The Public Library of the 21st Century: What Will Wichita Do?

The Wichita Public Library will be getting a new home for its central branch in a couple years, and the architects are about to get involved.  I was reminded of this photo essay at Slate.com (found via Slashdot via Maisson Bisson back in March), which offers a sort of slide show with commentary of several contemporary library structures.  It raises more questions than it answers, primarily:

What sort of public library does the “digital world” of Google, Wikipedia, and Kindle require?

Here are some items on remaking the library’s image from the UK I had bookmarked in September (via Library Stuff) which push the envelope of what a 21st Century library could be, and how we think of it:

“Public libraries open way for drinks, snacks and mobiles” (The Times)

“Katy Guest: Who ever heard of a librarian who didn’t say ‘Sssshhh’?“  (The Independent) – This is more about the changing atmosphere within libraries (rather than the physical space), which seems to be changing more in other parts of the world, I gather, than it is here.