A public library up-to-date

DENMARK

Ask Olivia

Could librarians learn from a 14-yearold
fictional character on the web, asks
an article in Bibliotekspressen.According
to a report by University of
Southern Denmark on the ‘Ask Olivia’
service of Gentofte, Herning and Silkeborg
libraries, the questions teenagers
pose Olivia on the Internet differ a
great deal from the questions asked at
the information desk at the public
library. Even if the users know that
Olivia really isn’t a teenager, they still
see her more as a friend who they can
relate to. “You don’t ask a librarian
what to do if you have problems at
school.”

The anonymity of Olivia makes it
easier to ask and talk about personal
things, something the teenage users
would not do at a library with an adult
librarian. Librarians are also seen as
book-centred. “A librarian only works
with books while Olivia can also talk
about other stuff.” The writers of the
report suggest that public libraries
could offer advice on webpage production
and tips on interesting websites
more actively.
(Bibliotekspressen 2007 : 5)

Need2Know

When teenagers do not come to the
mountain, the library has to go to
where they are. And a lot of young
people between ages 13 to 18 hang out
on the Internet, more precisely on
Messenger where they can chat online.
This is the philosophy behind
Need2Know, an information service
which uses Messenger as a communication
channel. During its first three
months, the Need2Know service had
27,000 visits and 700 users had added
it to their contacts.

The public and university libraries in
Aalborg are operating the service
which is open for four hours every
afternoon. Each of the 20 participating
librarians is on duty up to two hours
every week.
Need2Know is part of a larger project,
called ‘The Digital Librarian’,where
public libraries search for new ways of
communicating with and reaching out
to users in the digital environment.
The project has received funding from
the Danish Library Agency. 60,000
DKK were used for marketing in the
form of banners which were shown 15
million times around the turn of the
year.

Judging from the questions, most of
the users are between 13 and 18 years
old. Questions range from the labour
market to the stripes on a zebra. But as
with ‘Ask Olivia’, teenagers ask about
things they are not likely to ask about
at a library, such as eating disorders.

According to the participating libraries,
Need2Know caters mostly for nonusers
or rather potential users of the
physical library. The tone of the communication
between users and librarians
is informal, open and personal,
“spoken language in written form”.The
initial project finished in March, but
the libraries would like to expand the
opening hours and incorporate the
service at a national level in ‘Biblioteksvagten’.
(Bibliotekspressen 2007 : 5)

Roskilde library in Second Life

There has been a lot of hype around
Second Life, the 3-dimensional online
virtual community on the Internet. Up
until recently, mostly the realm of
nerds, Second Life now also hosts
museums and libraries. The first Danish
(and Scandinavian?) public library
to set up shop in Second Life in January
2007 was Roskilde. At Roskilde
Library Hangout the librarians are first
and foremost researching how to make
use of the virtual environment and
how to interact and communicate with
users with the help of these new
technologies. The immediate goal is to
support the Roskilde Festival by offering
a hangout for visitors.
(Bibliotekspressen 2007 : 6).

Another project on Second Life is
3Dbib, where the libraries in Aarhus,
Copenhagen, Randers, Viborg, Køge
and Gladsaxe together with Future-
Com, a 3D business in Aarhus, and the
Danish Library Centre are creating a 3dimensional
library with the help of a
grant of DKK 234,000 from the
Danish Library Agency. Their goal is to
set up an agency for presenting and
marketing the digital resources in the
libraries. Future plans include an auditorium
for meetings and discussions
on library policy, a gallery and a student
café where students can meet up
with librarians. A full-time librarian
will be available at the library in Second
Life, and there are plans to make
the service nationwide later on, hopefully
with a larger staff.
(Bibliotekspressen 2007 : 6)

FINLAND

New library in Turku

The long-awaited new main library was
opened in Turku at the beginning of
March this year. The old main library is
being renovated for fiction, music and
art departments and will open in 2008.
The new building hosts the children’s
and the youth departments as well as a
roomy News Area with newspapers,
magazines and PCs. The non-fiction
collection is divided into departments
according to information contents. The
staff can now specialize in Society,
Peoples and Cultures, and Nature and
Hobbies which means better expert
service for the public.

As all library cards will gradually be
renewed to include a RFID chip, a new
‘culture card’ was introduced together
with the opening of the new library.
Users can choose to have information
about cultural events and offers sent to
them by e-mail or sms and they can
define their own cultural profile in the
library system. A bonus system will be
launched later on together with museums,
theatres and other cultural
institutions.
(Kirjastolehti 2007 : 1;
www.turku.fi/kulttuurikortti)

Poetry panel at the library

Riihimäki City Library was probably
the first Finnish public library to put
the popular Finnish television format
of the Poetry Panel into practice at the
library ‘before a live audience’.And
they have done it not once but three
times, both for children and adults.
The panels consisted of a host and six
panellists who judged the poems
performed by the members of a local
youth theatre group. In the children’s
poetry panel the panellists were of
course children who gave their views
on children’s poems from the previous
year. When the main library celebrated
its 20th anniversary last year, the
poems were selected from the last 20
years of Finnish poetry. Each Poetry
Panel proved to be a great success.
(Kirjastolehti 2007 : 2)

NORWAY

The newly opened Drammen library in
Norway is said to be a concept and not
an institution. For the public it is
meant to appear as an integrated
whole, a library building which in fact
consists of three separate libraries all
with their own administration, staff
and target user groups. The Drammen
library is the first of its kind in the
country with a surprisingly short history
and planning phase. It was only a
couple of years ago the staff of the
Drammen public library, the regional
library of Buskerud and the college
library of Buskerud started talking
about cooperation and a joint library
building.

Even if many practical solutions, such
as shared loan regulations, are still to
be discussed, the staff of the different
libraries can already see improvements
and advantages. Firstly, the mere increase
in space has enabled library
instruction which was nearly impossible
for the college library on its old
premises. Secondly, the staff can learn
from each other, and last but not least,
staff in all libraries has got new colleagues.
Not surprisingly, there are also
problems or obstacles to tackle, e.g. the
public library and the college library
operate different library systems.
(Bibliotekaren 2007 : 4)

SWEDEN

New library integrated with tourist agency

Yet another new Scandinavian public
library opened its doors in Åre last
October, just in time for the Alpine
World Ski Championships. Åre Public
Library shares the premises with the
tourist agency at the – also new –
railway station building. During the
championships even the police moved
its reception to the library. The staff is
available on weekdays, but the little
town of 10,000 inhabitants now has a
library which is open seven days a
week, thanks to RFID and self-service.
Also in Åre the cooperation has
brought with it the advantage of colleagues.
As they work side by side at
the information desk, the library staff
has learned a lot from the staff of the
tourist agency and vice versa. The
central location has also meant new
users for the library. All the trains and
most of the buses stop at the station
which makes the library a natural stop
on the way. It is easy to combine shopping
for food with a visit to the library.
(Biblioteksbladet 2007 : 2)

‘Bookcrossing’

The upper secondary school and the
public library in Järfälla have started
their own network of the worldwide
booknet ‘Bookcrossing’. The pupils will
first read, then hide the books for other
readers to find. After reading a book
the pupil writes a review on the web
and leaves a tip for others on where to
find the book. The library has ‘released’
135 books which the pupils now can
‘capture’, and plans to widen the book
selection in the future.

Bookcrossing not only makes reading
books more exiting, but also provides
an opportunity for the pupils and the
library staff to get to know each other
better. A similar project was started in
Parainen, in Finland a couple of years
ago and has now been expanded to
seven other municipalities in the Turku
achipelago.
http://80.81.166.17/bookcrossing/fi/ind
ex.html
(DIK forum 2007 : 3
www.jarfalla.se/biblioteket/bookcrossing)

Scandinavian Shortcuts
is selected by Päivi Jokitalo,
Licensing Coordinator
National Electronic Library Services /
FinELib The National Library of Finland