“The Community’s Innovation Spaces” is a two year development project that will examine how libraries in collaboration with their various partners can create open innovation environments. We call these spaces People’s Labs.

Makerspaces and Hackerspaces

The project is inspired by the so-called Maker Spaces or Hacker Spaces and when creating People’s Labs we will transfer and translate thoughts and experiences from Maker Spaces to a library context.

Maker Spaces or Hacker Spaces are physical locations where people with common interests meet to share, collaborate and create projects.

Maker Spaces often focus on the development of new technological products and the Maker Spaces provide expensive tools.

The project will investigate which types of Maker Spaces or Hacker Spaces are relevant in a library context.

The project will examine whether Maker Spaces are relevant in a library context and if they are how they should be planned and organised.

Why Maker Spaces in libraries?

The library can and should play an important role in promoting citizens' desire and ability to innovate.

The library is the organisation that can facilitate meetings between people, knowledge areas, media, communication forms, etc. This is the reason why the library has a clear potential for becoming the place where citizen-made ideas can be developed and carried out.

The project vision

The project creates specific concepts and strategies on how libraries can support innovation processes in the community.

The project develops People’s Labs - citizen-driven physical innovation spaces that focus on self-expression and creative production in libraries.

The core element is knowledge and culture and the ability to blend knowledge domains which would not normally be mixed.

Research and partnerships are used actively in the project design. Other libraries are invited to participate in inspiration groups or as trainees.

The project's working methods

The project will use d.schools design methods and partnerships as a way to create innovation spaces in the library’s public spaces.

The project will experiment with various working methods in order to develop the library’s skills as innovation facilitators. The project combines research, alternative environments, partnerships and the library’s new performative spaces.

The project's target group

Citizens and local innovators. The project will inspire people to use the library in new ways.
Libraries will unfold the performative space in the physical library.

Organisation

The project is created in collaboration between the Main Library Aarhus, Roskilde Libraries, Aarhus University and Roskilde University.

Roskilde Libraries is project owner. The project is subsidised by the Danish Agency for Culture.

For more information

• Project Manager Louise Overgaard: mlog@aarhus.dk
• Head of the Main Library Knud Schulz: ksc@aarhus.dk