Libraries as Infrastructure

Brandes-Miesner, Marta

Mattern, S. (2014). Libraries as Infrastructure. Places Journal. Retrieved from https://placesjournal.org/article/library-as-infrastructure/

Summary:

The subtitle of this article really says it all: Reading room, social service center, innovation lab. How far can we stretch the public library? The author of this article proposes that in our quest to continue to redefine the role of libraries now and in the future, that we must view the library as a network of evolving infrastructures-that is specifically, of an architectural, technological, social, epistemological and ethical foundation. This will help guide us in identifying how we want our libraries to serve and what can reasonably be expected of them. She goes on to state that the library has always evolved to be a host for informative and social needs. She doesn’t like the libraries as platforms metaphor because it is too, 2 dimensional.  It implies that the library only   lays out resources for people to consume. Rather, libraries are everywhere and persistent because they act as mediators in defining the cultural values of our communities. However, libraries are also “opportunity institutions” and “cultural refuges”, keepers of the homeless, sitters of latch-key children, election sites, etc., which begs the question, how can we do it all? The article goes on to explore all of the different challenges that libraries venture to take on and in turn offer up to the public as opportunities-from maker-spaces, science labs, career centers, technology petting zoos, game-labs to hacker-labs and even robots retrieving books! So now we are becoming consumed with the combination of knowledge consumption and production. The authors point is that libraries need to stay focused on their long-term goals for communities and on the ways in which it symbolizes our cultural priorities beyond consumerism and the fiscal aspects of society. Yes, libraries still need to offer opportunities, but we also need to retain our intellectual and ethical goals. Libraries need to incorporate these other aspirations   by allowing other institutions to partner with us in more mutual, more reciprocal circumstances.  Finally, we need to keep our intellectual and ethical goals at the forefront of our mission.

Evaluation:

This was a very interesting article, but the author took some time to make her point. I think we do need to keep sight of our goals and reassess the ways in which we fulfill them. Libraries should also depend more upon outside resources if they are going to fully incorporate some of these new visions for the library’s purpose, lest we just become promoters for the latest technology. We need be careful to retain and uphold the library’s role as mediators of knowledge, culture and ethical societies.