On Saturday at InfoCamp Seattle, we had the pleasure of listening to a keynote speech by the City Librarian of The Seattle Public Library, Marcellus Turner.
Turner has been in this position for over a year and hails from the Jefferson County Public Library in Colorado. You can read all about him here.
His speech included 5 challenges for libraries in general and then 5 solutions that SPL will employ to better meet user needs.
First, the 5 challenges:
- More segmented user groups ranging in technical savvy from the digital unaware to adapters to natives
- Change by process takes time
- Libraries have an image problem
- Libraries can be internally focused with solutions rather than externally focused
- Libraries are inflexible physical structures meant to house materials
How does The Seattle Public Library system hope to address some of these challenges?
- Increased hours
- Better collections
- Improved discoverability online
- More community events
- Focus on technology, the culture and history of Seattle, and the physical spaces
Mr. Turner's speech was inspiring and thoughtful. I was fortunate to work on a project in the Central Library Special Collections when I was a student and SPL is a wonderful resource in a community that values libraries.
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