Edubeacon

Attending the State Library of Victoria conference last week has really made me curious to see just what is happening out there in the world of public libraries.  It’s amazing and while public a school libraries are quite different beasts, in many ways we are wrestling with the same issues.

The Youtube video Transformation Lab is a developmental project undertaken by Danish National Library Authority and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Main Library in Aarhus.  It’s purpose is to create new images of the library of the future in a digital world.  The ideas and creativity in this design are almost a hark back to the Mechanics Institutes of Australia.  These were community halls built all over the country early in the 20th century to provide settlers with a space in which to pursue a recreational pastime – reading being one of them.  This video shows the library of the future as being, not so much a place of only reading, as a place for enjoying creative recreation within community.

 On that community note.  Tonight I also came across the fascinating blog Uncontrolled Vocabulary and in particular the post How to be there live which introduced me to a library group that meets live, online, as a group at a specific time every Thursday.  A fascinating insight into the possible communities of our future.  The meeting is hosted through an the online podcasting site Talkshoe.   If you miss the meeting you can still listen to the discussion which is recorded and linked to Uncontrolled Vocabulary as a podcast.