILL BOTH EXPAND AND LIMIT
WHO HAS ACCESS TO INFORMATION
An ever-expanding digital universe will bring a higher
value to information literacy skills such as basic reading
and competence with digital tools. People who lack
these skills will face barriers to inclusion in a growing
range of areas. The nature of new online business
models will heavily influence who can successfully own,
profit from, share or access information in the future.

57. TREND 2:
ONLINE EDUCATION WILL DEMOCRATISE AND
DISRUPT GLOBAL LEARNING
The rapid global expansion in online education
resources will make learning opportunities more
abundant, cheaper and more accessible. There will be
increased value on lifelong learning and more
recognition of non-formal and informal learning.

58. TREND 3:
THE BOUNDARIES OF PRIVACY AND DATA
PROTECTION WILL BE REDEFINED
Expanding data sets held by governments and
companies will support the advanced profiling of
individuals, while sophisticated methods of monitoring
and filtering communications data will make tracking
those individuals cheaper and easier. Serious
consequences for individual privacy and trust in the
online world could be experienced.

59. TREND 4:
HYPER-CONNECTED SOCIETIES WILL LISTEN TO AND
EMPOWER NEW VOICES AND GROUPS
More opportunities for collective action are realised in
hyper-connected societies – enabling the rise of new
voices and promoting the growth of single-issue
movements at the expense of traditional political
parties. Open government initiatives and access to
public sector data will lead to more transparency and
citizen-focused public services.

60. TREND 5:
THE GLOBAL INFORMATION ECONOMY WILL BE
TRANSFORMED BY NEW TECHNOLOGIES
Proliferation of hyper-connected mobile devices,
networked sensors in appliances and infrastructure, 3D
printing and language-translation technologies will
transform the global information economy. Existing
business models across many industries will experience
creative disruption spurred by innovative devices that
help people remain economically active later in life
from any location.

61. Cross-European survey to measure
users’ perceptions of the benefits
of ICT in public libraries
Final report
March 2013
Susannah Quick, Gillian Prior, Ben Toombs, Luke Taylor and Rosanna Currenti
http://www.minedu.fi/export/sites/default/OPM/Kirjastot/kansainvaelinen_ja_eu-
yhteistyoe/Liitteet/Final_Report_-_Cross-European_Library_Impact.pdf

64. % of adults who have used a public library in
the last 12 months/last month

65. % and estimate of number of adults who have
used a PAC in the last 12 months

66. Perceptions of public libraries – strongly agree

67. Value placed on PACs compared to usage levels
The chart below shows how countries cluster together in terms
of usage and the value placed on the service by users. There are
five distinct clusters:
o High usage, medium value – Denmark and Finland
o Medium usage, medium/high value – UK, Latvia, Lithuania,
Belgium, Netherlands
o Low usage, high value – Portugal, Poland, Bulgaria
o Low usage, medium value – Spain, Czech Republic, Romania,
Greece and France
o Low usage, low value – Germany and Italy

68. My conclusions
• Be open-minded: look at people´s lives and at the society, not
at your services
• The role of library as public space is important
• Be people-oriented: from collection and transactions to
relations and communication
• From access to information to knowledge creating and
innovation
• Not ”to people”, yes ”for people”, more ”with customers”,
and even ”by customers”
• Intelligent and smart becomes social and intellectual through
users
• The role of librarians important, but other specialists are
needed, too

69. we
library
an enricher
is
ideas
of
where by sharing
knowledge,
skills
and stories
a new
and thoughts,
together create
civic
society.
The
Vision of the
Helsinki City Library

70. For me libraries are raw diamonds which need to be
refined that their value can be seen!
Thank you! maija.berndtson@elisanet.fi