Andrew Carnegie tried — and now, following his lead, a team with ties to Rice University wants to change the world with libraries, too. If it can raise $50,000 via a Kickstarter campaign, the team, whose 5 members are linked to Rice School of Architecture and Rice Design Alliance, will be able to take its talents to Ghana and build a prototype of this open-source, open-air digital agora it’s calling Librii.

And what, exactly, would it be?

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OffCite’s Raj Mankad reports that Librii

would actively engage users as content creators, operate on a sustainable business model, and maximize the potential of high-speed information exchange. A reading room would house all physical documents, including materials requested by users and those made by users with an onsite machine that prints and binds books. The shaded area would provide free wi-fi connectivity. An e-hub would be available for a small fee and feature extensive electronic resources.

Or, Librii says, it “offers access to the modern world.”

Having already raised $30,000, the team’s been conducting research in Ghana, adds Mankad, where it hopes to get the first “franchise” of an eventual network of like libraries off the ground.

• New Model Library in Africa [Kickstarter]
• A digitally-enhanced, community-based, revenue-generating library on the frontiers of broadband connectivity [Librii]
• Librii: An Innovative Library Concept Developed by Rice Students and Staff [OffCite]

Renderings: OffCite