Mikk Sander Lemberg
- Faculty of Design
- Interaction Design
- MA
- Shaping the future of public libraries
- Tutor: Jana Kukk, PhD
Public libraries in Estonia are facing a lack of funding and resources caused by a lack of shared understanding of what is expected of library services in the 21st century. Despite the existential crisis in the context of digitisation and urbanisation, public libraries provide unique value to the surrounding communities.
Therefore, this study aims to discover the design approach to transform public libraries into inspiring service providers.
Based on a literature review of public libraries and social capital theories, as well as expert interviews, a framework for thinking about public libraries was developed. The framework enables creating alignment between all expectations of public libraries and the guiding values and principles of public libraries.
In the next phase, the developed framework helped conduct workshops on library services expectations in Estonia. With the results of the workshops, a possible future scenario is formed into a concept. The final design enables an assessment of the public library of tomorrow and the one likely scenario.
