Smart Libraries

Abstract

Can the smart city provide a new perspective for public and academic libraries? How does the smart city impact the libraries as cultural and scientific assets? And how can libraries contribute to the development of the smart city? An overview of recent library models, like the learning center or the green library, reveals affinities with the concept of the smart city, especially regarding the central role of information and the integration of technology, people, and institutions. From this observation, the paper develops the outline of a new concept of the smart library, which can be described in four dimensions, i.e., smart services, smart people, smart place, and smart governance. However, the smart library concept does not constitute a unique model or project, but a process, a way of how to get things done, that is less linear, less structured, and more creative and innovative. Also, smartness may not be a solution for all library problems.