Design Choices for Libraries - Specialized Research AI at MIT

Design Choices for Libraries
in the Digital-Plus Era

John Palfrey

Abstract: Libraries are more important, not less so, in a digitally networked era. Despite the fact that today’s
mobile devices feature Google’s search box and Apple’s Siri to help us ½nd a quick answer to just about any
question, we ought to be investing more capital than ever in our public libraries. We need libraries in the digital
era to provide a public option to ensure sustained, free, equitable access to knowledge and preservation of our
cultural and scienti½c heritage. In a period when both the analog and digital are useful, the design choices for
those building, and reimagining, libraries are many and complex. We ought to design our libraries to meet
the near-term possibilities of a networked environment, as well as the long-term requirements of democratic
societies and the practice of scholarship. These design choices involve trade-offs and new commitments that
may pit future activities against entrenched present-day interests. The essential design choice is between reliance
on ever-more ef½cient interfaces, often developed by commercial out½ts, and interfaces that are developed by
the library community, engaging the public in coproduction and extending outward via the networked public
sphere. The fate of libraries as vibrant institutions with broad public support could turn on the outcome of these
design decisions. The challenges facing libraries also inform conversations about the future of other public-
facing institutions, such as schools and newspapers, which are important contributors to an informed citizenry
and a vital republic.

The main building of the Chicago Public Library
(cpl) occupies a full city block downtown. From the
outside, the building is massive and imposing, yet al-
so appealing in an institutional way. Once inside,
however, the building is far from intuitive. You are
not met by a warm and welcoming reading room.
There’s not an obvious pathway to the popular books
and dvds, which are floors away. You ½nd yourself
instead in a warren of long hallways, occasionally
punctuated by guards and metal detectors: unmis-
takable signs of the time we live in and the realities of
running a public institution in a big city.

The essential concern that animates this essay is
this: what if people turn away from imposing build-
ings like the massive Chicago Public Library and turn
instead to their mobile devices, serviced by commer-
cial ½rms, to meet their needs for knowledge and in-
formation in an increasingly digital future? If that

JOHN PALFREY is Head of School
at Phillips Academy in Andover,
Mas sachusetts. Previously, he was
the Henry N. Ess IIIProfessor of Law
and Vice Dean for Library and In-
formation Resources at Harvard Law
School. He is the author of Biblio –
Tech: Why Libraries Matter More Than
Ever in the Age of Google (2015).

D
o
w
n
o
a
d
e
d

f
r
o
m
h

t
t

:
/
/

d
i
r
e
c
t
.

i
t
.

e
d
u
d
a
e
d
a
r
t
i
c
e
–
p
d

f
/

1
4
5
1
7
9
1
8
3
0
6
9
9
d
a
e
d
_
a
_
0
0
3
6
7
p
d

b
y
g
u
e
s
t

o
n
0
8
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3

Design
Choices for
Libraries
in the
Digital-
Plus Era

comes to pass, what will democratic soci-
eties lose? And can librarians, or any of us,
do something to head off this outcome?

Brian Bannon, the commissioner of the

Chicago Public Library system, is responsi –
ble for keeping his library essential and rel-
evant to his city. Bannon and his team know
they have to make the main library build-
ing, as well as its dozens of branch librar –
ies, accessible and inviting to today’s diverse
population of Chicagoans. More broadly,
Bannon has the job of ensuring that his li-
brary is a relevant public institution in a dig –
ital age. Libraries cannot afford simply to
continue doing things as they have done in
the past, assuming that the public will ½nd
them useful and that public of½cials will,
in turn, continue to fund them. Bannon–
not alone among big-city library leaders,
but among the most inventive and forward-
looking–has acknowledged this challenge
and is meeting it head on, with a modern
design sensibility and a highly networked
approach.

The challenge facing all library leaders as
we transition from an analog era (of atoms)
to a predominantly digital one (of bits) is
multifaceted. Materials today are typically
created using digital platforms, though they
are often later rendered in other formats.
Think of this journal, or the newspaper you
read in the morning. Each was initially pro –
duced as a digital ½le, on a computer (this
essay, using Microsoft Word and Google
Docs), and then rendered in a variety of for –
mats. In the case of this issue of Dædalus, it
will exist as both a printed journal and as a
digital ½le, perhaps even in a range of digi-
tal formats. In the future, materials will be
mostly accessed in their digital forms; the
trends in use clearly point in that direction.
It is for this reason that I argue we are in a
“digital-plus” era of libraries: not every-
thing must be digital, but materials tend to
be born digital and, thereafter, take a variety
of forms through which people access them.

The need for libraries to provide infor-
mation in a heterogeneity of formats stems
from a heterogeneity of preferences among
those who interact with these materials.
The challenge for libraries is to ½nd a way
to keep up with the rapid changes in the de –
sires and expectations of citizens regard-
ing the type and nature of information that
libraries provide. The formats of materials
are shifting rapidly: from vinyl to cassettes
to compact discs to mp3 ½les to streaming
services in audio; from enormous ½lm reels
to vhs and Betamax to dvds and Blueray
to myriad other digital formats in video and
½lm; from the traditional printed codex
(our familiar book format) to all manner
of digital ½les for monographs, journals,
and other text-based works. What’s more,
in each medium there is wide disagreement
on which format is superior. And within
any community, a librarian ½nds a split in
preferences. While the growth in eBooks is
sharp and unmistakable, many readers–of
all ages, it turns out–still prefer the feel of
a real book in their hands. (Though I work
to build digital libraries, I share this same
preference.) A librarian needs to be able to
meet all these varied desires in order to keep
patrons coming back, whether their inter-
ests are traditional or new-fangled.

Expectations about the services that li-
brarians ought to provide are also changing
quickly. From the libraries of antiquity un-
til well into the twentieth century, a library
could succeed by serving as a well-indexed,
well-organized storehouse for printed ma-
terials. Patrons had no choice but to come
to a physical space–often a glorious one–
to consult the materials and to seek help in
½nding knowledge that they had previous-
ly not encountered. Today, so much knowl –
edge–as well as misinformation–can be
found instantaneously by anyone literate
and wealthy enough to own a smart phone,
tablet, or computer. Consider what has hap –
pened to the market for printed cop ies of
the Encylopædia Britannica: is there a single

Dædalus, the Journal ofthe American Academy of Arts & Sciences

D
o
w
n
o
a
d
e
d

f
r
o
m
h

t
t

:
/
/

d
i
r
e
c
t
.

i
t
.

e
d
u
d
a
e
d
a
r
t
i
c
e
–
p
d

f
/

1
4
5
1
7
9
1
8
3
0
6
9
9
d
a
e
d
_
a
_
0
0
3
6
7
p
d

b
y
g
u
e
s
t

o
n
0
8
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3

encyclopedia salesperson going door to
door today, as they once did in large num-
bers? The worlds of reference, of book pro –
vision, of news and information–they have
all undergone radical change in a few short
decades. That change shows no sign of slow –
ing down.

Mr. Bannon faces, as do all library lead-

ers, these many issues at once, without maj –
or budget increases to foot the bills. Ban-
non’s answer has been to be both excellent
at traditional librarianship and creative
about offering new services. He has ensured
that his library is a part of broader networks
of people working toward common ends.
In adjusting the way the Chicago Public Li-
brary operates, Bannon has managed to get
in front of the changes and align building,
staff, and services to the needs and interests
of the communities they serve. For instance,
one way the Chicago Public Library has at-
tracted more visitors has been to observe
what they do in the library and what they do
not; to ask them what they want and what
they could do without; and to make adjust –
ments accordingly.

One way to preserve libraries as public
access points and repositories for culture
and knowledge is to ensure that people of
all ages keep coming in to use them. That
previously uninviting ½rst floor of the main
Chicago Public Library building today hosts
a large number of adolescents every after-
noon in a space called the YouMedia teen
learning space.1 YouMedia is instructive and
important on multiple levels. One is that the
young people using the space are involved
both in the enjoyment of cultural ma teri –
als and in the creation of new materials. The
space includes printed books, attractively
set forth on well-positioned shelves, along –
side other age-appropriate physical mate-
rials. But the space also features a range of
digital devices, used both for interacting
with and creating digital images, sounds,
and text. The staff who work in the You-

Media space are expert at engaging young
people in the hybrid world of the digital and
the analog. And the YouMedia space is an
oasis in the hectic city; whether hot or cold
outside, the center is a safe, attractive, warm
environment for teens to congregate in, not
far off the street, in the city center.

The YouMedia learning space demon-
strates the design sensibility that helps keep
libraries vibrant, as well as the importance
of libraries operating as nodes in a network,
rather than as standalone facilities. YouMe-
dia came about as a partnership, not just a
library-only activity. The core funding has
come from the John D. and Catherine T.
Mac Arthur Foundation; the intellectual
cap i tal has come from academics and ac-
tivists; the staf½ng has been drawn from
multiple networks of people interested in
kids, tech nology, and education, as well as
librar ies. And in turn, YouMedia facilities
have cropped up in other cities (including,
for in stance, Miami); other foundations
have stepped up to fund these related ef-
forts; and a new network, spanning com-
munities around the country, has emerged
to support teen learning. One space and one
team will always be the ½rst, and surely there
is pride of place; but more important, the
network effect ensures that the whole is
greater than the sum of the parts. Librarians
who can create and nurture such partner-
ships stand to bene½t enormously.

To draw in new patrons and build strong
networks, the Chicago Public Library has
done more than just incubate the YouMedia
learning space. Entrepreneurs and tinker-
ers are drawn into a new “maker” space de –
voted to innovation and creativity in that
same massive building, just upstairs from
YouMedia. The Library has also helped to
host and support national and internation –
al networks of librarians who are involved
in the reinvention of libraries, including
through the Digital Public Library of Amer –
ica (dpla) and the international next Li-
brary network.

John
Palfrey

D
o
w
n
o
a
d
e
d

f
r
o
m
h

t
t

:
/
/

d
i
r
e
c
t
.

i
t
.

e
d
u
d
a
e
d
a
r
t
i
c
e
–
p
d

f
/

1
4
5
1
7
9
1
8
3
0
6
9
9
d
a
e
d
_
a
_
0
0
3
6
7
p
d

b
y
g
u
e
s
t

o
n
0
8
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3

145 (1) Winter 2016

Design
Choices for
Libraries
in the
Digital-
Plus Era

As one of the great urban public library
systems in the world, the Chicago Public Li –
brary ought to continue to circulate books,
operate its eighty appealing branch loca-
tions, and manage an important physical
collection. In 2014, the roughly thousand-
person staff made services available to ten
million visitors and circulated another ten
million materials.2 But the cpl takes none
of this activity and popularity for granted
in what are uncertain times to work in any
aspect of the information business. Rather,
the cpl is showing how a focus on design
sensibility and building networks can ensure
that libraries secure both visitor and ½nan-
cial support and thrive into the future.

The design choices for libraries during
this period of transition come fast and fu-
rious. Each type of library–whether a uni-
versity academic library, a public elemen-
tary school library, a special library, or an
archive–must question its priorities and
vision for the future. Choices are prompt-
ed, in part, by the aging of buildings. More
acutely, the changes are brought about by
the question of whether to invest more in
on-site physical objects, or in digital works.
These digital works are not owned and
stored in the traditional way–they are not
“bought,” “shipped,” and “shelved”–but
are shared and made available to patrons
near and far. Librarians who serve patrons
directly must decide how to spend their
time: by making themselves available at a
reference or circulation desk, or by focusing
on instant messaging and responding to on –
line queries. Libraries who manage collec-
tions must decide whether to emphasize ag –
gregation of shared materials or curation
of unique collections.

These library-level design choices roll up
to a society-wide decision about access to
knowledge. One option is to continue the
present trajectory toward access to knowl-
edge increasingly through commercial in-
terfaces. These interfaces are improving in
ef½ciency, beauty, and accessibility at a fast

pace. Some of these interfaces are supported
through advertising; others are pay-per-
use; but uniformly, the leaders are com-
mercial. Libraries, in this model, would ac-
cept their reliance on these commercial ser –
vices and would instead focus their atten-
tion inwardly and locally, serving commu-
nities through the space the library can pro –
vide and by setting these materials in help-
ful contexts. Another option is for libraries
to compete with these commercial ½rms,
developing systems at networked scale that
would serve the public through networked
interfaces as well as through the local, phys –
ical interfaces of their buildings. In this sec –
ond response, librarians would function as
networked actors, their physical presence
being nodes in that larger network of pub-
lic-facing cultural heritage institutions. Ei-
ther way, librarians must change the way
they conceive of their role.

The existing architecture of a wonderful,

historic library and shifting formats are not
the only constraints facing libraries during
the transition from the analog to the digital.
The other major challenge involves person –
nel; put more precisely, the way in which
librarians have been trained. Many active
librarians learned through countless hours
of disciplined practice in a very different en –
vironment than now exists, predominantly
based in analog materials and associated
ser vices. This challenge is not lost on librar –
ians; the topic is addressed, one way or an-
other, at nearly every library conference. A
growing cohort of librarians has made the
transition from an analog-era outlook to a
digital-era approach. Others have not.

Instead of thinking of them as standalone
institutions, we ought to reconceptualize
libraries as nodes in a network and librari-
ans as networked actors. Each library, or
node, serves both people immediately prox –
imate to the library in physical terms and
those who are interested in the library’s con –
tents but are remote from it. Each librarian,

Dædalus, the Journal ofthe American Academy of Arts & Sciences

D
o
w
n
o
a
d
e
d

f
r
o
m
h

t
t

:
/
/

d
i
r
e
c
t
.

i
t
.

e
d
u
d
a
e
d
a
r
t
i
c
e
–
p
d

f
/

1
4
5
1
7
9
1
8
3
0
6
9
9
d
a
e
d
_
a
_
0
0
3
6
7
p
d

b
y
g
u
e
s
t

o
n
0
8
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3

in turn, is a networked actor, involved in so –
cial production of knowledge on a scale
much larger than the library in which she or
he physically works. For example, in addi-
tion to serving patrons standing in front of
them, librarians undertake the act of work –
ing with a highly distributed group of peers,
all devoted to the task of building a digital
knowledge commons.3 The notion of librar –
ianship takes on a yet higher pro½le: librar –
ians have a role to play, as collaborative ac-
tors, in developing, curating, and making ac –
cessible the world’s knowledge on a grand
stage.

Librarians who operate as networked ac –
tors are already rethinking their roles and
redesigning libraries as institutions, from
the inside out. Librarians who learn to hack
systems, in collaboration with other public-
spirited actors, are positioning themselves
for success in their profession as it continues
to morph toward the digital. These librari-
ans will focus on serving the public good be –
yond the immediate needs of the patrons
in their community. This shared work will
thus serve all communities better.

New platforms can assist networks in
functioning well. For libraries and librari-
ans, a common, open, distributed technol-
ogy platform can bring together the tech-
nology, people, code, materials, and spaces
in ways that will serve the public during this
hybrid era of print and the digital. In the
United States, the Digital Public Library of
America is designed to serve the role of
shared platform. The dpla is an open dis-
tributed system for sharing the cultural, his –
torical, and scienti½c heritage of the Unit-
ed States. As a platform, it also functions as
a test environment or, at the risk of mixing
the metaphor, a “sandbox” in which this
reinvention process can happen.

On one level, the dpla is an open-source
repository of code, tools, and metadata. As a
repository of code, the dpla makes avail-
able the computing know-how of a subset
of a community to everyone else in that

com munity. Just as many aspects of the In-
ternet have come to run on open-source
code, the library world can share the core
sys tems that make knowledge available
broad ly. As for tools, the dpla encourages
people to come up with mechanisms for
shar ing information and knowledge in new,
graphic, enticing ways. Examples of these
tools include means to integrate library ma –
terials with Wikipedia, the peer-produced
online encyclopedia; ways to display books
and other materials on an online “book-
shelf” that can extend forever; and ways to
sort materials based on what types of knowl –
edge people have accessed in the past (pro-
tecting the identity and privacy of individ-
uals in the process).

As for metadata, the dpla pulls together
the digital materials that librarians from
across the globe have digitized and made
available online. Large institutions–such
as Harvard University, New York Public
Library, and the National Archives–con-
tribute millions of records, making them
easily accessible to the public. When Har-
vard digitized its Emily Dickinson papers,
for instance, these materials could be ac-
cessed directly through the university’s
web sites, or through the dpla. Likewise, a
local library could take the metadata–the
data that describe the Dickinson papers–
and point directly to the sources for their
local users.

Smaller institutions, too, can contribute
their materials to this shared repository.
Through a series of state hubs, or “on-
ramps,” to the national database, local his-
torical societies, libraries, and archives can
digitize materials and then share them with
the world. For instance, a postcard collec-
tion held at the Boston Public Library,
scanned and shared through this national
plat form, has made available historical im –
ages that show the Little Missouri River in
the Badlands of North Dakota and the Ring –
ling Museum in Sarasota, Florida.4 Maps of
the Atlantic continents, showing the change

John
Palfrey

D
o
w
n
o
a
d
e
d

f
r
o
m
h

t
t

:
/
/

d
i
r
e
c
t
.

i
t
.

e
d
u
d
a
e
d
a
r
t
i
c
e
–
p
d

f
/

1
4
5
1
7
9
1
8
3
0
6
9
9
d
a
e
d
_
a
_
0
0
3
6
7
p
d

b
y
g
u
e
s
t

o
n
0
8
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3

145 (1) Winter 2016

Design
Choices for
Libraries
in the
Digital-
Plus Era

in perception of land and sea over hundreds
of years, held in trust by a New England
boarding school, have been digitized and
shared such that the maps can be used in
classes and by scholars anywhere in the
world.5 These materials would not become
accessible to the public without the hard
work of librarians, trained in the art of dig-
itization, metadata creation, and online
storage.

By operating as nodes in a network, librar –
ians can make their materials more broadly
accessible to others, and in turn make ac-
cessible to their own users materials held
elsewhere, all in an instant. Kept locally,
ma terials are of limited utility; shared glob –
ally, via a well-designed network, these ma –
terials have far greater value. The dpla in-
cludes large stores of open-access metadata
and content, intended for curation and reuse
in speci½c communities.

The dpla is fundamentally a network of
people who want to serve the public as well
as possible, by and through digital technol –
ogies. The dpla is designed to be a mech –
anism to support librarians in crafting and
honing their role as nodes in this new, high –
ly networked environment. As a platform,
the dpla can also help support the profes-
sional development of librarians (in the ser –
vice of their patrons). These librarians might
still be students; they might be seasoned
veterans; they might be retirees with active
minds and the will to continue to give back
to society; they might work in public or pri –
vate libraries. While one size never truly ½ts
all in libraries, a common platform and
com mitment to retraining can be broadly
effective across environments.

The network of library professionals, li-
brary schools, and cultural heritage organi –
zations that are coming together around the
dpla are also, together, creating a training
and retraining system on the national scale.
A system such as the dpla builds upon its
network of service hubs–currently up and
running in more than one-third of states–

to create both a curriculum and training pro –
grams to develop skills and capacity with-
in public libraries. Through a series of work –
shops and online webinars, librarians come
together to train one another in the latest
new technologies and design techniques.
To gether, they are building the required skill
set in the community while also adding to
the availability of materials and code.

This collaborative, distributed approach
both to social production and to profes-
sional development can work. The idea is to
build upon existing relationships and orga –
ni zations, such as state librarians and their
counterparts, wherever possible, avoiding
the need to create redundant networks. The
outcomes of this networked activity are
twofold. First, library students, current li-
brarians, and library volunteers around the
country would be trained with new skills,
using dpla-related open materials. Second,
these librarians would constantly be creat-
ing, through their training, curated exhibits
and materials that will be immediately use –
ful to their patrons and to all those who use
the dpla, whether in the United States or
elsewhere.

The speci½c activities in this professional
development curriculum include the use of
dpla materials to establish curated exhib –
its. These locally relevant projects support
schools and their libraries in meeting the
needs of young patrons. For example,
through a dpla-supported training, a pub –
lic librarian might establish a customized
web environment for the ½fth graders in his
or her town to understand a scienti½c phe-
nomenon (such as kinetic energy or the
phases of the moon) or a local historical
event (such as the California Gold Rush for
San Franciscans). The exhibit could be co –
developed with local school librarians and
teachers to ensure its relevance. If the librar –
ian’s work is effective, the resulting meta-
data could be harvested for broad reuse.

This experiential learning approach can
bring librarians in direct contact with some

Dædalus, the Journal ofthe American Academy of Arts & Sciences

D
o
w
n
o
a
d
e
d

f
r
o
m
h

t
t

:
/
/

d
i
r
e
c
t
.

i
t
.

e
d
u
d
a
e
d
a
r
t
i
c
e
–
p
d

f
/

1
4
5
1
7
9
1
8
3
0
6
9
9
d
a
e
d
_
a
_
0
0
3
6
7
p
d

b
y
g
u
e
s
t

o
n
0
8
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3

of the most promising new open-source
technologies. For instance, the open-source
platform Omeka provides a toolkit for li-
brarians to use as part of the library reinven –
tion process. Omeka is a simple-to-use, in-
expensive way to publish digital collections
online. The tools that the Omeka team has
developed are designed for librarians, ar –
chivists, and museum staff who want to cu –
rate digital materials into online collections
that will entice their patrons. These online
collections are networked to one another,
as well, such that they can be shared broad ly
outside the library, archive, or museum
where they are created. The work that one
librarian does can make the job of the next
librarian (seeking to curate a similar or even
distantly related exhibit) much easier.6 The
existence of open and free systems such as
Omeka is a major reason why this process
of reinvention could work today.

The primary advantage of a networked
model, supported by a networked commu –
nity and organized around a common plat-
form, is that it can scale itself sustainably.
Think of the extraordinarily quick growth of
the Internet and, more recently, the World
Wide Web, which is just twenty-½ve years
old. Wikipedia, today one of the world’s
most frequently visited websites, likewise
grew rapidly as a result of this distributed,
networked model. The growth of shared
re sources through a shared platform and
social production can sustain libraries and
their users for this generation and beyond.
New partners–for instance, library and in –
formation schools, or related cultural insti-
tutions such as museums–could join the
network at any time and enable it to expand
and grow further.

The constraints and possibilities facing li –

braries today are important for their own
sake: libraries matter a great deal to the
proper functioning of our democracy and
to our scholarly enterprise. The inquiry in-
to the future of libraries also contributes,

though, to our understanding of the nature
and importance of public-facing institutions
in broader terms. Institutions devoted to
the common good, and that have informa-
tion and knowledge at their core, face sim-
ilar challenges to one another in a digital era.
Libraries are joined by schools and news-
papers as institutions under threat of dis-
ruption from digital-age competitors; and
each also plays an essential role in modern
democracies. Pro½t-seeking competitors to
these essential public-facing institutions
pose a threat to the extent to which our cit-
izens can inform themselves and participate
in effective ways in civic life.

Our risk is that public-spirited services,
today provided by libraries, schools, and
newspapers and motivated principally by
shared interest in the common good, will
become the province of pro½t-driven enti-
ties that provide these services less effective –
ly and, perhaps, less ethically. In the ½eld
of libraries, there is reason to fear that the
runaway success of Google in information
retrieval and Amazon in the sale of digital
books, music, and movies will draw people
away from reliance upon libraries. Even if
nominal, this change would cost society in
the long run. Libraries and the librarians
who work in them serve an essential pur-
pose in a democracy: to provide informa-
tion and knowledge, free of charge, to peo-
ple who rely on it as life learners and civic
actors. Librarians have no incentive to pro –
mote one work over another or one prod-
uct or service over another; they serve the
patrons and their interests solely, and they
do so with a ½erce commitment to user pri –
vacy. These commitments, which are not
shared by librarians’ commercial counter-
parts, support the proper functioning of our
democracy.

The spheres of education and journalism
are closely related to libraries in this respect.
Schools and newspapers, like libraries, are
under threat from the widespread adop-
tion of digital technologies. Newspapers

John
Palfrey

D
o
w
n
o
a
d
e
d

f
r
o
m
h

t
t

:
/
/

d
i
r
e
c
t
.

i
t
.

e
d
u
d
a
e
d
a
r
t
i
c
e
–
p
d

f
/

1
4
5
1
7
9
1
8
3
0
6
9
9
d
a
e
d
_
a
_
0
0
3
6
7
p
d

b
y
g
u
e
s
t

o
n
0
8
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3

145 (1) Winter 2016

Design
Choices for
Libraries
in the
Digital-
Plus Era

already suffer from declining advertising
sales and decreased subscription revenues,
siphoned off to the web and to search-
related advertising. Schools have been less
plainly affected to date, but threats from on –
line courses, offered at massive scale, have
sent shockwaves through higher education
in particular.

The best design choice for leaders in li-
braries, education, and journalism is the
same: resist a world in which the role of
public-spirited institutions is dramatically
reduced in favor of commercially oriented
½rms offering slick interfaces. In each ½eld,
digital media and networked modes of col –
laboration can support the core mission of
public-facing institutions. In each ½eld, the
practice of professionals must change to
meet the evolving expectations of those
whom we serve and those who pay the bills.
In this, the leaders of these institutions must
continue to hew to the traditional princi-

ples and activities that make their work so
effective and important to society: indepen –
dence, trustworthiness, dependability, and
a public-spirited orientation to providing
access to knowledge.

The philosophy and methods that have
enabled the online world to grow and thrive
so quickly can serve librarians, educators,
and journalists, too. A commitment to a
design sensibility that is oriented toward the
needs of users, whether online or in physi-
cal spaces, is a crucial starting point. A re-
orientation toward working not alone, but
as networked actors, wherever possible, and
using digital platforms in a mode of social
production, much as technologists have, is
equally important. The nature of the prac-
tice in these ½elds, and of the ½rm itself, is
changing and needs to change, in order for
libraries, educators, and journalists to thrive
in a digital-plus era.

endnotes
1 Chicago Public Library, “YouMedia,” http://www.chipublib.org/youmedia/.
2 Chicago Public Library, “Facts and Figures,” http://www.chipublib.org/facts-and-½gures/.
3 Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom

(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2006).

4 Digital Commonwealth (Massachusetts Collections Online), “Little Missouri River in N. Roose –
velt Park, North Dakota Badlands,” Boston Public Library Tichnor Brothers Postcard Collection,
https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:xw42n8060; and Digital Com-
monwealth (Massachusetts Collections Online), “Ringling Museum, between Sarasota and
Bradenton, Florida,” Boston Public Library Tichnor Brothers Postcard Collection, https://www
.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:41687m16r.

5 Caroline Nolan, “Connected Learning in Practice: The Sidney R. Knafel Map Collection,” Tang
Institute at Andover, Phillips Academy Andover, http://tanginstitute.andover.edu/2014/04/
connected-learning-in-practice-the-sidney-r-knafel-map-collection/.

6 Omeka, http://omeka.org/.

Dædalus, the Journal ofthe American Academy of Arts & Sciences

D
o
w
n
o
a
d
e
d

f
r
o
m
h

t
t

:
/
/

d
i
r
e
c
t
.

i
t
.

e
d
u
d
a
e
d
a
r
t
i
c
e
–
p
d

f
/

1
4
5
1
7
9
1
8
3
0
6
9
9
d
a
e
d
_
a
_
0
0
3
6
7
p
d

b
y
g
u
e
s
t

o
n
0
8
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3
Download pdf