A new library is opening. But there’s something you won’t see there: books. Or, bookshelves. The Technology Engagement Center is designed as a trendsetting library that focuses on digital literacy, computing skills and “maker” spaces.
This library will have 3-D printers, video conferencing rooms and a recording studio. At the ribbon cutting on Wednesday, rows of new Mac computers still had the protective plastic on their screens, with some in their boxes awaiting the last few desks.
All this and books would pretty much be my dream library, but the way the discussion is framed, it seems like you either get all this or those stuffy, boring books. And that part sucks — as if books, physical books, are the uncool relatives your mom makes you invite to the party, but the second you can get rid of them, you do.
I love ebooks for finding things I know I’m looking for. But ebooks don’t work for finding stuff you don’t know you want to find. It’s hard to flip through an ebook catalog and find something serendipitous. You don’t walk down a shelf full of ebooks and have a cover jump out at you. You’re not reminded by seeing the name “Oliver Queen” that you meant to read that new Stephen King book.
I like the approach the Nashville libraries take, where branches have space for books and space for computers and meeting rooms and you just get a sense that all avenues of knowledge are open to you.
And in that regard, I don’t understand how the TEC is trendsetting, if they’re just now getting stuff you can find in libraries already. Is it the 3-D printer? Is that what makes it state-of-the art? If I print a book with the 3-D printer, does that violate the spirit of the new library?
Also, I would pay good money to know what a “maker” is and why they need space for it. No, really, it’s the opposite. Who isn’t a maker? Humans make stuff. There’s no subset of people who aren’t makers. The term is practically meaningless. It’s like saying I’m a “breather.” That’s part of being alive.
Are “makers” the old “tinkerers”? Saying you fart around in your garage working on projects isn’t cool anymore, so tinkerers rebranded?
I guess that’s what bums me out about this. What makes a library special is that it’s a public space of serendipity. You don’t know what you’re going to find, who you might talk to, what you might learn, what might delight you.
But how do you get around at the TEC? You can’t. You have to have a plan and a goal and, in order to use the library, you have to know what you want from it.
That just seems like a place that’s missing one of the best aspects of a library. The rebranding of what a library is is like the rebranding of what a tinkerer is — it just seems generic and non-descript. And that’s too bad.