I absolutely loved the quote Michael shared from his friend Erik at the DOK library in the lecture “Libraries should keep stories, share stories, and make stories. ” It sums up the entire reason i wanted to get into librarianship and combine it with my theatre degree. I think this participatory service mindset is something that will keep libraries engaging to patrons and encourage more people to use the library.
Libraries need to be a space that people can come together in and feel like a part of a community especially now in a word that feels so isolating even though its easier to connect then ever. We need to have programming that facilitates this. The Heritage Browser at the DOK library is a great example of this. People can see these historical photos and places around the community and connect stories to them. Another example is the partnership that DOK Aarhus library created with Vaerestedet as a part of the Europe Challenge by the European Cultural Foundation. They saw that the people that used Vaerestedet also used the library and they saw a way to combine resources and create a even better community connection for these people by connecting programing, like a creative writing workshop that was at Vaerestedet to the library. People from all walks of life that may not have interacted with each other before even though they were only separated by a 10 minute walk are now connecting because of this.
I believe keeping in mind participatory service is what will carry libraries to the future and keep them relevant. Patrons feeling like and keeping in mind that they are just as integral to the library as the books is what will keep people coming to the library. This will create programing that people actually enjoy and connect with. It will create a library that is truly engrained into the community which i think is what every library strives for.
References
Stephens, M. (n.d.-a). DOK Delft takes user generated content to the next level – A TTW Guest Post by Erik Boekesteijn. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://tametheweb.com/2011/02/15/dok-delft-takes-user-generated-content-to-the-next-level-a-ttw-guest-post-by-erik-boekesteijn/
Stephens, M. (n.d.-b). Revisiting participatory service in trying times – a TTW guest post by Michael Casey. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://tametheweb.com/2011/10/20/revisiting-participatory-service-in-trying-times-a-ttw-guest-post-by-michael-casey/
Stephens, M. (2016). The heart of librarianship. ALA Editions.
Tales from the street – Dokk1 Aarhus Library. (n.d.). https://youtu.be/_sSdwyJEDTM?si=C0ExjDHlLqxt6x01