The Design Challenge provided a wonderful opportunity for Toronto Public Library to partner and to engage with the academic, publishing, and technology community in a truly creative and collaborative way. Libraries are not the first places that come to mind when one thinks of design thinking and hackathon events. By grounding this event within the “library of the future” theme, the Library positioned itself well within the hackathon community. The future-facing theme also provided participants with a blank canvas, where their innovations were limited only by their imagination. While the six-hour time limit presented teams with the challenge of brainstorming, creating and presenting a prototype within a short time frame, it ultimately provided them with a tightly-focused and energizing exercise and generated wonderfully imaginative results.

Utilizing a design challenge to problem solve demonstrated an innovation for the Library. Key elements from this approach were also innovative from the Library’s context. This included the use of technology – e.g. 3D printers – to rapid prototype an idea within a tight time frame. The team-based approach – with each team focusing on a different discipline, such as journalism, architecture, and fabrication – also provided an innovative framework to generating creative ideas from a variety of perspectives. The creativity and leadership exhibited by our academic partner, Ryerson, and publishing partner, Penguin, also made our innovative program a possibility.

The Design Challenge demonstrated a wonderful partnership between the Library and the academic, publishing, and technology communities. Imaginative ideas were generated within six hours. These included a prototype for a wearable library card – similar to the communication badges featured on Star Trek: The Next Generation – created by using the Library’s 3D printer; architectural designs for hologram library rooms; and robot librarians created using Arduino micro-controllers. This day taught us two important lessons: Creative brainstorming can go beyond traditional methods and, to generate fresh ideas, you also need to look beyond your library and engage your community. Through this process, the Library was inspired to organize a one-day Design Thinking course for staff to build their capacity around creative problem solving.