Dear Don and all colleagues interested in this dialogue,

Thinking from a perspective of complexity science, I see the future of libraries at Research Universities as a matter of designing for co-evolution in context (also with external actors) rather than seeing it as a matter of designing a solution for all. From that perspective, we have an enormous opportunity to shape (together) the future we would like to see emerge from rethinking this institutes identity. These libraries can each evolve as a catalyzing institute, catalyzing the meaning each university would like to have for the world at large. Together these reframing institutions create a patchwork of complementary perspectives for the world.

I worked for several years on a comparable issue: the future of the libraries in the Netherlands. We designed ‘From Collection to Connection’ as the poetic language to reframe the identity of these libraries in their regional contexts. Doing so we see the library no longer as an institute aiming for individual development and enlightenment but as an institute for developing and enlightenment of the community where it is located. This should not be seen as a marketing intervention but as a matter of ‘designing for emergence’, as a matter of designing to enable the system to generate its own, meaningful future together.

With the reframing in metaphorical language, we enable the system to evolve in a sustainable way by creating the context in which as well original creativity, adaptive creativity and retention creativity can lead to new products, processes, practices, and structures to flourish in a more open and complex context. It is evident that librarians cannot do this on their own as actually nobody can. But it can be reframed as a creator-space for all actors involved, internal as well as external actors.

And of course, the actors in the eco-system of the libraries of research universities are different from the actors of a regular, regional library as are the actors in the ecosystems of the different research universities too. We build knowledge everywhere but universities play a very specific role in this field of knowledge development.

Hope it helps and I am available to exchange more ideas,



________________________________

Diane Nijs PhD

Lector Imagineering/Professor Imagineering

NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences

06/109 41 381

http://imagineering-network.com

http://DianeNijs.com




________________________________
Van: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design <[log in to unmask]> namens ITSC <[log in to unmask]>
Verzonden: maandag 4 december 2017 14:49:39
Aan: [log in to unmask]
Onderwerp: Re: Looking for creative ideas: the Future of the University Library

>
>One of the problems in reinventing libraries as refuges or maker spaces
>is that librarians are not always the best people to manage these spaces.
>There are potentially industrial implications when librarians move away
>from dealing with publications.

Regards

Alun
Alun Price PhD
Edith Cowan University
Perth
Western Australia


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