Playful Technology - Design of Children’s Library Services

Paper i proceeding, 2013

In this paper, the design of future services for children in Danish public libraries is discussed, in the light of new challenges and opportunities in relation to new media and technologies. The Danish government has over the last few years initiated and described a range of initiatives regarding the future of public libraries, especially in relation to children as a particular user group. This paper explores play culture, and takes a stance especially in the project ‘Families at play in the library’, but also in experiences from related projects. The focus is on families playing together in the library, the changing role of the librarians and the library space. We argue that intertwining traditional library services with new media forms and engaging play is the core challenge for future design in physical public libraries, but also that it is through new media and technology that new perspectives for the future of libraries become visible. Experiences from the project will be presented as general design considerations for future design of services for children in the library.