Introduction

In Chapter 5 we wrote about the new and more active processes of inspiration, creation and sharing that should be the main focus of future libraries. We emphasized the importance of designing new and exciting ways to present the collection, of adding valuable significance, and making it possible for people to share acquired knowledge and insights with other users. We also put forward the view that this new approach will inevitably lead to different design criteria for libraries, and concluded that we need experts from other disciplines to help draw up these new criteria. They can help us to relinquish the classical use of the building and to explore new and inspiring ways of using space, of the kind we see in BK City. For us, this is the example par excellence of a place where many forms of exploration and serendipity are possible.

In this chapter we will explore territory away from the beaten track. When all is said and done, do we really need a building? Can we work without the traditional arrangement of the library? Can modern technology liberate us from that hidebound, passive presentation of library collections? This kind of presentation does not sufficiently invite people to learn and discover, and it is this inviting quality that will be so essential in the library of the future.

We will explore these issues with reference to two sample projects. The first, the ‘Context Library’, focuses on designing exciting search strategies for the public library collection, appropriate to the different ways in which people absorb knowledge and information. The second project is also about the exchange of knowledge and information but it is organized in a completely different way. As we examine these projects, we not only turn our backs on the traditional presentation of (public) library collections but also on the traditional library building.

The Context Library

Traditionally, library collections are placed on bookshelves by librarians according to the centuries-old principles of organization: alphabetic (fiction) or systematic (non-fiction). It remains an effective way to store and retrieve books, but it does not really invite one to explore or to discover meaningful links in the collection. To quote Lankes (2011), ‘libraries should see themselves not as grocery stores but as kitchens’.