More than twenty years have passed since I published my first book in English. The title was New Trends in Scandinavian Public Libraries.

I saw a new library concept emerging
and wanted to tell the whole world
about it. It was my hope that the book
would have a positive impact on the
further development of public libraries.
The general attitude in the few reactions
to the book in British and American
library journals was that there was
not really very much new in the book –
at least not to those journals. So the
book mainly had an impact on my understanding
of international publishing.
Ten years later it actually got discovered
in Eastern and Central Europe,
but still:What I did learn was that it
takes more than a book to change an
image! But we have been working with
the challenge all along, and I believe
that today we must face the fact – at
least in Denmark – that the public
image of libraries does not reflect realities.
In a nationwide Danish competition
on innovativeness among public
institutions the championship went to
libraries, primarily because of the services
they have developed – so our
libraries are innovative, but when it
comes to the majority the book is still
the brand.

As we face significant changes in the
use of libraries, we have to do something.
I believe that it is not only in
Denmark you see the trend of traditional
services losing users faster than
gaining them for new services. Several
surveys point to the fact that many
users have never even heard of the new
services. In spite of numerous campaigns,
posters, flyers etc. only a minority
are aware that they can download
music files for nothing – and legally –
from their homes via the library website,
that there is a fast and reliable email
and chat e-reference service open
88 hours a week, that you can get help
in using self-service programmes, help
to create your own homepage, homework
cafés for schoolchildren, computer
circle clubs and many other fancy
activities. The lesson learnt is that
changing the library’s book brand can
not be done overnight. It has been built
up over centuries, and it probably takes
a huge effort over decades to change it.

One of the reasons for the persistency
of the old image is that most libraries
have not yet accomplished a complete
transformation. They are still based on
the book-deposit concept in their interior
design, and thus present the same
profile to the users as they did twenty
years ago. And many librarians are still
quite collection-focused rather than
user-oriented when it comes to the
crunch. One of the reasons for keeping
the book-deposit interior design is that
on the one hand most libraries still
stick to the same frames as in the ‘industrial
age’ and on the other hand –
which is probably more alarming – do
not have a clear-cut vision for ‘the new
library’ but just some elements and
trends, bits and pieces. And as long as
we do not have this vision as a professionally
shared common knowledge of
where to go, it is difficult to create a
consistent marketing strategy.

A ‘catch 22’ for public libraries is that
for ages we have measured our impact
on society in number of loans, because
a large number of loans was a true
success criterion for the book library.
In times where people buy more books
than ever this is hardly a core criterion
any longer. The success of ‘the new
library’ should be measured in terms of
impact on society by creating good frames
for many different activities within
the library space and on the web. Our
democratic societies need libraries to
strengthen the civic society. Traditional
information and leisure services are
still very important – but the library
should think in terms of supporting,
helping and inspiring in broader terms
through learning activities, workshops,
clubs etc. And it must be a good place
simply to stay in and meet – at any
time offering inspiration. But we need
convincing methods to measure the
impact of these services.

In Denmark we are discussing how to
organise a national marketing effort to
brand ‘the new library’. Our ideas are
not sufficiently clarified, but we are
about to start a process towards gaining
and sharing the vision of ‘the new
library’.We do believe that library staff
should be the ambassadors that we will
need in their thousands to spread the
vision. So the first step is to develop the
vision with them. Likewise we must
implement national programmes to
improve the competencies of staff in
the marketing field. And we are going
to produce a toolbox with different
essential tools – from ready-made
graphic design to survey methods. Part
of the concept is telling the stories
about library successes until we discover
a new impact-measurement tool.

There is a long process ahead of us.
Let’s get started.

Jens Thorhauge
Director General
Danish Library Agency

jth@bs.dk

Translated by Vibeke Cranfield