Hi Julius-

Thank you so much for your support and feedback! I’m thrilled that my message connected with you, and even more excited that these ideas are shared by individuals like yourself. I can say as much as I like, but until the same ideas about the potential of our community spaces are shared by those ultimately making the decisions, the thoughts aren’t worth that much. I’m so excited about the possible future of libraries!

Thank you again,
a

Thank you Amy, I am in full agreement here. I wish I had access to your lucid thinking a decade ago, I have since learned the hard way just how true and accurate that thinking really is. I fervently belief in the Community as the essential driver, because no-one else has the tacit knowledge or insights into their own Community. And yes, collaboration is the probably the only viable path to the future. Al it needs is just one spark within a Community, a handful of people and it will start to ignite for them. I have worked on the broad premise of your entire approach for many years now and especially with a concrete belief in the Community-driven Model as the ‘new’ and perhaps only sustainable way forward. I was very taken with the intensity and sheer belief conveyed in your article & presentation. The Library has been a fascination for me ever since I read of Carnegie and we have much in common today with those times. Communities hold within vast and virtually untapped resources but it is indeed as difficult a pathway as you set out and only Social Innovation will engender the local initiative required. The rewards for such initiatives are unparalleled.

Richard – Thanks so much for your feedback and thoughts! I completely agree
with you that there is a great deal of potential for change and impact and
influence from various parts of the library, not just the library as a
whole, and that certainly includes the access points and the content of
access. On the matter of content of access, I see some of the opportunities
I touched on in this piece, like community media, and collaborative
resources. I also see a similarity between your suggestions and mine for
education and knowledge sharing.

It’s definitely an interesting and rich discussion – thanks for
contributing!

So your thinking that Libraries as the Oldest New Frontier for Innovation is potent. My own thinking it is the TeleCentres within those Libraries (as well as elsewhere within Communities) that are especially well positioned to become virtual Community Hubs at the entrance to the Knowledge & Innovation-driven Economies that are flourishing around us today. While TeleCentres are already a proven ideal fit for Libraries everywhere, they do need to take the next substantive step, beyond the instantaneous Internet-based Information already being provided, and towards adding Understanding too through E-Learning – online, offline or mobile – via E-Community Tutors in particular as they embrace local Culture and Language in addition to their teaching skills. I will continue to follow your excellent work on Twitter.
Richard O’Farrell
Founder
http://www.voxworld.coop

Hi Ian-

Thanks so much for your feedback! Great to know that others are thinking
about these things and I’d love to hear more about what you’re working on.

Cheers,
a