A library that leaves its dusty memories behind to become a multi-purpose center for the entire neighbor. Sergio Dogliani, director of Idea Store in the municipality of Tower Hamlets, London, a project to innovate library services, combining them with courses and cultural initiatives. The results in the British capital’s East End have been – as Dogliani told Aspen’s web site – extraordinary: four times the number of users, with the local economy also benefiting from the neighborhood’s revival, Today, ten years after the project was born, there is a growing interest in Italy as well.
Idea Store has been called a “model for libraries of the 21st century.” How did this project come about and how is it different from old-fashioned libraries?
Idea Store was created in Tower Hamlets, one of the 32 municipalities of Greater London. The local environment was important in the creation of this project, because we operate in a cosmopolitan and polarized area, with the Canary Wharf financial district and – at the same time – one of the poorest areas of the United Kingdom. We started 10 years ago and we’ll be opening our fifth multi-purpose center in 2013. Not only is there a library, there is also a social area that stays open late with training courses, leisure time activities and a coffee shop. We offer 800 courses a year, everything from yoga to English, for anyone who wants to improve or simply cultivate her interests. Idea Store is a place to learn not only through reading, but with a vast assortment of cultural initiatives. One hundred percent of our attention is on the user and that’s what makes us different from “old” libraries. We have to say that there has been a very positive comparison with the former structures: the number of users has risen from 550,000 in 1998 to 2 million today.
The present economic situation is leading to cuts in public services in many European countries. How does Idea Store pay for itself? Has the project suffered from the economic crisis?
We are an entirely public project and the initial capital to build the libraries came from the British government, together with funds from the national lottery and the sale of old libraries. In recent times, we too have been working to contain running costs. Still, given the results, we have not been under great pressure, nor have additional efforts been required. The benefits of the Idea Store are not limited to the spread of culture. Precisely because we decided to build the stores in areas that could be easily reached – the neighborhood’s main streets or at the center of other local activities – these centers have had a positive impact on the local economy. A place like ours, where people gather and that are open late, help to revive a street, attracting people and helping local businesses.
Can this type of innovation in libraries be exported? Has anyone attempted to apply the lessons of Idea Store outside of London?
The Idea Store project is garnering interest worldwide. Not so much in the United Kingdom, where we’ve met some resistance – a prophet is not without honor, save in his own country – but, most of all, in countries like Holland, Sweden and Denmark, where facilities similar to ours have been created. And I’ve seen some attention in Italy. For example Cavriago, in Emilia, has opened a new library center, Muliplo, which is very similar to the Idea Store model.
I think the interest is due to the fact that, in Idea Store, we tried to create a brand that went beyond the old concept of a library, seen as a second rate public services. Instead, we based it on the lessons of business. Our centers make no reference to the municipality: we call them “stores.” And attention to our users resembles that of department stores, applied to culture. The increase in the number of users, and the fact that 56% of the local citizenry come regularly, 8% more than the national average, demonstrates that this formula works.
Is it possible to innovate library services in Italy? Where do you begin?
I think that the recipe to innovate libraries, even in Italy, consists of three ingredients. The starting point is to stop thinking of culture with a capital C. If we abandon an elitist approach, libraries become a place for everyone. Second, we need to create an atmosphere that enhances the ability and energy of the people who work there. We can no longer follow the logic in Italy that public service should be a protected category, impermeable to user requests. We tried to import an innovative working style, one no longer based on a hierarchy, but on creativity and commitment to improved services. Our libraries are facilitators for reading, rather than custodians of cultural assets. Finally, if we want to have innovative library, we need adequate structures. Italy has so many valuable buildings and municipalities decide to place a library in a beautiful old building. This is counterproductive if the spaces are not suitable or if the building is difficult to reach. In other words, it is useless to house a library in a magnificent Baroque villa if it is out of the way and the residents don’t go. A library should be part of daily life. The residents of Tower Hamlets seem to appreciate that.
