The library is part of an organic network of learning spaces. At its core, libraries offer the opportunity for growth and knowledge. They are places that spread knowledge with tools to intertwine business, skills development and education. Libraries can spread access to the Internet in rural communities. They can offer individuals and small businesses:
– Spaces for staff learning, capacity and innovation
– Incubator space for new products and practices
– Librarians for external innovations to introduce and internal innovations to scale up
– The community is a network that is “Doing while learning” at the library.
BRAC developed the Social Innovation Lab web page to support strategy development in rural communities. They are a development success story, spreading solutions born in Bangladesh to 10 other countries around the world. They are a global leader in creating opportunity for the world’s underserved.
At the Frugal Innovation Forum, participants gathered to generate ideas to help people with limited funds. Programs modeled around Scaling Up, Out, Smart, Digital and Together. Participants spent time exchanging ideas to improve life on this planet.
If you are planning to develop a library space plan or master plan for your campus, we believe the “Scaling Methodology for Planning” has resonance. When we start a project, we “Scale Up” and “Scale Out” to understand the big picture. When we develop a library space program, we “Scale Smart” balancing the needs of the library staff, collection and seating.
Often, we are asked about how to “Scale Digital.” We offer advice to create partnerships and re-engineer library operations; a practice that improves strategic planning outcomes. We “Scale Together” during a library space plan.
We support people who create communities of learners or Libraries. People driven by the opportunity for cultural exchange, community, membership, knowledge creation and access to library resources. In a way, it’s nothing new for librarians. We are wired to seek and provide unique resources, providing opportunities for the individual and community to grow.
The potential to develop a library is a true gift to a librarians career. It is an opportunity to increase access to shared resources, enabling individuals to become unique fulfilling their potential to grow.
