The realm of Education is also absorbed, like entertainment (discussed yesterday). But unlike entertainment, education requires the active participation of the person beign educated. Your mind has to be actively engaged to for this experience to click.
Again, libraries do well in this realm: reading can be entertainment, and it can be education. Technology classes or reference classes can be educational. Even things like author events can be educational.
We can also stage educational experiences on the library website. Examples? How about an audio version of an author event, for customers who couldn’t attend the live event? Or even a video version, if you have the equipment? Any type of “How do I find something” guides are educational opportunities. So this is an easy experience for libraries to provide on a website.
This gets more fun when realms are combined. Think “edutainment” – a good example of edutainment in Kansas City is Science City. Science City is built in our historic Union Station. Kids can dig for fossils, see how a tv station works, and learn how tornadoes are made – all in this great big, run-and-scream-built-for-kids area. The kids think it’s great fun, and they’re learning at the same time… or, as Science City’s website says “where play and education go hand-in-hand.”
Think – how can a library combine the two ideas, and create edutainment that sticks in kids minds, gives them a positive experience at the library and on the library’s website? that’d be the 10 million dollar question!