DENMARK

Reaching out for teenage users

A couple of years ago the Danish Rødovre
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 invaluable
insight into the factors affecting
the teenagers’ library use.

Sports were number one in their list of
hobbies, spending time with their
friends was also important. The homework
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 oldfashioned
and too grown-up. In addition,
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 planning
process and prepare an ideas catalogue
for activities. Design students
from Danmarks Designskole have taken
a look at the interior and furnishing
of the library and made some
suggestions for better accommodating
the young who wished for comfortable
sofas where they can relax in the company
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 cultural
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, borrowers
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 landmarks
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)

FINLAND

User survey on electronic resources
at Finnish libraries

FinELib (Finnish National Electronic
Library), a service centre at the National
Library, carried out a survey on
the use of e-resources at Finnish libraries
in April 2007. The survey was
aimed at the end-users of university,
polytechnic and special libraries/research
institutes, and for the first time,
of public libraries.

The aim was to survey what kind of
electronic materials the students, researches
and other library users need
and how they make use of them. Altogether,
5,573 responses were obtained,
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 measures
for purposes related to work,
studies and everyday needs (30%
each). Hobbies counted for 20% of the
use. Most of the public library respondents
remarked that they could give up
printed dictionaries and reference
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. Fiction
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, discussions
on poetry and poetry writing
competitions.

The Provincial Central Library of Lapland
in Rovaniemi has a Poetry ‘Pääläri’
(=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 assignments
on poetry for preschoolers to
12-year-olds, interviews with several
poets for children plus children’s own
poems and drawings from four kindergartens.

http://www.runoraitti.fi/

Keep the customers coming
during the summer

A hint for a fun competition for keeping
the users coming 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

NORWAY

Room for men at Asker public library

The Men’s Section at Asker Library was
open from mid-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 indicated
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 Bergen,
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 premises
also hold a bathroom and a gym.
The Norwegian Transport Workers’
Union would like to see 6-8 more similar
libraries established elsewhere in
the country.

Tokke Public Library is responsible for
the library which operates on selfservice.
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 inhabitants.
The mobile library mainly serves
neighbourhoods where the Serbian,
Croatian, Bosnian, Arabic, Persian, Turkish,
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, children’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 Norwegian
Bibliotekforum recently wrote
about it, I once again became fascinated
by how ‘big may be beautiful but
sometimes small’ can make all the
difference: 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 remodelled
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 significant
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 partners,
what is distinctive for the community?
This is the way the public
library can be made into a community
anchor.

(Bibliotekforum 6 : 2007)

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