Biblio.Tests

Project

How can libraries be designed for greater resilience, with sustainably optimized spaces and services? This was the question that the City of Montréal, supported by designers and architects, sought to answer with the experimental project Biblio.Tests. The project, conducted in collaboration with three boroughs, followed an initial initiative to adapt library services to comply with public health constraints during the pandemic. This led to a broader thinking exercise on needs and opportunities for action aimed at optimizing libraries’ services and spaces for the longer term. Three “test” libraries were selected to participate in the project. Ideation workshops with managers and staff in the libraries concerned helped generate possible solutions based on the needs diagnosed. The Bureau du design provided coaching as well as financial support to the three participating boroughs for the implementation of solutions in their libraries.

Mission

These modest achievements show that service-design interventions can have a huge impact on user-experience quality in these spaces that are central to neighbourhood life in Montréal. Work is now complete in all three libraries, and documentation of the retrofits in those settings will be collated into a handbook of inspiring practices to be shared with other libraries.

 

 

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C O N T A C T

Patrick Marmen
E: designmontreal@montreal.ca

F U R T H E R  I N F O R M A T I O N

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