Co-creating the youth library of the future: a comparative case study analysis looking into user involvement for public library innovation

Over the last decades public libraries have changed slowly but steadily. Nowadays, all over Europe debates are ongoing regarding the roles and functions of these public libraries in the 21st century. Especially youngsters can be considered as an important target group, because they are the future library visitors. Therefore it is important for public libraries to know how they can adapt and re-invent their ‘raison d’etre’ in nowadays digital and multi-medial society to continuously attract visitors. Public libraries will have to take into account the needs and wants of their visitors. Several initiatives in which end-users were involved have been organized in order to (co-)create new ideas or services for the library. Within this paper the focus will be on different methods to involve youngsters for library innovation. Therefore four Flemish initiatives will be compared with the widely-known best-practice case of public library innovation in Aarhus, Denmark (cf. Erikkson et al., 2007) and a library project in Sweden. This will be done using a multiple case study analysis in which we compare the different initiatives according to various parameters (e.g. the degree of user involvement). We based this comparative case study design on desk research, interviews with key informants and an analysis of project documents. It became clear that involving (young) public library visitors during different phases in an innovation project can result in fulfilling the needs and wants of these users. A Living Lab-approach, which is a user-centric innovation method, can be considered as a promising approach for fostering innovative ideas for public libraries together with youngsters. Research question? What methods are being used to involve youngsters in the library innovation process? What is the most appropriate method? How can youngsters be involved during library innovation?