Third places, i.e. places that are neither home, nor work, such as cafes, clubs, public libraries, or parks have a vital function in modern cities. Public libraries in particular are becoming important social hubs fostering knowledge sharing among citizens. Libraries increasingly host events, organize activities and go beyond their role of enabling access to document collections.

In this context, the thesis focuses on how to make activities unfolding in libraries more visible, more participatory and more related to collections. To this end, the thesis will study how participants can document activities in libraries, how to increase engagement in unfolding activities and make activities more visible to the public. The hypothesis is that context aware information and service can lower the barrier of entry and increase participation.