Libraries as resourceful partners

The idea of public libraries as a dusty collections of books waiting for a occasional reader is long outdated. With the advent of internet as a source of information, and with competition from other activities for people’s limited free time, libraries have evolved in recent years into accessible hubs where many people gather.

These libraries often focus on developing individual skills to help people participate more fully in society, such as learning languages, improving computer literacy and digital skills, and filing tax returns. While these are all valuable and useful things, is this what libraries were founded for? Or are libraries turning into ‘jacks of all trades' for everything that is not properly organised in society?

In policy notes, municipal ambition documents and also at this congress, you often hear terms such as 'living room of the city' and 'third place’. According to a 1980s theory by the sociologist Ray Oldenburg, these are informal public spaces — in addition to home (first place) and work (second place) — where people voluntarily go to relax and socialize with familiar and unfamiliar individuals.

Many institutions call themselves the living room of the city or a third place. From community centres and barbershops to hotel lobbies: they are all pleasant and comfortable places to chat informally with others over a cup of coffee. But is it wise for a library to use these terms as well? Or, by doing so, are they unintentionally creating their own competition? The core question, therefore, is: what makes a library a library?

For the Ministry of Imagination, the answer is clear: it’s the collection. If is the only feature that sets a library (or an archive!) apart from other third places. In a good library, the collection is not just a backdrop of books; it is the raw material that people use within the library. This requires workshop areas or labs, where programmes utilising visitors' talents can give meaning to the collection. A collection can be curated to augment every question a library poses to the community. The collection thus becomes the starting point and endpoint of programming, where visitors collaborate to create meaning and ultimately enrich the collection. We therefore see visitors not as consumers, but as experts who contribute their knowledge to the collection, thereby working on collective skills and understanding.

Psychologist Howard Gardner created the theory of multiple intelligences, which states that people do not possess a single measurable ability, but rather a combination of eight different independent intelligences: logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, musical-rhythmic, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic and verbal-linguistic. Libraries have traditionally been good at supporting verbal-linguistic talents. However, if we want to utilize all of our visitors’ talents and reach more people, it is essential that our programmes also address the other intelligences. Collaborating with partners offers enormous opportunities to do so.

About the Ministry of Imagination

The Ministry of Imagination believes that libraries are unique and indispensable collective facilities that nurture an inspired, well-informed and creative society. This requires imagination, groundbreaking concepts, innovative collaborations and buildings that support this vision. Projects are currently underway in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Iceland. The ministry comprises three ministers with complementary backgrounds: Rob Bruijnzeels (librarian), Florian de Visser (designer and visual storyteller), and Jan David Hanrath (architect specialising in library design).