Where: Beerwah Hall, Peachester Road Beerwah, Queensland
Caloundra City Libraries presents a forum exploring the concept of libraries as Third Places, as places of connection and cohension within communities. The forum features acclaimed international presenters.
- Kevin Harris, Local Level, UK
- Barbara MacKerrow and Bry Kopu - Puke Ariki library, gallery and museum complex, New Plymouth, New Zealand
- Jane Carr - Education Queensland
- Vicki McDonald - State Library of Queensland
- Examples of best practice from across the state
Libraries - The Third Place - practical, creative, professional development.
Strategies for:
- Best practice community engagement for your library, museum or arts space.
- Maximising community connections, contributing to stronger communities
- Growing library spaces as people places - future proofing community spaces
- Evaluating public programming
- Secure funding... make the words count
- Advocacy - keeping you library on top of your organisational pyramid!
2 comments:
Looks like I'm the first person to post a comment, having just created a blogging account, so here I am finally using Web 2 software.
I found the Third Place Forum stimulating, in that it covered a range of material from different perspectives - such as a theoretical framework for a third place, some examples of current third places and some examples of libraries developing a third place as part of their activities program.
After a long, thoughtful (and unfortunately very COLD day) I was left with a major thought to ponder over the weekend.....
What about the books?
Sorry if I'm sounding old fashioned here, and I understand that libraries are about more than books these days, but nevertheless, when we are discussing our 'great good places', do we need to make some sort of connection to books/literacy/cultural knowledge and so on? And if so, how explicitly?
If we are connecting with our communities and providing a great place to be, then should/could we throw out the books and just be a warm welcoming venue with a range of interesting activities on the program?
So in a nutshell,
I'm trying to figure out, why are LIBRARIES involved in this third place discussion?
Cheers
Liz
Interesting thoughts, Liz! My take is rather that you cannot separate books from libraries - books are simply one format or means of packaging information and access to information, albeit they are central to the collective understanding of “library” in the traditional context. Quiet simply, without the “books” libraries are not libraries -they are community spaces without their unique focus. However, libraries offer far more than a one dimensional role – they are community spaces, offering services, programs, collections, connections and most importantly, people places!
The basics tenets of libraries in communities include the concept of library as resource, library as people, library as place, and library as a symbol of a basic civic right. They offer many of the elements of third places, as described by Ray Oldenburg – informal gathering places, accessible to all, welcoming, places we visit on a regular basis, affordable, catalysts to connections and relationships, and in turn a sense of belonging to a community. Thus, lots of reasons to explore libraries as third places………….
By nature, there is no definative “third place”, rather many variations on a theme, reflecting the life of individual communites. However, there is something within the dynamic of the daily interactions within a public library that reflects the nature of third places, and calls for futher exploration. Maybe an intersting story to tell about how people and communities connect………...
Post a Comment