The public library that we are familiar with today formed during socio-political innova-tions of the 19th century.We first review relevant literature pertaining to institutional culture in public libraries with particular focus on bureaucracy and creativity.This transformation aligns with the notion of citizens becoming "co-creators of value" through collaboration with public services (Foth, 2018). This shift invites the public Ebrary to evolve (Boyle et al., 2016) beyond its traditional role of service provider to become a community collaborator and necessitates the development of new creative services and facilities (Light et al., 2016). In response, public libraries internationally have started to emphasize creativity and innovation. Notable examples include the DOKKI public library in Aarhus, Denmark. (Serholt et al., 2018), and New Zealand's Puke Ariki library. In Australia, public libra-ries developed strategic plans that prioritized creativity and collaboration and estab-lished makerspaces, hacker spaces, creative studios, and open labs (Bilandzic et al., 2016; Carvalho et al., 2016). Encouraged by the rise of inexpensive technologies, libra-ries collected resources to enable creative practice (Johnson, 2016) and; (iii) provided training programs like, "How to use a 3D printer" and "Hack the evening" (Bilandzic, 2016) to activate the library's collections, facilities, and creative spaces.Melbourne's first Public Library opened in 1854, claiming to be one of the "first free public libraries in the world."" Ever since, public libraries have acted as service providers for their communities by (i) developing public spaces and facilities; (ii) curating and managing collections; (iii) responding to customer requests for information or resources, and; (iv) delivering pro-grams and events to activate the library's collections, facilities, and services. Over the past decade, public libraries have been recognized by scholars and policy-makers as potential "third places" facilitating community engagement and development Houghton et al., 2013; Oldenburg & Brissett, 1982) outside homes and workplaces.On the one hand the institutional aspects of the library continue to employ bureaucratic processes to control how and when customers and staff can access and use public assets; on the other hand the contemporary library simultaneously invites staff and customers to meet, create, collaborate, and innovate, however they like, at all hours.This article is structured as follows.