Andrew Keen: British libraries need to start shaking the dust off and go Dutch

As usual, I was wrong. Most of my Twitter friends responded that libraries are both old and new media. They are, of course, right. Libraries and librarians, like newspapers and journalists, don't naturally fall into one or other media camp.

Last week, I was lucky enough to find myself in the fair city of Amsterdam in the company of several hundred Dutch librarians. I was addressing Bibliotheekplaza 2009, an annual convention of Dutch librarians focused on using the tools of the Web revolution to modernise libraries. I argued in my speech that while most libraries today do represent the most crusty and dusty of the ancien media regime, they also have a great opportunity to become the next-generation curators of digital information.

As in Britain, librarians in Holland are under tremendous pressure to reform. Unlike in Britain, the Dutch, with their trademark foresight, are actively investing in libraries of the future. The two most innovatively interactive libraries in Holland are the central public libraries in Amsterdam and Delft, both of which have been radically reinvented for the new digital age.

At Bibliotheekplaza, I chatted with Rob Visser, who has been driving the remarkable digital revolution at the Amsterdam public library. Instead of the dustiness and crustiness of the typical 20th-century library, visitors to Amsterdam's central public library will find not only books, but a restaurant, a children's theatre and a public radio and television studio. The library, open every day from 10am to 10pm, holds cultural festivals, such as a week of poetry which will be broadcast on the internet.

Amsterdam library's website (www.oba.nl) epitomises its innovative approach to the 21st curation of knowledge, and features its own customised search engine, the "aquabrowser", which has integrated the library's books, CDs and DVDs as well as a rich archive of Amsterdam's history and culture. Those who use the site within the library itself are given open access to all its digital content.

The library's return on investment is impressive. The upgraded library, built at a cost of €400,000 (£362,000), was opened in July 2007 and within seven months had welcomed over a million visitors. This truly 21st-century library with its cutting-edge website proves that old media can be successfully upgraded.