Many Internet users have shifted from being passive consumers of content to creating it, but even creators have information needs, and the librarian can have a role as a facilitator of the creative process. The users of social media want to learn how to use new tools, they want to find ideas to inspire creative work, they want to find the raw materials to make mashups and other creations, and they may want to find new ways to share their finished work and possibly even profit financially from it. Currently, they probably won’t think of the librarian as the first person to turn to for help; if libraries develop services and practices with these people in mind, however, that may change.
A librarian, for example, doesn’t need to become a graphic designer, but should be able to help a patron locate a source for a type font or search an archive of stock images. A librarian on duty in the information commons may even be asked for help installing a font on patron’s laptop. (Perhaps this will be one day be seen as routine a part of our job as refilling the inkwells in the reading room might have been in an earlier era).
Here are some of the ways librarians can facilitate creation:
- Help patrons find the digital “raw materials” in the local collection (clip art, sound effects, photo stock) and on line
- Offer how-to information through the library’s on-line presence (web site, You-tube channel)
- Offer on-site workshops and informal opportunities for creators to meet F2F and share ideas
- Incorporate digital creation opportunities into children’s and YA programming
- Provide facilities for recording sound and images (a public library’s main branch or an academic library might go so far as having a digital production facility)
- Insure that public multi-purpose computer workstations have image editing software and software to edit sound and audio files (just as they typically have word processing software today)
- Explain how copyright and creative commons licensing work
- Exhibit work created using the library’s facilities