I wondered if anyone wants to talk about libraries, as it seems a bit odd to have a bookcamp without them. I was thinking of them as part of social reading, but in most cases, visiting the library is a far from social experience. More of a sort of public-private experience.

Libraries could be amazing, but generally they aren’t. There are lots of them, they often occupy a pretty good space in the high street, they’re free and they’re nice and warm. That’s a good start. But they’re also often dingy, unfriendly and useless, if you can’t find what you need.

Library systems store information on exactly who their users are, and what they read. That could be used to recommend relevant titles, join people with similar interests together, or inform the sort of events that could happen in the library like author visits, discussion groups etc. Visiting the library could be a dynamic, enriching experience. They could be playing a major part in encouraging reading, improving literacy, building communities etc.

In discussing this there are bound to be other schools of thought. Some people think libraries are dead. It’ll all be e-books and POD. There’s no need for them now as Waterstone’s has coffee and better chairs. That sort of thing. I’d be really interested to hear different viewpoints, and to hear how (if?) libraries figure in the future.

Anne - there are definitely a couple of librarians coming on Saturday who I am sure would have a view on this. Jeremy

On the day there was a good discussion which covered a wide range of library related topics and so here are some of the ideas of what libraries are potentially good for:

Providing space for individuals to meet up or to work in relative peace and quiet
Being a source of free stuff - in the current credit crunch it is worth promoting free book loans and broadband access
educating the public on techie related issues such as DRM and privacy in using search engines
adding social networking platform to our Library Management Systems (LMS) to allow customers to create profiles, make wish lists, share searches and reading histories and contact people with shared interests. There is the potential to do this but the cost is too high to justify at the moment. Creating a widget doing this would also be a bonus
having a ticker display showing current enquiries
re-engineering commercial services. Google Answers no longer exists but UK libraries offer a simillar service called Enquire which allows people to instant message a real librarian in real time
having expert staff to answer enquiries and recommend good reads

Thanks to everyone for ideas and opinions - Kerry

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Hijacking this page to appeal to anyone who uses the British Library, building on some inspiration I got at Bookcamp.

I've been spending more and more time in the BL this year, and have been wondering about the possibilities such an incredible resource offers. One of the things that I think is lacking is the potential for some spontaneous discussion and collaboration, like the kind we experienced at Bookcamp. The ease with which people got together and shared ideas was great, and it seems to me the number of people researching in the BL is a resource that is begging to be exploited.

I've written more on my blog, but basically I'm interested in putting together some kind of online diary system, where people put up a suggestion for something they'd like to discuss, where they're going to be, and people can indicate if they're interested in coming along. I think there's a lot of potential for making meaningful connections through this.

-- Kevin O'Neill

The BL is supposed to be the most important place for knowledge and learning in the country - I think this could really help contribute to this goal. I've emailed them about this idea - they might even be working on something similar, but I'd welcome any suggestions/comments.