Cracking Public Space Open: Design for Public Librarians

Public libraries in the U.S. and around the world are rapidly changing due to expanding technological and social needs of their communities. Furthermore, in recent years, public spaces, including libraries, have faced budgetary and other pressures, putting a strain on the resources available to librarians. As such, public libraries are a compelling cite for uncovering socio-technical entanglements between government services, technology use, public space, and civic participation. In this paper, we report on a qualitative study of librarians in a U.S. urban public library system undergoing substantial renovations and transformations. We frame the work of librarians as a range of infrastructuring practices, which help uncover insights about the socio-material and political conditions of public service in libraries. Using the metaphor of cracking public space open, we contribute a set of design provocations to support an increasingly complex work of public librarians.