Collaborative, Creative, Participative: Trends in Public Library Innovation

Abstract

Innovation in public libraries has been concentrated in the areas of participation, making & creating, learning, new outreach and partnerships. These trends represent the emerging areas of strategic focus for public libraries and are strongly influencing the development of library services towards a model that is collaborative, creative and participative, and that places the library at the centre of its user’s daily lives. This article provides an overview of these trends, with examples of how they are manifesting in library services, programming and strategy.