This paper analyses the experience of a co-funded European Commission project that aimed at diffusing design thinking methods, particularly from the toolkit (IDEO, 2014), across libraries in three countries: Italy, Portugal and Romania. Aarhus library (Denmark) development and practices were taken as the main reference (or best practice). The key issues explored in this manuscript regard: continuity of networks and sustainability of the design approach learnt. In order to better define this analysis’ contributions, we suggest the following questions considering this specific project experience:
- What aspects hinder and which ones contribute to carrying out the project among different countries afar?
- Which are the critical factors that can support design thinking approach
implementation and sustainability?
- Will the networks be kept and evolve towards more innovative scenarios after the end of the project?
We point out our learnings, positive implications for public libraries, and criticisms faced.
From these, we start drawing on best practices, and suggestions for scaling up a
human-centered approach across European libraries in order to contribute to building the legacy of this kind of project.