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ENRY Tricks, writing in The Economist (13 March 2021), says: “The e-commerce explosion does not herald the death


of the physical store, however. When lockdowns have been lifted, shoppers have flocked back to high streets and shopping malls.” We should expect to see libraries re-emerging with enhanced digital offerings and reinvigorated social spaces offering a different kind of consumer experience. Sarah Godowski, Director of Bisset Adams, has long experience of the evolution of libraries. Bisset Adams pioneered the Idea Stores in Tower Hamlets and recently completed the design for the new Southmere Library in Thamesmead. In an article written for Designing Libraries, Libraries in the 21st Century – the next 20 years? she follows the revolutionary advances of libraries into the digital era with the introduction of the People’s Network, enabling libraries to address a real divide in society, and how they have continued to build a digital presence and an effective network of social engagement.


Brand awareness


She highlights one of the major challenges of library transformation that still exists – how you develop and communicate a brand and brand message when services are locally, and variably, delivered. But a sense of local identity is key to the library offer, and individual and customised services are, after all, essential elements of retail brands as those brands learn


June 2021


The retail paradox is that a greater digital presence requires something different on the high street to attract footfall and brand loyalty.


Our shopping habits are changing, accelerated by the global pandemic as retailers go online, with some stores finding themselves left behind. The future of retail looks like a growing interaction between digital and physical spaces providing a different experience for the consumer. There is a parallel here with how libraries are changing.


more and more about their customers’ preferences and behaviour through constant digital engagement. Libraries will follow the same trajectory. “Now libraries must again follow the lead of retail, building their brand in a virtual space, engaging through social media and other online channels with an ever-wider community to encourage take-up of all the services the library has to offer, from leisure reading to study and research.”


And now for something completely different


The pandemic has pushed libraries in two directions. It has in the first instance narrowed the choices available to them in efforts to preserve core services by, for example, introducing pick-up points to support book lending. At the same time it has brought online services into focus, widening the digital space as the physical space diminishes. Post- pandemic we will need something different that will lose nothing of what we have gained in the digital sphere but at the same time re-envision the library’s physical space.


“The retail paradox is that a greater digital presence requires something different on the high street to attract footfall and brand loyalty; pre-Covid, weariness with an online existence put the focus on offering experiences, particularly to the millennial generations. Retailers such as Rapha, retailing cycling wear, have created a hub and café in Central London for like-minded enthusiasts, a buzzing space with movies, exhibits and coffee,


offering a sense of membership and belonging which goes far beyond retailing sportswear. Other retailers such as Lululemon selling high-end yogawear, offer café, yoga classes, and social events to cement their customers’ brand loyalty.” Interactive spaces, initiatives to create customer loyalty and a real sense of belonging will be the future of both retail and libraries. “Public libraries are first and foremost public spaces – one of the few left where communities can get together without pressure to buy anything, or indeed do anything other than browse or relax. The key is to create a strong brand message to reach out to people both online and within the physical library – making members feel that they’re part of a high quality club, which helps them experience the best their local community has to offer.”


l Libraries in the 21st Century – the next 20 years? published by Designing Libraries at https://bit.ly/3oScj2t. IP


INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 33


David Lindley (david@designinglibraries.org.uk) is Executive Director of Designing Libraries, a Community Interest Company. If you have a story to share or an upcoming project, do get in touch.www.designinglibraries.org.uk.


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