Refreshing Library Services

I spent some time this morning catching up on my professional reading, and I am mulling over two posts in particular.

8 ways to rescue public school libraries from becoming obsolete

This article discusses environment, services, programs, resources and outreach as methods for engaging young people and remaining relevant.
Library of the future: 8 technologies we would love to see
By contrast this article is about imagining possibilities – digital interfaces that work on your printed page, drone book delivery, geolocation on your library card that takes you to the book you want… and an augmented reality app that guides you through the library.

Old books
With our JS library having a makeover at the end of this year, the idea of reinvention is uppermost in my mind. What kinds of spaces should we have? Should we be changing how we shelve, display and promote resources? Is it time to introduce a makerspace program?

At the same time as looking forwards, I am looking back: scanning the shelves, looking at the state of our non-fiction collection, it is time for a serious re-evaluation of our physical resources in terms of relevance to the curriculum, readability for the students most likely to need them, currency of materials on topics like digital technologies, political issues and modern day heroes. Where do I need to cut back? Where do I need to increase physical resources? Where do I need to develop more comprehensive pathfinders for digital resources?

This is a somewhat daunting prospect for a drizzly Monday morning, but once I plot out a plan of attack, I will feel more confident.