The Atlas of New Librarianship
The Atlas of New Librarianship by R. David Lankes. MIT Press. 2011. 408 pages. Illustrated. $55.
A library in this century will be valuable not so much for its book collections as for its community space, argues library information sciences professor R. David Lankes in The Atlas of New Librarianship. He describes a new ethos of “participatory” librarianship taking hold in the profession: Librarians as dynamic facilitators of conversation and knowledge creation in their communities.
Lankes cites one survey in which a majority of teenagers said they wanted their local librarians to run blogs that would review and recommend books, with space for readers to comment. This would enable them not only to see book recommendations, but also to know who was recommending them.
Although librarians aren’t blogging en masse just yet, some are hosting faculty blogs and servers through which users can explore academics’ articles. Also, many are quickly adopting social-networking sites, such as Flickr and Facebook. Lankes further describes how library catalog systems are becoming more user-friendly; they may reach the point where, as with iPhones, users can tailor them for personal use by adding or removing custom apps.
Some libraries construct live social space, such as a café or a music performance center that has a stage with pianos on which musicians can practice. Lankes also discusses how libraries can encourage aspiring local entrepreneurs and cultivate civic awareness among their neighborhoods’ elementary- and secondary-school students.
Lankes wrote The Atlas of New Librarianship with librarians and scholars in mind, but the text covers such a vast array of pertinent subjects that almost any reader—parent, community leader, business professional, student, job seeker, etc.—may find a few topics of personal interest.
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