Library Labs (LABBBs): libraries powering transformation through co-creation and community innovation

Abstract

Library Labs (LABBBs) is a program launched by the Spanish Ministry of Culture that fosters citizen participation, social innovation, and experimentation in libraries of all types. The program promotes co-creation processes, collective learning, and the development of open projects among libraries, professionals, and the public. All program activities, events, and resources are free and open access.

The program is built around a methodology that allows any library to organise a citizen lab, what we call a “library lab”. The library lab has already become a new service in some libraries that offers a space for meeting, experimentation and cooperation between citizens, institutions and local agents, aimed at prototyping cultural and social solutions that strengthen community life.

In 2020 we launched a MOOC that shows how to organise a library lab and invites you to do it with the help of a team of experts. 6 years and more than 10.000 participants from 34 different countries later, we´ve built a community of over 2.000 active persons that have participated in the organisation of over 300 library labs, 120 of which are documented in our web.