The Future of the Lawrence Public Library Brad Allen, Library Director

1. The Future of
Public Libraries
Including the Specific Future of
Lawrence Public Library
Brad Allen,
Director

2. About me

3. About me

4. First, a bit of history...

5. In the beginning...
Libraries protected and preserved books
(texts were scarce)

6. By the 20th Century, public libraries
were the 'people's universities'
"Libraries raised me. ... I couldn't go to college, so I went
to the library three days a week for 10 years."
-Ray Bradbury

7. The world used to be analog.
Information existed in physical containers
and libraries stored it.

9. Today, the world is digital.
Computers are central to our daily lives.

10. Libraries have gone from this
To This

11. To this

12. The world has gone from this

13. To this

14. And this

15. And all this, too

16. And most recently, from this
To this

17. So that's the world,
but what about Lawrence?

18. The existing public library is now 40 years old.

19. In November 2010, Lawrence citizens voted for
an $18 million bond to build a new library.
We asked our community what was
most important, and they told us.

20. More space for kids.
Enriching the lives of children is essential
to the mission of our library.

21. More space for community meetings.
Providing meeting spaces for our citizens is
crucial to the mission of our library.

22. State of the art technology.

23. Looking to the future,
what else could (perhaps should)
libraries do to enrich the lives of the
people they serve?

24. For public libraries,
the answer should always be attuned
to the specific community it serves.

25. Perhaps new services
could accomplish
new missions?

26. "Content creation" stations

27. Collaborative Content Creation Stations
Video production
Multitrack recording studio

28. Our library will have a recording
studio and audio-visual editing booths
to support the creativity of our
community.

29. Makerspaces
There are public libraries that have makerspaces.

31. A community commonplace...

32. A final thought
"A library's function is to give the
public in the quickest and cheapest
way information, inspiration, and
recreation.
If a better way than the book can be
found, we should use it."
-Melvil Dewey

33. Thank you!
Questions?