The Library as a Physical Social Network
We are all familiar with social networks by now whether it be Twitter, Myspace, Flickr, Last.FM, Foursquare, and of course, Facebook. When you think about the characteristics that all of those networks have in common, it’s that they bring people together and feed information to them at the same time. The whole purpose and reason for using a social network is to see what a friend is up to, or view a link somebody posted. It’s a quick and easy way to gather information about somebody or something (stalking is accepted these days, right?) without going through the hassle of asking them yourself in person or giving them a quick call. So what does that have to do with the library?
Well, in re-conceptualizing the library, it is apparent that it wants to become one of these trendy social networks that brings people of various majors, backgrounds, needs, interests, etc into a building for a particular purpose – to gain information. That isn’t so very different from what the library has always been of course, but there is a new twist to it – the library is not just a place to quietly gain information alone – it is a place of social interaction whether it be studying in a group with friends or just in an area with traffic where a ‘chance meeting’ might occur. Of course, not everybody wants this, so there are privacy settings of course (corny Facebook reference) to allow for personalized profiles (and yet another) of study environments to suite everybody in the network.
I have already hinted at a few, but here are more characteristics that a library and social network share.
click to enlarge
A social network
Social networks aren’t going away. They will probably only grow in both population and quantity. If the library is to do the same, it must take on these traits so the social network as we know it becomes a physical architectural entity.
-Adam Roark
CAC.C 