Libraries as Digital Public Spaces: the Curious Case of Digital Music Libraries - Matty McPherson

 Libraries as Digital Public Spaces: the Curious Case of Digital Music Libraries

Today, why a library would consider utilizing social media in this day and age is open-ended; after all, social media has been touted as "making things possible for librarians". Does that extend to providing libraries a viable digital public space? And just what can that space entail?

Whether or not libraries should be just circulating books has become a question over the past decade. Efforts to further the space as a zone for learning in broader categories—towards trades and crafts—are now on the table. However, community-oriented circulation, especially in digital zones, is more often than not an untapped possibility.

Liz Pelly is a writer whose work has often deviated towards the politics and costs of streaming. In October 2021, she published Library Music, an article that considered libraries role in creating “digital public spaces”. In her words, “to these librarians, creating a digital public space is as much about public-minded ownership (offering a space outside the incentives of multinational corporations and advertising businesses that define our digital lives today) as it is also about the governance of the space, and working in collaboration with local patrons to shape how it functions”.

A digital public space is exactly what it sounds like. Unlike the metaverse technology, a DPS "offers a space outside the incentives of multinational corporations and advertising businesses that define our digital lives today".

The effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic greatly shifted what role a library could and would play for its community. Yes, curbside pickup and parking lot wi-fi have become features, yet neither quite reach towards a DPS. These examples do keep librarians connected to their patrons in a capacity previously not explored, but don't fully integrate the possibilities of a digital space Something more along those lines would involve an activity like the "Zoom Storytime" or utilizing social media as a bulletin board front to deliver news to its patrons. Both of these on some level invoke participation from local patrons, helping to foster community engagement and orient people towards the library's mission.

That emphasis on participation is what makes community-based digital streaming libraries and remote accessible archives (from scholarly to genealogy) a potential "digital public space" avenue of interest down this path. Using the infrastructure provided by the internet, libraries have control to curate and emphasize community resources.

With building a digital music library, this idea has started to see legs in various public libraries across the country. The idea is simple: libraries work to cull and curate the recordings, archives, et al of local area musicians. The musicians are paid a nominal royalty rate. Librarians are able to upload the music into their web servers and present for download to their patrons. The technology behind these types of platforms are open source and easy to diffuse between library systems.

The benefits of this system truly do show up at a community level. Local artists are compensated at a more fair rate, while their music is presented and highlighted within a community audience they may not have originally anticipated or tapped in to. Meanwhile, patrons are able to be exposed to endeavors they may not be privy to, opening up a dialogue that continues to further down the road. The level of sharing and community curation itself exemplified within this type of logistical endeavor.