The future of reading and libraries is the topic of an exhibition in Studenthuset at Campus Valla starting on 6 November. Based on ideas generated in a series of workshops, the exhibition includes stories in various genres and formats.
The Thing from the Future
During the spring of 2025, five workshops were held with library management and personnel, students and preschool children (in a collaboration with the public library in Mantorp in East Sweden).
The workshops were based on the game The Thing from the Future, as adapted by PhD student Cornelia Linderoth at Linköping University’s Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning.
The Thing from the Future is a game that challenges the players both individually and collectively with the purpose to generate entertaining and thought-provoking hypothetical scenarios. In our version of the game, a series of prompts are created based on four cards: Context, Development, Object and Feeling. The context remains the same throughout the game: the library as place and concept. A simplified version was created for the two workshops held with preschool children.
The ideas and scenarios that were generated during our workshops were then collected and converted into a series of texts with the help of the generative AI tool Copilot. The texts are written in various genres: poems, a play, a short story, a comic book and two fairy tales. Several of the stories are available in alternative formats such as text/illustrated, text/audio and text/video.
Visiting professor in the name of Tage Danielsson, Athena Farrokhzad, also contributed to the exhibition with a poem based on material from the workshops.
Bibliomancer
Bibliomancer is a cyberpunk-inspired short story that is based on material from the workshop with library personnel, and that was also developed into a comic book. The story takes place in a future after a catastrophic event called the “Blackout.” What role would libraries play in such a society? How will people retrieve and use information in a future where the boundaries between humans and machines are blurred?
Panels from the comic book Bibliomancer. Illustrations by Ulf Lindgren
An English version of the story is available in the Bibliomancer comic book, openly accessible online: Bibliomancer
Fairy tales
One of the fairy tales that was created based on the workshops with preschool children is called The Fairy Tale Book That Could Do Anything. Here is an excerpt from the tale:
The children love their library because it holds books on every topic you could imagine: from flying cats to the Titanic. Sometimes, the books are sad, sometimes magical and provided with wings that can lift you into the air. But beware of Godzilla, who is sneaking around the library and devours books! At the library, you can learn, dream, and travel to new worlds via books. There are books with all kinds of adventures – even slightly weird ones.
The exhibition on the third floor in Studenthuset, Campus Valla. Photo: Peter Igelström
Bibliotopia is on display in Studenthuset until 30 January, 2026.
This autumn, the Library will reduce the opening hours of the library enquiry desk at all campuses and increase the hours of the library online chat.
These changes are motivated by analyses made of the number of visits and questions asked during mornings and evenings. We want to be there for our patrons when we are really needed.
Most affected by these changes are non-LiU-affiliated library patrons. With a LiU card and PIN, LiU students and employees have access to library facilities on a self-service basis outside of the regular opening hours.
Via the online chat, you can contact us from 9.00 am Mondays to Fridays, and you can always reach us via email at biblioteket@liu.se.
The new opening hours begin on Monday 18 August at Campus Norrköping Library and Valla Library, and on Monday 25 August at Medical Library.
As campus life is slowing down for the summer, here are a few notes regarding Library routines and services during the summer period.
Loan period and opening hours
From 26 May to 30 July, the loan period for books is extended. All standard loan items borrowed during this period will get the due date 20 August, provided there is no reservation on the item, in which case the loan period will be one week as usual.
Library opening hours during summer can be found in the following overview. Please note that Medical Library will be closed from 7 July to 20 July, and Campus Norrköping Library from 21 July to 3 August.
The library stacks at Valla Library have self-service hours only during the summer. LiU students and staff can access the stacks with their LiU card and other users can borrow a card to access the stacks at the library enquiry desk on the third floor in Studenthuset.
The Library’s interlibrary loan service will be closed between 7 July and 20 July, so therefore expect longer processing times of interlibrary loans during the summer.
Library exhibitions
If you are undecided about which books to read this summer, Valla Library provides recommendations of 20th-century classics in a book display on the third floor in Studenthuset. You are also welcome to suggest books that you think should be added.
And don’t miss the research exhibition in Studenthuset in which the Posthumanities Hub combines research and art in an informative and exciting mix.
Looking forward to the autumn, the lecture series Research just around the corner will be back with a new series of presentations of cutting edge research on the theme LiU at 50.
Linköping University Library wish you happy summer!
During Open Access Week 2024, LiU E-Press launches a new web portal for open educational resources. Via the new portal, students can access books used at LiU for educational purposes. The Library can also help you to create and publish short videos as a teaching aid.
Open educational resources are an important part of open science. When books, videos and other material are made openly available online, they will be more accessible and learning will be more affordable.
Are you the author of a textbook that you want to publish online?
If a book that you have written is no longer in print or you want to make a video for teaching purposes, you are welcome to email us at biblioteket@liu.se
Open Access Week
Open Access Week, 21st to 27th of October, is a global initiative with a focus on open access and open science. During Open Access Week 2024, the Library will be hosting a series of open webinars. Read more at liu.se
Being able to navigate an open research landscape will be an important skill for future researchers. A new course hosted by the Library for doctoral students will give you an good foundation. The course will address topics such as search strategies for publications and research data, strategic publishing, and bibliometrics.
The complete course is in English, and consists if ten lectures online. The course is offered each autumn and is especially designed for doctoral students at an early stage of their doctoral studies. But everyone is welcome to join, and it is also possible to sign up for individual lectures.
Open Access Week, 21st to 27th of October, is a global initiative with a focus on open access and open science. During Open Access Week 2024, the Library will be hosting a series of open webinars. Read more at liu.se
