How Public Libraries are Reinventing Themselves for the 21st Century via Macleans

How public libraries are reinventing themselves for the 21st century

Coding workshops. 3D printers. And books. Far from extinct, today’s public library is about access to technology as much as to knowledge

Macleans: 1.25.20108 by Brian Bethune

@torontolibrary

On any given day, in one of the world’s busiest urban library systems, 50,000 people come through the doors of the Toronto Public Library’s 100 branches, while 85,000 make an online visit. The walk-ins bring their coffee and their lunches; they talk and watch TV while charging their phones; they do their homework, often via thousands of computer sessions; they make videos or create objects with 3D printers; take classes in computer coding or yoga; attend author talks or listen to experts offer advice for those looking after elderly relatives; access video tutorials on everything from website design to small business management from Lynda.com (an American online education giant that offers 3,600 courses taught by industry experts). Together with their online fellows, they borrow musical instruments, passes to the city’s art galleries and museums, WiFi hotspots, lamps that battle seasonal affective disorder, Raspberry Pis (small, single-board computers primarily used for coding training), DVDs, more than 12,000 ebooks and—of course—plain old print-and-ink books, a good 90,000 of them every day. All at no cost.

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Bowles says, the 21st-century library is about access to technology, not just acquiring knowledge but creating it. Local responsiveness, like the radon-testing kits Halifax loans out (“a huge issue in Nova Scotia,” says Kachan), is a core value, even on a micro level. Fiona O’Connor, head of Toronto’s glass-walled Fort York branch, tracks what her patrons check out: “I see a huge interest in cookbooks and health and wellness books, and I start looking for programming that matches that.”

But digital inclusion, the impetus behind the coding classes and the 3D printers and the WiFi hotspot loans, matters most, says Bowles, echoed by librarians across the country. She wants her branches to provide the same access to technology that “all the rest of us have” to those who can’t afford it.  READ MORE >>