The challenge requires sophisticated understanding of the resources — human, physical, digital, spatial, and civic — that libraries offer to their users. In the conversation below, Shannon Mattern, a scholar who works on libraries, archives, and media infrastructures, and Nate Hill, Deputy Director of the Chattanooga Public Library, talk about what these resources are, how they are evolving, and what design can contribute to how they are deployed. — urbanomnibus.net

Although anyone with Internet access can do a quick search online, nothing replaces a brick-and-mortar public library for quality resources and info — yet these centers are consistently overlooked by city policymakers. After setting up an RFQ for the Re-Envisioning Branch Libraries Design Study in New York, the Architectural League and the Center for an Urban Future selected five interdisciplinary teams out of 45 submissions. — bustler.net