How would you go about building a library for the next 1000 years, considering technological advancements, preservation methods, and evolving needs of future generations?

Clarifying questions

This is one of the innovating questions that I have heard so far. So, basically we are planning to build a product to last a millennium. Quite intriguing

-          I assume to be the PM at Google à Yes

-          Any resource or time constraint in your mind à No

-          Any specific goal or vision à Since, Google is an innovative organization, we want to be immortalized by creating something astonishing

-          I am assuming that the library we are planning to build, should be in extendible to any part of the world à Correct

Pointed scope

-          Create a form of library that can be extended to any part of the world and to be technologically advanced and can work for next 1000 years

Google’s vision

-          To make information accessible to everyone and bridging information divide using tech

Vision of Library

-          Make library accessible to everyone

User segments

Let’s think about user segments in terms of usage of the library

1.       School / College children

2.       Adult leisure readers

3.       Working professionals

a.       Teachers

b.       Extensive research – Phd, comparative studies

I would like to prioritize adult leisure readers as they might be the greatest chunk without any quick alternative. Such as working professionals or children might have access to some library either in school/college/ institution but for adult leisure readers, they might not have that luxuy

Pain points

I am assuming here that for the people wants to have a leisure reading, the spot would be a their home using digital/physical interventions

In today’s world reading habits are getting depleted as there are various avenues to keep ourselves engaged such as music, drama, games, etc

1.       Motivation

a.       Why to read | where to read

2.       Discovery

a.       What to read | How to get that read | how to read

3.       Stay engaged

a.       Finish something | learn something

4.       Share enthusiasm with other

a.       Motivate others to read | knowledge share

Considering working professionals, the biggest pain-point could be the discovery of what to read, how to purchase according to one’s liking

Solutions

1.       OTT library [ Impact – M | Effort – M]

a.       Collection of audio books | readable books à app based (purchase/ rent)

b.       2nd phase à purchase/rent/crowd source physical books

2.       Personalized library [ Impact – H | Effort – H]

a.       Tapping into your habits à Google maps, exercise routine, emails, flights, travel, restro booking, movie booking

b.       Based on the activities à capture your interest

c.       Gives recommendations on the books

d.       Hint toward à audible | Amazon | kindle content

3.       Graphical library [ Impact – H | Effort – H ]

a.       Era of super computing power

b.       Based on your likings

c.       Create an animated movie, audible with presentation à (using computing like Chat-GPT or more powerful tech)

                                                               i.      Summary reads

d.       A paid version gives you power of grasping what you have from what you like based on your history and suggestions

Based on my analysis, if we talk about future library we need something which can help in fast-paced life. Choice content would make someone to read a book in form of story. Some might want an old school read. But the bottom line is the capability to tailor the library as per the needs of the people

I would go with Graphical library as this can imbibe all the tenants of personalized library over time

Key metrics

-          # active users per month

-          # books/movies/ animation viewed per week

-          % of paid users per month

-          Avg content rating

o   Per Genre

o   Overall

o   User