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Nordic view on the US
about visibility and the interaction between visibility and mission are both interesting and very important in rela-tion to the survival of the libraries in the future.
The library and the cultural diversity Due to the financial and political cir-cumstances American libraries usually mirror the local community they are part of in a very direct manner. To us, a particularly interesting aspect of this is the way the libraries reflect cultural diversity.
Major libraries will often contain de-partments which emphasize different cultures, just as minor libraries often will reflect the dominating culture of the surrounding community. This manifests itself in both staff and mate-rials and in exhibitions and events. To visit different branches in for example Austin is also a journey through Afro-American and Hispanic Afro-American cul-ture. As such American libraries appear as institutions that support and com-municate the diversity of the commu-nity rather than seeking integration in a common culture.
Taken into consideration that the Nor-dic societies are becoming still more multicultural, it is highly exiting to watch the American way of dealing with this issue.
The use of volunteers
Our visit to New Orleans gave us a very good impression of the mutual relati-onship between library and commu-nity in the US. During the difficult
times after Katrina the library in New Orleans has played an important role in finding the way back to normality.
Local citizens have participated as vo-lunteers in the rebuilding of the library as well as in the daily operations. This is impressive for a Nordic visitor and even more when one discovers that the use of volunteers is not an isolated case related to an extreme situation, it is a widespread and a generally highly ap-preciated practice in most American libraries.
The work of volunteers is a contribu-tion to the daily operacontribu-tions and as such it is easy to judge the use of volunteers as a replacement of proper public fi-nancial support. But use of volunteers seems to be much more than that, namely an important ingredient in the social coherence of the local commu-nity, based upon a long and well-de-veloped tradition for an active and committed civic society.
The use of volunteers is thus also a way to strengthen the relationship between library and community, and Nordic libraries could without doubt take ad-vantage of the experiences from this practice, too.
Winners and losers
In this article we have focused upon some elements of the library tradition, -policy and -practice in the US, which could be of interest to the public libra-ries in the Nordic countlibra-ries in the pre-sent situation. However, it is important to notice that the American libraries, as they are locally financed and partly
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dependent on private donations, do gain very different resources. The richness of for example Nashville or the poorness of for example Holy Springs in the northern Mississippi manifest themselves very clearly in the local library.
In Nashville we saw the luxurious new main library and the countless possibi-lities related to this. In Holy Springs we saw the sparse library and understood the difficulties involved in attracting private donations, qualified labour, volunteers or even users in an area do-minated by unemployment and low income. In the light of this we can not help asking whether a well-provided library would not be an important lever to obtain development in such an area, and furthermore whether that would not be in the interest of the whole nation?
The conspicuous disparity of the libra-ries thus draws attention to the fact that a very decentralized and donation-dependent library system obviously causes winners and losers. In other words: Just as we in the Nordic coun-tries can get inspired by the American way, we also have to be aware of the right balance between equality and diversity, between centralization and decentralization and between public and private.
Henrich Jochumsen, hjo@db.dk Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen, chr@db.dk
Associate professors Royal School of Information
and Library Science Photo: Jochumsen/Hvenegaard
Booktalk in Austin
The Norwegian Apple Library is to be in Tromsø
The public library and city archives of Tromsø have been chosen to establish the first Norwegian Apple Library. The aim of this project is to create a model library which will offer good services to children with disabilities while at the same time inspiring others to do the same. The project will run for two years from August 2007.
The Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority announced last April a project to develop such a model library, creating library services and environments suited to the needs of disabled children. All children are en-titled to have equal access to their local public library, whether alone or with friends, family or schoolmates. The strategy will be a combination of universal design and specific arrange-ments to meet special needs. The trai-ning of staff and the cooperation of various user groups will be vital to achieving the aims of the project.
In-spiration can be drawn from the Swe-dish Apple Library established ten years ago.
Nine libraries and institutions applied for financing to establish an Apple Li-brary, all showing great enthusiasm and the will to achieve results in this field. Many of them had a sound basis with good local conditions, highly skilled staff and a knowledge of uni-versal design. Some had already identi-fied local partners who could make a useful contribution in support of their efforts.
Tromsø Public Library and City Ar-chives had already included services to children with disabilities in their action plan approved by the local city council only last year. They have a great aware-ness of the need to improve relevant knowledge skills throughout the whole staff, and they appreciate the challenges to be faced and the problems to be solved. They also emphasise the need to evaluate and document the results of the project as it goes along, if it is to
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Recent library developments
serve as a model Apple Library from which the rest of Norway can draw experience and gain knowledge.
Tone Moseid Senior adviser, Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority
tone.moseid@abm-utvikling.no
Prison library
- improving the quality of life
This project to promote reading in pri-sons was started in August 2005 at the Oslo Prison branch of the Deichman Library. At the moment it is set to con-tinue until the end of 2007, but we hope it will be possible to carry on beyond that date. The project leader is employed on a 50% basis.
The main objective of the project is to determine how a prison library can best contribute to improving the quality of life among the prison inma-tes. They are given the opportunity of access to cultural experiences by means of literature, both orally and in written form. At times new and alternative methods are also tried out. Personal development is an underlying aim, and we therefore consider it important that the inmates themselves play an active part in the project.
The idea is to carry out various initia-tives promoting literature, although not necessarily through the standard method of direct reading. Variation and creativity are important in this context. We hope these initiatives can encourage the inmates to read more widely, thereby creating a basis for shared references through the medium of literature.
The project is supported by the Norwe-gian Archive, Library and Museum Authority, the organisation ‘Reader seeks book’, Arts Council Norway, the Norwegian Council for Cultural Af-fairs, the Norwegian Writers’ Centre and the Ministry of Justice and the Police. In addition we cooperate with the Oslo Prison’s department for leisure activities and with the Green-land (Oslo) Adult Learning Resource Centre.
The many initiatives introduced in 2006 and 2007 included courses in wri-ting, celebration of World Book Day, philosophy café, exhibitions, literary quizzes, book café, visits by various authors and a talk by Kjetil André Aamodt, the world-famous alpine skier, followed by a seminar.
These activities are of a qualitative na-ture and therefore not so easily measured with regard to the results achieved. We have, however, observed that the library has become more vi-sible as an arena for multiple uses. Our cooperation with the Adult Learning Resource Centre has also been conside-rably strengthened.
Sissel Rødland Librarian, Oslo Prison, Dept.A fengsela@deichman.no Translated by Eric Deverill
DENMARK
Reaching out for teenage users
A couple of years ago the Danish Rød-ovre Library became worried about the diminishing number of teenage users and started an inquiry into their use and knowledge of library services.
Through focus group interviews and questionnaires the library got invalu-able insight into the factors affecting the teenagers’ library use.
Sports were number one on their list of hobbies, spending time with their friends was also important. Home-work takes up a lot of time, especially at upper secondary school level. The library also suffered from an image problem where visiting the library was seen as ‘nerdy’ and the library as old-fashioned and too grown-up. In addi-tion, the 12 to 19-year-olds had only superficial knowledge of the new forms of library services such as Web OPACs.
All of this applies to many teenagers and many public libraries of today, not only Rødovre.
After presentations and workshops for and suggestions from the teenagers, the library has been able to change its image, include the young in the plan-ning process and prepare an ideas cata-logue for activities. Design students from Danmarks Designskole have ta-ken a look at the interior and furnish-ing of the library and made some suggestions for better accommodating the young who wished for comfortable sofas where they can relax in the com-pany of friends. The new media were of course an important factor for them.
The young also hoped for a space where they could do their homework
in peace and quiet, they wished for creative workshops, literary and cultu-ral experiences as well as professional and personal advice and guidance.
Rødovre Bibliotek (Bibliotekspressen 11 : 2007)
Goal-oriented, impulsive, potential and other kinds of users
Librarian Laura Winding has in her bachelor’s thesis and later research identified six different categories of library users, more specifically, bor-rowers of fiction: Her aim has been to recognise the best ways of mediation between specific user types and library materials. She has also taken a look at the total resources of the library, the physical, human and digital resources, and examined how these are used by the different types of borrowers.
Whereas the goal-oriented user favours a specific genre or author and is not as inspired by exhibitions, the impulsive user would gladly borrow from an exhibition which presents books on a topical event. The impulsive user also uses the library web pages in a way different from say, the safe user: The impulsive users try different menu options and different media and would probably make new discoveries at the physical library if some of the land-marks and headlines from the web could be applied there. The majority of fiction readers, irrespective of age and gender, appreciate the possibility of browsing and the whole experience of visiting the physical library. In the face of the existence of these different types of users, the biggest challenge is to integrate the digital with the physical in an optimal way.
(Bibliotekspressen 10 : 2007)
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Scandinavian Shortcuts
A public library up-to-date
NORWAY
Room for men at Asker public library The Men’s Section at Asker Library was open from November to mid-February at the turn of the year. The service was based on an investigation into the reading habits of local males.
The library received 80 responses to a questionnaire which formed the basis for the collection of 546 books and other media acquired with the help of a grant from the National Library Authority.
The Men’s Section was furnished with sofas and marketed by brochures and bookmarks. Four local men agreed to tell about their reading habits and present their favourite books in the brochure. The Men’s Section was indi-cated by shelf location in the library catalogue.
The library considers the Men’s Section a successful experiment. It was more of an exhibition but many users have commented that they would like to see it as a permanent fixture. The library was able to profile literature chosen for their male users and, at the same time, get positive attention from both media and users alike.
(Bibliotekforum 4 : 2007)
Library for lorry drivers
In Høydalsmo, between Oslo and Ber-gen, lorry drivers can borrow talking books and literature around the clock.
The library opened in March and is the first of its kind in Norway. The premi-ses also hold a bathroom and a gym.
The Norwegian Transport Workers’
Union would like to see 6-8 more si-milar libraries established elsewhere in the country.
FINLAND
User survey on electronic resources at Finnish libraries
FinELib (Finnish National Electronic Library), a service centre at the Nati-onal Library, carried out a survey on the use of e-resources at Finnish libra-ries in April 2007. The survey was aimed at the end users of university, polytechnic and special libraries/re-search institutes, and for the first time, of public libraries.
The aim was to survey what kind of electronic materials the students, re-searchers and other library users need and how they make use of them.
Altogether, 5,573 responses were ob-tained, 926 from public library users.
Even if the public library respondents do not proportionately represent all user groups, some conclusions could still be drawn.
E-resources were used in equal mea-sures for purposes related to work, studies and everyday needs (30%
each). Hobbies accounted for 20% of the use. Most of the public library respondents remarked that they could give up printed dictionaries and refe-rence books or encyclopaedias in favour of electronic versions. They wished for more e-journals in the libraries but still wanted to keep the printed versions. Almost none of the respondents were willing to give up printed books. Fic-tion is an integral part of public library collections and the division seems to be clear-cut: The users want fiction in printed form and (some of the) facts in electronic form.
Libraries wax lyrical
In the last Shortcuts I told you about the poetry panels at Riihimäki City
Library. It seems that the poetry boom of the last couple of years is still going strong as dozens if not hundreds of libraries offer poetry readings, discus-sions on poetry and poetry writing competitions.
The Provincial Central Library of Lap-land in Rovaniemi has a Poetry ‘Pää-läri’ (=dialect for a milk vessel made of metal) at the library where the users can leave their own poems during the summer. In September the library stages a Poetry Rock event where the writers can either read the poems themselves or leave the recitation to professional readers.
Nurmo Public Library has produced a web site on children’s poetry with the help of a grant from the Ministry of Education. The site contains book tips and presentations, tasks and assign-ments on poetry for preschoolers to 12-year-olds, interviews with several poets for children plus children’s own poems and drawings from four kinder-gartens.
http://www.runoraitti.fi/
Keep the customers coming during the summer
A hint for a fun competition for keep-ing the users comkeep-ing to the library during the summer: The five users who’ve borrowed the most items from Aura public library during June -August will receive a VIP card which entitles the user to free reservations of library materials until the end of May 2008.
http://www.aura.fi/kirjasto/
ajankohtaista.html
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Tokke Public Library is responsible for the library which operates on self-service. The drivers who regularly stop in Høydalsmo will get their own key to the library, otherwise it is the staff at the neighbouring tavern and petrol station who let the drivers in. Any users who have specific wishes for material can contact the branch librarian in Tokke who will see to it that the books are delivered to the Wayside Library.
(Bok og bibliotek 2 : 2007)
SWEDEN
Mobile library serving users from small language groups
Göteborg City Library has committed to provide services for users whose mother tongue is other than Swedish, altogether 20% of the city’s inha-bitants. The mobile library mainly ser-ves neighbourhoods where the Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Arabic, Persian, Tur-kish, Kurdish and Somali speaking users – or potential users, as many of them haven’t yet set foot in a library -live. The mobile library also visits preschools.
The collection includes fiction, chil-dren’s books and non-fiction in all the above languages plus Swedish, English and Spanish. The biggest problem is that, so far, there are very few books published in some languages such as Somali.
The library is hoping that the book bus
will diminish segregation and draw new users. As a way of marketing the new service the library has arranged events with klezmer music, poetry readings, authors, storytelling, theatre etc. at the mobile library stops.
(Biblioteksbladet 5 : 2007)
Horse Power at Sollebrunn public library Project Horse Power already finished a couple of years ago, but as the Norwe-gian Bibliotekforumrecently wrote about it, I once again became fasci-nated by how ‘big may be beautiful but sometimes small can make all the diffe-rence’: How does a little library in the countryside renew itself? By talking to the locals and finding out what their main interests are. It sounds simple – and can be if you listen to Sollebrunn Library in West Götaland who remo-delled themselves as a ‘horse library’
during the Horse Power Project. When you hear that there are 4,700 horses in West Götaland it makes perfect sense that the library has acquired a signifi-cant collection of books and journals, DVD’s and CD’s about horses.
The most important thing, though, is the willingness to listen to the users:
What are their hobbies, who are the most important local cooperation part-ners, what is distinctive for the com-munity? This is the way the public library can be made into a community anchor.
(Bibliotekforum 6 : 2007)
Scandinavian Shortcuts are selected by Päivi Jokitalo Licensing Coordinator National Electronic Library Services / FinELib The National Library of Finland
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Keep up with developments in the Nordic public libraries in Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly
Keep up with developments in the Nordic public libraries in Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly