Cities as long tails of the physical world: a challenge for public libraries

Cities as long tails of the
physical world:
a challenge for public libraries
Anna Galluzzi
PhD in Library and Information Science
Biblioteca del Senato "Giovanni Spadolini", Rome
Seconded National Expert (SNE) at the Library of
the European Parliament

Summary
 What is the long tail?
 The long tail in the physical world and the

role of cities
 Public libraries and big cities

 Public libraries and the long tail society

 Case studies

 Conclusions

What is the long tail?
 2006: Chris Anderson’s The long tail. Why the future of
business is selling less of more
 over the Internet niches become not only economically
sustainable but also profitable, as illustrated by this graph:

The long tail in the physical world and
the role of cities - 1
 This economic paradigm is partially affecting the
distribution of physical products

 The major constraint to its full functioning is the
need to physically dispatch the requested goods to
the applicant

 The Internet helps by channelling the knowledge
concerning available goods and services

The long tail in the physical world and
the role of cities - 2
 Cities offer both places where you have an
extensive availability of services and products
and places exclusively devoted to a very
specific offer

 The physical long tail and the virtual one
converge into cities, "the long tail of urban
space”

Public libraries and big cities - 1
 How do all these phenomena have an
impact on public libraries?
 Nowadays, they seem to be lacking in a
proper identity
 Nonetheless, new libraries are being built
in many cities around the world

 How to interpret this paradox?

Public libraries and big cities - 3
 Cities are are proposing themselves as the best
places for social interaction

 Under this framework, public libraries are
deemed suitable for giving new life to the
urban context

Let’s grab this opportunity!

Public libraries and the long
tail society
 The challenges at stake are:

 how to conceive the new big-sized central
libraries

 how to re-configure local and branch
libraries inside the urban library network

A possible answer: three case studies

 The selected case studies are three big-sized
public libraries opened during the last 10
years and located in large cities, i.e.:

 the Sala Borsa Library, in Bologna (Italy)
 the Idea Stores, in London (UK)
 the Jaume Fuster Library, in Barcelona
(Spain)

Sala Borsa Library, Bologna - Italy
 It is the central library of Bologna library network

 It is located in the heart of the historical and cultural
city, the so-called “urban park” in Piazza Maggiore
(main reason of success)

 It was founded with the goal of satisfying
informational and social needs of different kinds of
users, preserving freedom and ease of access

The location and the library’s entrance

The internal square after renovation

 A good example of how interpreting the
function of central library in the urban
network
 In particular, it invested in the size and

variety of collections and in the size and
internal differentiation of spaces and services
 These two characteristics together allow the

library to hold and welcome many different
niches

 There is only one aspect still to be clarified:
the structure and functioning of the urban
library network as a whole

 There is a need to better define the role of
local and branch libraries, both the general
and the specialised ones

Idea Stores, Tower Hamlets Borough,
London (UK)
 The Tower Hamlets Borough (East End) took the
initiative and coordinated the project according to a
general drive towards innovation and raising life
standards in this area

 The change was envisaged in response to the
decline in the usage statistics of local libraries and
to the results of a market survey in this area

London (UK)
 Have two main objectives:
 mixing together library services and life-long learning
 replacing the declining image of the library with more
modern and attractive services

 They certainly are lending libraries, but also take
specific care of the reference and multimedia
sections and aim at making the user's stay pleasant
and functional (inspiration from bookstores)

The façade of the Whitechapel Idea Store

London (UK)
 The 2009 strategy added new elements:
 expand the service offer, putting more emphasis on
employability
 re-configure the proposed network (anchor stores and
satellite Local sites)
 co-location of new service points with other services

 Attempt to reorganise the library network of
a large neighbourhood and to give new life to
a decaying situation

The windows facing on the street

London (UK)
 Idea Stores’ philosophy:
 Branch/local libraries should bet, on the one hand,
on a stock of well-chosen bestsellers and other basic
bibliographic materials, and, on the other, on
bibliographic niches
 In addition, they should offer other valuable
services, like learning and training activities, health
and employment information, and cultural and
entertaining events and exhibitions

Jaume Fuster Library, Districte de
Gràcia, Barcelona (Spain)
 It is a Barcelona branch library, located in
the "Districte de Gràcia", a neighbourhood
linking the city centre with the North

 This library is part of a wider project which
concerns the whole library network
(Library Development Plan of Barcelona)

Jaume Fuster Library, Districte de
Gràcia, Barcelona (Spain)
 It proves that even a medium-sized library (80,000
books) could have a meaningful role nowadays
 To do this, it bets on functional and attractive
premises and on a bibliographic collection carefully
chosen and targeted to specific niches
 Actually, it is in charge for youth and travel
literature, in line with the high presence of young
people in this area of the city

Conclusions - 1
 I'm completely aware that the three
proposed case studies cannot be
representative of nothing more than
themselves and that any process of
generalisation would be risky

 Nonetheless, they offer some interesting
insights in the issues concerning the role
of public libraries in contemporary cities

Conclusions - 2
 Central public libraries need to rely upon large
and functional buildings, comprehensive
collections, extensive opening hours, a broad
variety of services and edutainment activities and
an aptitude to embody a social role
 Local/branch libraries cannot survive below
certain sizes, unless they bet on very specific
niches of the public

Conclusions - 3
 More in general, public libraries should
emphasise their role as a go-between for other
bibliographic services or learning, informative,
entertaining and cultural opportunities
 Contemporary citizens do not like anything more
than one-stop-shops, where they can access
various services and obtain almost any kind of
answers

Thank you!

For comments and questions:
anna.galluzzi@gmail.com

Cities as long tails of the physical world: a challenge for public libraries

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