With the launching on 1. February this year of new Internet-based services and a campaign entitled ‘Namdal in the world - the world in Namdal’, the libraries of the Namdal region have earned a significant place on the Norwegian library map. This initiative represents a landmark in achieving improved library services for the region’s 40,000 inhabitants.

A three-year development project
supported by the Norwegian Archive,
Library and Museum Authority and
the County of North Trøndelag has
made it possible for the 14 municipalities
of Namdal (www.namdalsbibliotekene.
no/) to establish a programme of
close cooperation aimed at achieving
improved quality and greater access.
The result is a new infrastructure for
both library competence and technology.

Professional skills
and a political anchorage

The professional structure consists of
three regional library coordinators (representing
overall a 100% full-time
post), each responsible for development
work in their particular geographical
region in cooperation with the
county library. In this way the whole
Namdal region acquires a higher level
of library expertise, together with a
greater awareness of the professional
skills of the individual head librarians.

Each municipality makes a contribution
representing 10% of library staff
resources. The head librarians meet
regularly on a regional basis in order to
exchange ideas and to consider further
possible areas of practical cooperation.
An important aspect has been the focus
given to the fact that all the libraries
and all members of staff have their
strong points which can be developed
to play a role in the new network.
The three coordinators combine this
project work with their posts as head
librarians.
A particularly successful aspect of the
project lies in its strong political
anchorage. The project actually came
into being as the result of a proposal
made by the political leaders of one of
the municipalities, together with one of
the regional advisory bodies, representatives
of which now sit on the project’s
steering committee. This political
anchorage has given the library situation
a regional-political focus in North
Trøndelag and has most probably contributed
to a strengthening of the role
of the libraries in their own municipalities.

New Internet-based services

Now the inhabitants of Namdal can sit
at home or at their office desk and use
the Internet to search for and reserve
literature in their local library. School
children can start their project work by
first discovering what books and articles
on the topic concerned are available
locally. If what you seek cannot be
found at your own library, it is easy to
establish whether or not it can be obtained
from a neighbouring municipality.
Although an implicit feature of any
modern library, these services until a
couple of years ago were a utopian
vision for the great majority of libraries
in Namdal.

The municipalities concerned have
chosen Mikromarc as the system on
which to base their digital library ser
vices. Tenders were invited and a decision
was reached only after comprehensive
reviews had been carried out
by the libraries, the regional advisers
and the municipal authorities. The
three regional library coordinators and
the county library monitored the selection
process, a vital factor being that
the new technological infrastructure
could also provide a future platform
for digital projects in cooperation with
other cultural and knowledge-based
institutions in the region.

Although the transition to a new system
and in some municipalities the
combining of catalogues have resulted
in improved services, these changes
also represent a considerable challenge
to library staff. During this phase there
is much to be gained from being part
of a larger professional network when
tackling problems and defining the
standards necessary to ensure the
quality of services.

Joint marketing

The marketing campaign for the 14
libraries involved includes colourful
posters with a lively message. Use has
also been made of cinema advertising,
postcards and bookmarks. The campaign
emphasises the role of the library
as a multicultural meeting place and a
source of global knowledge. The campaign
message, created by the coordinating
group together with the head
librarians, consists of the following
aims:

1. To draw attention to the new
Internet-based services in the
Namdal libraries
2. To create awareness of the public
library system’s traditional values by
focussing on the following points:
• A meeting place for all.
• A multiplicity of both services and
users.
• A network of possibilities.
Presentation in the local library

Parallel with the development of new
Internet-based services, the project has
also paid great attention to the question
of actual presentation in the local
library. Steps have been taken to improve
competence and to cooperate on
initiatives in areas shown in the diagram
below.

The Namdal project is now in its third
and final year, the focus areas for 2007
being cooperation between schools and
libraries. information competence,
strategies for the digitisation of local
and regional material, multicultural
questions, multiple search, transport
coordination and a common library
plan for the period 2008-2014. The
Namdal libraries have been constantly
ambitious in their aims. With courage
and a sense of responsibility, they can
now make use of the extended network
to achieve their goals.

The challenge of national library reform

Those behind the Namdal library
project may indeed feel that they are
working in the right direction, when
reading last year’s national report
Library Reform 2014 (www.abm-utvikling.
no/publisert/ABM-skrift/2006/30_
eng_web.pdf). One of the report’s
main strategies is to consolidate libraries
into larger units with a view to
strengthening their professional competence.
However, the concept of consolidation
remains open to interpretation.
In Namdal the model of consolidation
adopted, involving close cooperation
with the county library, represents
an approach different to that
described in the proposals for reform.

What will the Namdal libraries gain by
working towards a system based on one
joint head librarian for each region as
opposed to their present structure of
coordinators? What will they lose?
Several of those participating in the
project, together with their municipal
authorities, claim that the present strategy
ensures an adequate professional
network and provides inhabitants with
the best possible use of resources.

The Namdal libraries have created a
culture based on openness and trust,
where head librarians have the opportunity
to broaden their authority locally,
while still meeting the challenge
to take a wider view together with their
colleagues. The question of whether
the organisation of the Namdal libraries
will continue after the end of the
project is still open. If to be continued,
don’t we have reason to believe that
this model of consolidation will ensure
the necessary potential for development
of future library services in the
region?

Kristin Storvig,
Head Librarian,
County of North Trøndelag

kristin.storvig@ntfk.no

Translated by Eric Deverill

• A model for • Improvement of • Management and
literature presentation collections and overall communication in schools library atmosphere • Visits by authors • A summer reading • Exhibition techniques • Fantasy literature campaign • Book talks • User information
• Writing competitions • Southern Sami culture • Staff exchange schemes for young people • Local history
SPLQ:2 2007 19