A low cost education system is critical to building up the youth in the 21st century knowledge economy. The ability to generate new ideas is critical for educational advancement. The social conditions are changing the way libraries are used. The economy is changing and libraries need to be able to do fundraising in the knowledge economy. The invention of funding platforms is beginning. During our investigations into innovation we found Kickstarter, a micro funding web site that creates tools for the average person to start a building project. For example, Architect David Dewane – Gensler, started a project to create educational hubs that are creation, generation, dissemination and production zones…
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International Library Development – Baghdad Youth and Sport City Development
Baghdad Library, Youth City, Baghdad Iraq Dates: Awarded November 2011, scheduled to tender late 2013 Project size: 45,000 sqm Client: Ministry of Sports and Youth Services Provided: Library Planning / Architecture Support Location The new Library takes the shape of a drop-like peninsula, which projects out onto a lake. The 45,000 sqm structure will be the cultural center of Baghdad’s Youth and Sport City development. AMBS Architects and ACA have revealed their ambitious design for the new Baghdad Library. The building brings together form, function, and cultural significance. The 45,000 sqm structure will be the central focus of a planned Youth City that has been designed to inspire Iraq’s younger…
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Learning with Technology
The most visible signs of our embrace of digital media belongs to the students – young and old. The way they learn using computers, iPads, e-readers and smartphones are different than the past. They are quick to embrace the “library in the cloud” as Sugata Mitra describes in Build a School in the Cloud. It is natural for them to work in groups to learn. With just a little support from a “grandma” or someone who is older that encourages them as Mitra points out, the students can learn anything from a device connected to the net. The shift taking place in libraries is proving to be transformative in the…
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The Library of Unborrowed Books and the Future of Learning Spaces
In the Art of Browsing by Claire Barliant we started to reflect about the book as a trend in our quest for knowledge. We learned about the “Library of Unborrowed Books” – an art installation developed by Meriç Algün Ringborg that manifests itself in the languages and titles of each book in the collection. Meriç Algün Ringborg’s art installation looks at the library as a contemporary moment. The project presents hundreds of books that have never been borrowed from the Center for Fiction’s library. The framework hints at what has been disregarded, knowledge essentially unconsumed. It puts on display what eludes us. Librarians know that the act of browsing for…
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The Library is an Incubator for Applied Design
Paola Antonelli was on the Colbert Report to talk about Applied Design, an exhibition running at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Paola is the senior curator of the Design and Architecture department, focusing on a new way to look at space. Paola Antonelli has some great insights on the future of learning spaces, which really resonates with our library planning team. For example, Paola Antonelli stated – “The idea of having this research and development at a museum is about trying to figure out truly what kind of position the museum has to take on the inside and the outside for the future. My basic thought is that museums…
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Making in the Library Incubator
Libraries serve as a community hub – a common service and a content space to share and make things. The support we give to enhance culture is also a major strategy. When we share knowledge in our libraries, we are breaking out from yesterday’s technology. At the American Library Association meeting in Seattle, there was a interesting event that drew a large crowd. It was a program that discussed how the maker space is developing and how libraries will be part of the trend. A group from Make Magazine created a lot of excitement. In “Libraries and Makerspaces: a match made in heaven” – Cory Doctorow recognizes that “Libraries also…