D3.8 Living labs for co-creation and co-innovation v2.0

Background

This report is Deliverable 3.8 of the Horizon Europe LibrarIN project (Value Co -creation and Social Innovation for a New Generation of European Libraries). It reports Task 3.3, "Living Labs for Co-creation and Co-innovation," within Work Package 3, which focuses on thematic and empirical work in selected co-creation areas. The research behind the report explores how libraries develop experimental settings for co-creation and co-innovation.

This second deliverable (second release of the deliverable) provides:
1. A review of the literature on libraries as living labs, i.e., as experimental settings that apply participative methods of co-creation and co-innovation for public service and library innovation.
2. Illustrations of cases selected for further study, highlighting their relevance to LibrarIN and informing the tracker and databases of WP5.

Our focus is on libraries as living labs rather than libraries with living labs. This distinction is important because it is the library as a whole that in some cases transitions into a more experimental space. The deliverable explores various concepts, theories, and empirical examples of how libraries engage in experimental practices.

Purpose

The purpose of the report is to answer the following research question: How are innovation and participatory methods applied and understood in the context of public libraries and how does this influence opportunities and limitations relative to co-creation and co-innovation of library services and other community services? The literature review and case illustrations inform the third release of the report due in month 36, which will report the final results and implications of the case studies for
policy and research.

Method

The first part of the report is based on a systematized literature review of scientific articles. The review strategy draws on the logic of the PRISMA model in the selection and screening of the literature.

The second part of the report builds on the literature review, which enabled us to formulate case selection criteria, develop a case study protocol, and select and carry out case studies. Sixteen case studies, highlighting libraries as living labs, were selected and are illustrated in this report.

Overview of findings

The key results of the literature review are:
• The term “living lab” is not used to a great extent in the reviewed literature. However, the library is often described as an innovative and experimental setting for developing a broad range of new services. The construct of living lab is instead identified as a latent construct and theme in the literature.
• The literature discusses the purpose of the library in terms of its boundaries, legitimacy and types of libraries. Overall, we interpret this as implicit discussions of the “public value” of libraries.
• Libraries, as physical spaces, undergo a conceptual transformation that enable them to deliver three interconnected types of services: ‘space-place services,’ ‘processional learning services’ and “democratic engagement services’. As such the basis for further development of co-creation and co-innovation are highly present.
• The library is evolving from a space with distinct roles for patrons and librarians to a more dynamic and collaborative environment. This implies that librarians become library professionals and that the development of a new skills-sets is an issue.

The preliminary findings from the case studies confirm the presence of these aspects. However, the case studies also highlight several challenges, such as insufficient resources, lack of appropriate skills, limited space, biases in user groups attracted to the libraries, and biases in the type of staff capable of fulfilling these new roles and practices. The development of new library formats appears paradoxical and competitive, both enabled and constrained by historical formats.

As living labs and experimental spaces, the emerging new library aims to expand the role and social reach of the public library. It does so by positioning libraries as network enablers and innovation brokers, thereby broadening the scope of libraries’ public value creation.

Recommendations

The review suggests that there is a need to better understand the following four issues through case studies: 1) the role of the public library in terms of what public value it claims to create; 2) competencies in terms of how skills are changed/enhanced on the part of library professionals and users; 3) innovation in terms of what forms of innovation processes are important and the extent to which they are participatory or not; and 4) co-creation in terms of whether and how public libraries are becoming
oriented towards co-creating value of/with users.

Preliminary findings from the case studies suggest a need for detailed examination of how new library formats and practices are formed and implemented in libraries and enable public value creation. More precise recommendations based on the case studies are premature and will await deeper analysis in year 3, including an exploration of how libraries can be defined and understood as political organizations.