Libraries in Urban Development - Creativity, Innovation and Experience/

Interactive Session

/ Dorte Skot-Hansen, Henrik Jochumsen & Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen

It is the aim of this workshop to present the results of the research project “Public Libraries in Urban Development– Creativity, Innovation and Experience” and on this background to discuss the following questions:

• How can the public library serve as a catalyst for change and urban development?
• How can public libraries enhance the creative and innovative city as a space for experiences and new meetings?
• How can the public library contribute to synergy, connections and transformations through new creative partnerships?
 
The research project has obtained knowledge on library development internationally, focusing on the relationship between urban planning and library development through case-studies in Europe, USA and Canada, and it has been funded by Realdania, a strategic foundation whose mission is to improve quality of life for the common good through the built environment.

The workshop will focus on formulating some poignant and clear-cut strategies for the future role of the public library as an active force in the development of the creative and innovative experience city.

Organizers, moderators, speakers:
Center for Cultural Policy Research, Royal School of Library and Information Science
Moderator: Dorte Skot-Hansen
Speakers:
Dorte Skot-Hansen holds a PhD in culture sociology and is head of Center for Cultural Policy Research. She has especially researched in fields as cultural policy, cultural diversity, urban planning and experience economy, and she has written a wide range of books, reports and articles about these topics.

Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen holds a PhD in documentation studies and is an associate professor at Royal School of Library and Information Science. He has especially researched in public libraries with point of departure in sociological, historical and architectural perspectives. Together with Henrik Jochumsen he has written wide range of books and articles about public libraries.

Henrik Jochumsen holds a PhD in documentation studies and is an associate professor at Royal School of Library and Information Science. He has especially researched in public libraries with point of departure in sociological, historical and architectural perspectives. Together with Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen he has written a wide range of books and articles about public libraries.

15 people have shown interrest in this session.

COMMENTS/

Jacob W. Dalsager's picture
20 June, 2011 - 13:21 - Jacob W. Dalsager says:

Just finished up at this workshop!

The main focus was placed on how the library can function as an icon in the community and how it functions as a placemaker in society.

The workshop went well, and these are some of the important keywords and ideas that came out on the other side:

- Libraries can encourage communities to educate themselves better, by being a beacon for culture and education.

- The library needs to be engaging. It needs to allow citizens to use and experience the library.

- The library has the opportunity to become an icon without actually being a building. By virtue of it's own concept, it stands out as a cultural phenomenon.

- Libraries utilize the "lighthouse effect", as a symbol of enlightenment and identity.

- Libraries need to ADD VALUE.

- Libaries should be "... a place you don't HAVE to go, but a place where it's NICE to go".

Thank you for a lovely session.

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