2022-11-07 SPLAT Curiosity Report: Volume 12, Issue 11

Featured Story

Welcome to the Future!

“Welcome to the future!” is how attendees were greeted in SPLAT’s room during the Idaho Library Association’s annual conference in Lewiston. SPLAT members came together to host an interactive, imaginative experience where attendees were asked to envision what libraries might be like in ten years.

Futures thinking is the practice of thinking about the future in a structured way. Thinking about the future is not a new phenomenon, but in recent years it has shifted its focus away from trying to predict the future, also known as forecasting, toward the critical exploration of future possibilities. Futures thinking seeks to unpack the question of “what could happen?” rather than attempting to know what will happen.

Since there were two full days of the conference, we offered two different future scenarios to think about. On day one, after walking through a black curtain, participants were presented images of a deteriorating world. They were then asked to imagine a future where society has collapsed and libraries no longer have physical spaces. It was a little difficult to think about such a bleak future. However, the great thing about taking the time to walk our brains through this scenario is that we will be better prepared for such a future even if only parts of it come to pass.

On day two, after walking through a colorful futuristic curtain, we asked participants to imagine a future in which a former library director has been elected President of the United States and libraries now have unlimited federal funding. What a contrast from day one! On both days, we asked participants to focus their ideas to 5 categories: what would the role of the library in the community be, what kind of job titles, patron services, technology, and library services would there be in this future?

In reviewing what participants wrote, we noticed a few trends. These included variations on the theme of libraries serving as the resource and information hub for their communities, library staff as storytellers or advisors, and low-tech things like bicycles along with hi-tech items like VR. We were struck by the similarities between what library staff do now, and what participants envisioned them doing in the future. Some of the pieces and topics might be different, but at its core, you all see libraries and their staff as a key part of their communities. What job titles, services, technology, or roles do you imagine for each of the two scenarios? Have a look at what our future thinkers came up with for each day!

Day one – society has collapsed and libraries no longer have physical spaces

Job Titles:

Role of library in the community:

Patron services:

 Library services:

 Technology:

 Artwork:

Day 2 – a former library director has been elected President of the United States and libraries now have unlimited federal funding

Job titles:

 Role of library in the community:

 Patron services:

 Library services:

 Technology:

 Artwork:

By Deana Brown and Annie Gaines

Fail Forward

We’ve all been there. You pour your heart into a program, and no one shows up. You try something new, and you fall on your face. Sound familiar? Fail Forward is the place to share your failures, and give you the opportunity to share what you learned from them. Did you promote your program in a different way after no one showed up? Maybe you took a new approach to the new thing you were excited about? Awesome! Share your story via our online form so others can learn, and realize that failure is often part of the process.

I love having the option to sign up my patrons for Homebound Services with either an online form or with a paper form. Lately we have been having lots of sign ups, too, which is great! However…..the last time that we had a patron sign up I got all the information back to me correctly…except one line on the form asked “What pizza toppings do you want?” I was SO CONFUSED. I have never seen it ask for pizza toppings before. When I looked at it again, I saw that the original question was answered correctly, which was good, because it meant that the form was correct from the patron’s side. But when and why did it decide to ask for pizza? Truly strange! Luckily we were able to fix it.

By Monique Gaddy

Crush Corner

Is there a library you follow on social media who is always doing new and exciting things? How about a blog you follow that inspires you? What about a new idea, book, or resource that you want to share? Library Crush Corner is a place for those working in Idaho libraries to share what inspires them, and who or what they’re crushing on… in a professional sense. Share your story via our online form so we can publish it in a future issue!

Caldwell Local History Project

Caldwell Public Library has done an amazing job over the past year digitizing and reorganizing their local History Collection.  The Elaine Leppert Historical Collection has gone through several major projects recently, including digitizing over 6,000 photographic slides and making them available online!  Check out what they were able to do in this fantastic blog post by Marina Rose Highlighting History at the Caldwell Public Library!

By Mike Sloan

SPLAT explores the ever-evolving library world and supports library folks as they adapt to meet the needs of their communities. Library folk throughout the state of Idaho volunteer to serve on the Special Projects Library Action Team (SPLAT). Learn more about SPLAT at splat.lili.org

SPLAT is brought to you by the Idaho Commission for Libraries and was made possible, in part, by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (LS-246156-OLS-20). The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.