CONSTRUCTING MEANING IN A HYBRID ENVIRONMENT : A STUDY OF THE LOCAL LIBRARY

Abstract

Digital technologies has changed the way we receive and circulate information. Some fear that the library, an institution bequeathed with the responsibility of providing access to information, will become obsolete as the Internet takes over as the primary source of information. However, just as copyright, a concept which is rooted in print media, has found applications in multimedia and digital media, the library as an institution is far from spent. Historical accounts show that public libraries functioned as meeting places for the community. The modern public library also serve as a symbol for general learning ever since its conception in the late nineteenth-century. Unlike the Internet, the library is an actual physical space where members of the public can go to meet face-to-face and/or concentrate on learning or getting work done with the required resources at their fingertips. The latter is evidenced by the number of people going to the library to study or work despite being able to do that at home. Nevertheless, this is not to say that the functions of the library have not or do not need to change. The roles of the library have always been shaped by the society it served. In our current society in which digitalisation takes centre-stage, the library must again reposition itself to suit the demands of the people. In this regard, the traditional brick-and-mortar library building is no longer adequate to serve the public. Rather, as espoused by William J. Mitchell, the next generation of architecture will place as much emphasis on interactive technology as physical elements.1 Pervasive computing has made it possible to create living environments that bridge across the physical and virtual worlds to accommodate the lifestyle of technologically-savvy occupants. Although information is available anytime anywhere, it relies on context to make sense. Malcolm McCullough points out that persistent architectural types provide settings for our technological predispositions.2 Rather than obliterate architecture, pervasive technology extends it. This dissertation aims to demonstrate, through the library type, how pervasive technology can be meaningfully integrated with the physical qualities of space to extend meaning construction necessary to create ‘place’ for library inhabitants.