Libraries as Architects of Collaboration

from iLibrarian by Ellyssa

The latest issue of Educause Review has an article by Peter Brantley entitled Architectures for Collaboration: Roles and Expectations for Digital Libraries in which he discusses the need for change within today’s libraries. In the article he asserts a set of “library mantras” which he feels are key to this change, including:

• Libraries Must Be Available Everywhere.
• Libraries Must Be Designed to Get Better through Use.
• Libraries Must Be Portable.
• Libraries Must Know Where They Are.
• Libraries Must Tell Stories.
• Libraries Must Help People Learn.
• Libraries Must Be Tools of Change.
• Libraries Must Offer Paths for Exploration.
• Libraries Must Help Forge Memory.
• Libraries Must Speak for People.
• Libraries Must Study the Art of War.

“The success of libraries is not to be counted by the number of books, either digital or paper, held by libraries or the number of pretty pictures that libraries can put online. Libraries are successful to the extent that they can bridge communities and can leverage the diversity of the quest, the research, and the discovery. Libraries are successful when they offer new services and when they help others discover services provided by others. By building bridges among these various sectors, libraries will be able to define themselves in the next generation. They will become the architects of collaboration.”