In the hyperlinked library model, libraries are many things, including schools for infinite learning.  Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) opened a world of learning for me in the last decade. I heard about MOOCs in the mid-2010s and found myself living in France on a visa that didn’t allow me to work. To keep myself busy, I tried a few MOOCs and completed a number of them. I was immediately impressed with the access to and quality of instruction. I also completed these at a time when there were more free options for connecting with other students, which changed when these platforms needed to monetize to keep themselves afloat and…

Everything is story. The life one lives is a story. The things one consumes make up a story. The things people leave behind tell a story. The library has always been the place where one connects with the stories of other humans, either fictional or true. Alaskan libraries often have special collections of items related to Alaska, because those are the stories of our unique home. They sometimes tell of explorers and people who settled and homesteaded in the state. They also tell the stories of Alaska native peoples, their traditions, worldviews and their ways of life. The Alaska Center for the Book has created the Alaska Reads program where…

There is much to consider when thinking about the future and libraries. The NMC Horizon Report Libraries Edition considers many facets of what the future looked like for libraries five years on from when it was published in 2017, and many of those trends are still relevant today. The two trends that resonated with me the most and are related to our course content are “Patrons as Creators” and “Rethinking Library Spaces” (New Medium Consortium, 2017). Utilizing patron engagement in the library and redefining where, what and how the library will be in the world continue to directly impact service delivery and are an opportunity for where improvement and change…

Winston Churchill once said “We shape our buildings; thereafter, they shape us.” This is of course true for library buildings, but it is probably also true for the services that libraries provide. It is hard to get out of the fixed mindset of “just doing things the way they have always been done” and to a mindset focused on opportunity, possibility and change. If libraries will remain relevant in the 21st century they must support, inspire and encourage the people of today, not the people of the past. The story of the Memphis Public Library from Smithsonian Magazine was incredibly inspiring, and it is probably not entirely a coincidence that…

So far, there are a lot of ideas and threads that this course is pulling together to demonstrate what libraries have been (Library 1.0), what they are (Library 1.5 – 2.0) and what they can be (Library 3.0?).  I appreciated the YouTube video by Ciara Eastell at TedX Exeter, where she highlighted the many places where public spaces were closed due to civil unrest or weather disturbances, and then reminded people that libraries were open in these places and during these moments for the very reason they were closed everywhere else. These are the spaces that play a critical role in either giving people a safe place to decompress like…