Theme:

LIFELONG LEARNING

No. 1. 2012

A brand new magazine. Gunilla Herdenberg 3

In the foot steps of a learning organization. Pälvi Lepoluoto 4

How do the public and school library systems work together? Maud Hell 6

Desire, multiplicity and learning. Joron Pihl 8

Homework Online benefits both pupils and homework helpers. Ann Poulsen 10

Library work across sectors. Johanna Vesterinen 12

Libraries, books, dust and such. Jukka Relander 14

Public libraries as learning spaces. Alastair Creelman 16

Innovation and business development in Danish Research Libraries. Jakob N. Mortensen 18

Space for learning. Arne Gundersen 20

Scandinavian Views:Student libraries in local communities. Tertit Knudsen 22New book on libraries as a motivating force in urban development. Jonna Holmgaard Larsen 23Denmark wins european prize for IT learning for senior citizens. Jonna Holmgaard Larsen 24

Scandinavian Shortcuts. Päivi Jokitalo 25

Welcome to a brand new ‘old’ magazine

From 2012 SPLQ has turned into SLQ. Our vision is now to cover all types of libraries in Scandinavia. The users usethe library all through life. They don’t really care if it is run by the state, the municipality or the university. We thinkthere are many library issues running across the different types of libraries – now we intend to cover them.

Lifelong learning is the theme for this issue. The articles describe different angles on learning throughout life – fromcooperations between school and public libraries and online help with homework to new challenges for public libra-ries when it comes to learning – both for new types of students and the library staff.

Welcome also to our brand new website at www.slq.nu. It looks a bit like the old one, but with more functionality anda more up-to-date design.

Rickard CarlssonEditor in chief

Rickard.Carlsson@kb.se

Edit rial

Rickard Carlsson Press- and Communication OfficerCommunications Division National Library of Sweden

Viewp int

www.slq.nu

3SLQ:1 2012

It is with great pleasure that I write thislead-off editorial in SLQ, a publication foreveryone interested in the world of booksand libraries. Denmark, Finland, Norwayand now Sweden have government agen-cies that are responsible for coordinatingand improving various types of libraries.

Finally we have the opportunity tooffer a panoramic view of the trends,perspectives, innovative projects andcreative ideas that are emerging fromlibraries all around Scandinavia.

We can be proud of our governmentsfor their mutual commitment tolibrary services as a cornerstone of theeffort to build true knowledge societies.

The governments are dedicated to en-suring that libraries and their offeringswill be as accessible as possible, thatbureaucracy and territorial thinkingwill not strangle the flow of informa-tion to an inquisitive citizenry.

They understand that libraries arepowerful symbols of open forums, offree and equal access to information,knowledge and experience – in otherwords a prerequisite of true democracy.

Those of us for whom libraries repre-sent both a career and a daily source ofinspiration have a great responsibilityto translate the political goal of alibrary system that provides peoplewith exactly what they need no matterwhere they are in life into a living,breathing reality.

Just recently Sweden joined the otherthree countries in beginning work on aproject aimed at developing a jointapproach to strengthening libraries forthe benefit of everyone. The NationalLibrary of Sweden has been assigned acoordinating role. Our job is to con-duct a national overview, as well as topromote cooperation and modernisa-tion.

The particular areas of focus are digitalservices and systems, LIBRIS (the jointcatalogue of Swedish academic andresearch libraries, as well as a nationalsearch service that also includes ap-proximately 20 public libraries), officiallibrary statistics, and collaborationwith regional libraries to monitor thedesign and implementation of plansfor library services that the local autho-rities and regions have adopted pur-suant to the Swedish Libraries Act.

We welcome the assignment with openarms, convinced that libraries can growand develop by helping each other –not by identifying the lowest commondenominator but by proceeding from acommon structure to cultivate excel-lence in individual areas of speciality.

This first issue of the magazineexamines the concept of lifelonglearning. More and more people of allages are studying online – what newdemands are being placed on ourpublic library system as a result?

Consider the school libraries, the po-tential that they represent for moderni-sation and improvement. What is thebest way for public and school librariesto collaborate?

In an age when citizens have a growingneed to acquire new and advancedskills throughout their lives, how cansupport for lifelong learning strengthenour libraries and their fundamentalrole in promoting social development?We face great challenges and manyopportunities, and I am lookingforward to a stimulating discussion inthe forum that this magazine hopes toprovide.

Gunilla HerdenbergNational Librarian of Sweden

Gunilla Herdenberg

Edit rial

A brand new magazineWhat you have in your hands is the very first issue of a brand new magazine

In an age when citizens have a growing need to acquire new and advanced skills

throughout their lives, how can support for lifelong learning strengthen our libraries

and their fundamental role in promoting social development?

current level of expertise and theirpotential expertise. If the staff knowseverything they need to know perfectly,there is no need for development(although I have never come acrosssuch an organization during the courseof my career). In my opinion, the tra-ditional development discussionbetween management and staff is aninsufficient tool for persistently de-veloping internal expertise in the entireorganization because usually suchdiscussions concentrate on the indivi-dual and the organization as a whole isforgotten.

In search of expertise I decided to plan a project whichwould help to improve the staff ’s ex-pertise. One important part of theproject was to make a survey of thestaff ’s expertise, which would help todetermine the level of expertise in theorganization. I thought that once Icould determine the current level ofexpertise in our organization it wouldbe easier for me to consider the desiredlevel of expertise for the entire organi-zation, and at the same time create avision to achieve persistently throughvarious means, e.g. by setting sub-goalseach year.

I tried to make the questionnaire asshort and clear as possible to enableother libraries to use it. The question-naire contained the following topics:recognizing the patrons’ needs forinformation, knowledge of contents(e.g. children’s non-fiction), skills incarrying out library work (e.g. gettingmaterial ready for borrowing), skills inusing databases (those used by thelibrary and in the library), commandof office software and ability to teachpatrons how to use it, basic use of

internet (e.g. creating an email accountand showing patrons how to createaccounts), use of social media servicesand instruction for patrons, use ofother devices (e.g. scanners) and beingable to show patrons how to use them,public appearance, marketing libraryservices (e.g. making brochures), peda-gogical skills (e.g. orientation), know-ledge on copyright issues and ability toprovide related advice, interest indeveloping activities and followingfield-related development, and interestin new technology (e.g. e-book readingdevices and digitalization).

I made a numerical evaluation scale toallow a comprehensive comparison ofthe conclusions to use in the future astime series data, for example. To keep itclear and simple, I made the scale short(1–4 where 1 = no skills and 4 = excel-lent skills). I originally planned to givethe questionnaire to the staff to fill outbeforehand, but I changed my mindwhen I realized that the same word canmean a different thing to differentpeople. Instead, I made a short onlinequestionnaire before doing the surveywhere I resolved the staff ’s understan-ding of library work and the needs forexpertise in the future to find outwhether the staff members had anyother perspectives, which I did notconsider on my questionnaire form.There were none and therefore I moved on to surveying their expertise,which I did during the annual develop-ment discussions.

For me, the discussions were quiterewarding; I received many good tipson areas of development and I also feltI got to know the staff better. One ofthe discussions lasted more than twohours, so clearly there was much to say.

In the footsteps of a learning organizationThe city of Tornio is located on the borderof Finland and Sweden, at the northernarch of the Gulf of Bothnia. The city has apopulation of 22,500 and the number isincreasing. The rapid changes happeningin the library field sometimes makes yourhead spin; what things do we need toknow to stay on top? The staff must indeedknow a lot and constantly learn newthings. Having an open-minded attitude to-wards learning is vitally important.

Considering tools As far as strategies are concerned, theactivities in Finnish libraries are regu-lated in many different ways. Munici-palities usually have their own strate-gies that regulate activities. Also, theMinistry of Education and Cultureprovides documents for regulating theactivities in libraries. The latest of thesestrategies is the Finnish Public LibraryPolicy 2015, published in 2009. It statesthat the greatest challenge on the mu-nicipal level is to increase the level ofexpertise and that a skilled staff is themost important meter in determiningthe quality of services. In addition tothis, the Quality Recommendation forPublic Libraries (2010), also publishedby the Ministry, defines the criteria fora good library, e.g. the development ofthe staff ’s expertise as an importantand recognized part of management.These issues made me wonder: How doorganizations learn? Or more impor-tantly, how do the people in an organi-zation learn to learn? How does anorganization become a learning organi-zation, i.e. how do the organization’sindividuals become lifelong learners?

After some consideration, I came to theconclusion that the Tornio Main Li-brary needs tools to determine the

FINLAND

4 SLQ:1 2012

Pälvi Lepoluoto

entire organization. Since there is nosense in trying to improve all five itemsat once, I made an online question-naire where the staff was asked to listthe items in order of priority. Use ofdatabases received the most votes, andwe will be investing in this area at leastthrough training in spring 2012. I alsointend to consider how to maintain theskills acquired during the training.

Towards lifelong learning and a learning organization The survey of expertise provided abasis on which to increase our capitalof knowledge, e.g. by participating intraining, using mentors and tutors andeven through peer learning with peoplefrom other libraries. I strongly believethat in the future we will be able tounderstand our work as something thatconstantly changes and requires de-velopment without feeling anxious orpressured. The rule of thumb is toremember that you do not need toknow everything, nor are you able toknow everything, but you can and areallowed to develop your expertise asinterest arises. I feel that in this way wecan become a learning organization,little by little, and that a positive at-titude towards lifelong learning willcome to penetrate into all of the activi-ties we carry out.

Pälvi LepoluotoLibrary Director

Tornio City Librarypalvi.lepoluoto@tornio.fi

Translated by Turun Täyskäännös

During the discussions, I explained theitems on the questionnaire and surveytogether with the person being sur-veyed. I made an Excel chart of eachrespondent where I wrote the results ofthe survey and the respondent’s per-sonal areas of interest and suggestionsfor development. I did not give thecharts to the respondents; rather, I keptthem for myself because in my opinion(Finnish) people tend to dwell uponthings they feel they need to improve. Ifeel people should develop those cha-racteristics that they themselves feel aregood because it motivates them moreand makes development easier.

Disclosure of expertise I made a summary of all of theresults. The staff and Iagreed on a day when

I would present the results of thesurvey. As I stated earlier, I feel it iseasier for people to be motivatedtowards developing their strengths andtherefore I listed only the areas ofexcellent expertise in the final conclu-sion of the presentation.

At the same occasion, the staff mem-bers received a task to do in pairs: theyhad to choose a couple of items on thequestionnaire that they felt should beimproved at work. They also had tothink of means to improve the items inquestion. I summarized their results;five things were left over. They in-cluded evaluation of the collection,new computer technology (e.g. reading

devices for e-books), usingdatabases, knowledge ofcontents and marketingof library services, all ofwhich became areas ofdevelopment for the

... a positive attitude towards lifelong learning will come to penetrate into all of the activities we carry out

5SLQ:1 2012

not good enough – a school librarymust provide continual learningsupport.

Some schools have not been allowed tostart up because they had not includeda library in their plans. Independentschools have contacted public librariesand schools library service centres foradvice. Many use the nearest publiclibrary instead of setting up one oftheir own. Sometimes the arrangementactually works quite well – public libra-ries are anxious to serve everybody.Often, however, resources fall short.Some municipalities coordinate schoollibraries under the cultural administra-tion.

ArvidsjaurThe Swedish Teachers Union hasnamed Arvidsjaur (approximately6,500 residents) the Swedish municipa-lity with the best schools over the pastfew years. The award does not mentionschool libraries, but the municipalityhas a library plan that pinpoints colla-boration with the education system aspart of a Cultural Curriculum.Arvidsjaur has two integrated publicand school libraries. Located in smallschools, they are staffed one day a week– on other days, teachers and studentscan take out books on their own.

The upper secondary school (approxi-mately 400 students) has its own li-brary, which is staffed three days aweek, and all three compulsory schoolshave libraries. A large preschool alsohas its own library. The public libraryis in charge of all purchases, maintainsthe catalogue and visits the compulsoryschool libraries once a week. Theschools pay for premises, purchases ofmedia, computers, licences and the like.

The libraries at the intermediate andlower secondary schools are locked;except for the one day a week that theyare staffed, students can borrow booksonly when a teacher lets them in.

Inger Määkinen divides her timebetween school and public libraries.The education system pays 50 per centof her salary as a children’s and schoollibrarian. She feels that the collabora-tive effort works well but that morecommitment on the part of the schoolswould be helpful, an adds that ameeting was held for all headmastersand teachers. The ball is now squarelyin the schools’ court to decide whatthey want out of their libraries. Every-body is in favour of the libraries,Määkinen says, but there doesn’t seemto be enough energy to get the jobdone. One item about instruction inhow to search information through theCultural Curriculum was eliminated.The idea now is that teachers willcontact the librarian to obtain assi-stance with various projects.

Classes enjoy showing up at the muni-cipal library. “They are enthusiasticabout nearly all the services we have tooffer,” Määkinen says. The librarystocks many shelves from a depositoryand makes the books available to theclassrooms.

Collaboration with the public librarysystem often provides schools withbetter access to books in differentlanguages. Arvidsjaur has been a Samiadministrative area since 2010 and hasa Sami coordinator who helps orderbooks. A small Sami collection isavailable for borrowing at both thelibrary and the preschool.

6 SLQ:1 2012

How do the public and schoollibrary systems work together?

SWEDEN

Based on unwavering support by the muni-cipalities, the Swedish public and schoollibrary systems can look back on a longhistory of fruitful collaboration. The libra-ries often share premises and cooperate tovarying degrees, both with and withoutformal agreements. Statistics for 2010 in-dicate that 43 per cent of 1,214 Swedishpublic libraries were integrated with theircounterparts in the schools.

The systems have different purposes.According to blogger and school libra-rian Leif Oxenmyr, “The primary pur-pose of public libraries is not to serveas an educational resource. As a result,their displays, media collection andfurnishings are not quite the same asschool libraries. The librarian plays adifferent role as well. At a publiclibrary, you work in the back duringsome shifts and meet the public duringothers. At a school library, you arealways interacting with users and youare more tied up with classroom activi-ties.”

The two systems follow different policydocuments and usually report to diffe-rent authorities. The staff of some inte-grated libraries feel that they haveinsufficient support from the schools.The education system is not as com-mitted to its libraries they would like tosee. The 2010 Swedish Education Actstates that “students at compulsoryschools, special needs schools, Samischools, upper secondary schools, andspecial upper secondary schools musthave access to school libraries.” Boththe Swedish Schools Inspectorate andSwedish National Agency for Educationare working on definitions of the termschool library. According to the In-spectorate, a nearby public library is

often but we still see them on a regularbasis.”

KatrineholmKatrineholm Municipality (approxima-tely 32,500 residents) is a blend of den-sely and sparsely populated areas. Thelibrary plan includes proposals for ex-panding the school libraries andensuring that all students have accessto the same services.Library Director Lars Nellde wrote onhis blog in 2009 that the school libra-ries vary greatly in terms of premises,digital offerings, range of media andintegration in school activities. Thesparsely populated areas have inte-grated libraries; the inner city libraries,which are run by the education admi-nistration, have no professionallytrained staff.Nellde says that the new Education Actspurred many encouraging changes inKatrineholm during 2011. In collabo-ration with a school director, he puttogether a school library proposal thatwas approved in 2012. The goal is tohave a trained librarian at every school.The idea is that the public library shallbe responsible for providing schoollibrarians and that the school appointone teacher as a library specialist.

The role of headmastersResearch indicates that headmastersplay an important role in ensuring thesuccess of school libraries. Linköping’s

Child and Adolescent Director LarsRejdnell, who previously built upVäxjö’s school library system, has puttogether a model of focus libraries at anumber of schools. He says that theinvestment in school libraries ended upsaving a branch as well.

Around the worldCollaboration between schools andpublic libraries in developing countriesoften makes it easier to open branchesin disadvantaged areas. These questionshave attracted a great deal of interestworldwide. The International Federa-tion of Library Associations and Insti-tutions (IFLA) will bring up the issueat its 2012 conference and assembly inHelsinki. The theme is Friends or Foes –Public and School Libraries a Force forChange for Creating Smart Communi-ties. The School Libraries and ResourceCentres & Public Libraries Sectionswant to “show how Public Librariesand School Libraries in communitiescan work together for the benefit ofstudents.” There is every reason to lookforward to the presentations in Hel-sinki this August.

Maud Hell,writer, former librarian in school

and public libraries Lund, Swedenmaudh04@gmail.com

Söråker in Timrå MunicipalitySöråker (approximately 2,300 resi-dents) is located in Timrå Municipality.Timrå Library collaborates extensivelywith the education system. For in-stance, it arranges appearances byauthors at all the schools. SöråkerLibrary is the only branch, integratedwith both the Söråker CommunityCentre and the school.

The Söråker Community Centre As-sociation runs the library based on atender agreement with the municipa-lity. The staff once consisted of muni-cipal employees, but the CommunityCentre has managed the library on itsown since 2006. The main library takescare of media purchases and databases.“In practice, it functions much like abranch,” Director Eva Holmström says.“As with all other activities at thecentre, a group of young people workat the library.”

The library is open from 9 am to 9 pmMonday-Friday. According to Holm-ström, “You can take out a book when-ever the centre is open – seven days aweek. Students from preschool to yearfive can go there in their stocking feet.The lower secondary school is less thana kilometre away. All 13 classes at Sör-åker School have their own specifiedtimes and visit the library once a weekto talk about, read and take out books.Starting in year six, they don’t come as

7SLQ:1 2012

Maud Hell

IFLA 2012: Friends or Foes – Public and School Libraries a Force for Change for Creating Smart Communities

8 SLQ:1 2012

Libraries and desireParticular efforts should be made toimplement library use in primary andsecondary schools. Here, the ground isprepared to ensure that children andadolescents develop cultural and infor-mation literacy and a desire to read. Allprimary and secondary schools oughtto have:

• a well equipped school library/ learning resource centre with digital media, databases and software which are continuously updated and re-newed, as well as other audiovisual media

• a trained school librarian or teacher with a professional background fromlibrary work in a full-time position.

• a school management that gives priority to the library for teaching and learning at all grade levels and incorporates this in the school’s educational plans

• systematic collaboration between theschool library and the public library.

• systematic collaboration between school librarians and teachers at all levels with regard to educational plans, dissemination of literature,integration of information literacy invarious school subjects and topics,and the use of the school library as an arena for learning.

Knowledge development and digitisa-tion are proceeding faster than at anyprevious time in history. This indicatesthat teaching and learning should bebased on a variety of sources, which areupdated with regard to the develop-ment of knowledge. The textbook isgradually losing its status as the mainsource of knowledge in schools. At thesame time, the student population isfar more heterogeneous than pre-viously. Multiplicity in the studentpopulation calls for multiplicity inteaching in terms of content, genres,aesthetics, accessibility and languages,that may stimulate the desire forreading and learning. A single textbook

Desire, multiplicity and learning

NORWAY

Vision In my vision for the 21st century, the libraryis integrated into teaching and learning atall levels of the educational system. Thiswill ensure the future of libraries and thepreconditions for life-long learning. In day-care centres and schools, children andadolescents should be introduced to thelibrary as a place for pleasure, as a socialmeeting-ground and an arena for learning.Qualifying all pupils to use the library fortheir own personal purposes and as anarena for learning ought to be a key taskfor all schools from primary through uppersecondary.

All university colleges and universitieshave libraries. Most upper secondaryschools will probably also have a libra-ry. A considerable proportion of themwill have a full-time librarian, but farfrom all primary and lower secondaryschools in Scandinavia have a schoollibrary with a trained school librarianworking full-time. For example, in2007 the school libraries in Norwaywere staffed for only 5.4 hours perweek on average. There are no ad-equate educational reasons for givinglower priority to libraries at primaryand lower secondary level than at theupper secondary level or in highereducation.

Research shows that even thoughuniversity colleges and universitieshave good libraries, the students tendto make use of the library’s resourcesto a very varying extent. Integration ofthe library in teaching and learningshould therefore start from first gradeand continue through all levels of theeducational system.

9SLQ:1 2012

ground but are less avid readers. This isa key argument in favour of havingschools provide equal access to a broadrange of literature and reading for thesake of enjoyment for all pupils. Thismay counteract reproduction of socialinequality in schools.

A shared social mandate and collabora-tion across professional boundariesThe social mandate of the public libra-ries and schools is to promote enlight-enment, education and cultural acti-vity. The shared social mandate facili-tates close collaboration between pub-lic libraries and schools, which is anecessary precondition for develop-ment of well-functioning school libra-ries. In the Multiplicity project – a re-search- and development project ofwhich I have been the director – libra-rians, teachers and researchers for fouryears collaborated within literature-based literacy education, using thelibrary as an arena for learning. Twoprimary schools with school libraries,one public library and two teacher-training colleges participated in theproject 2007-2011. The librarians’ com-petences in disseminating literatureand the teaching of information lite-racy represented an invaluable resourcefor teachers and children. In the multi-lingual schools, altogether 75 per centof the pupils included in the Multipli-city project became avid readers. At theschool where three quarters of thepupils had linguistic minority back-ground a total of 90 per cent of the pu-pils in the project used the public libra-ry once a week or more often. Lendingfrom the school library increased by145 per cent in that school that estab-lished a fully staffed library during theproject period. At the same time, it was

challenging to obtain support fromeducational policy-makers for inter-professional collaboration betweenlibrarians and teachers and use oflibrary resources in literacy educationat all schools.

Cultural or educational policy?My assertion is that as long as the poli-tical responsibility for the library sectorlies with the Ministry of Culture, thiswill act as a barrier to integration oflibraries as arenas for learning at alllevels of the educational system.Educational policy is developed separa-tely from cultural policy. There is a‘missing link’ between educationalpolicy and cultural policy. However, inFinland, the public libraries are sub-jected to the Ministry of Education andCulture. This may bridge the gapbetween educational policy and librarypolicy. The libraries have not “lost theirsoul” as cultural institutions, but haveallied with the educational institutions.Results from Finland are promising.

This is the vision for the 21st century –an educational policy that integrateslibraries into educational policy. Thiswill respond to multiplicity in thestudent population, the rapid develop-ment of knowledge and digitisationand allow us to merge desire withteaching and learning in a life-longperspective.

Joron PihlProfessor, PhD

Master programme in Multicultural and International Education

Faculty of Education and International StudiesOslo and Akershus University College

joron.pihl@lui.hioa.no

Translated by Akasie språktjenester AS

is not sufficient to ensure adaptation ofteaching in classes characterised bydiversity with regard to the pupils’cultural, social and linguistic back-ground. Multilingual children shouldhave access to multilingual literature.

Reading engagement and multiplicityResearch shows that even though children and adolescents read text-books throughout their thirteen yearsat school this does not turn them intogood readers. It is by reading literaturethat appeals to the emotions and theintellect that children and adolescentsturn into avid readers. Voluntaryreading of fiction and individual choiceof books has proved to have a majorimpact on the development of readingengagement. Furthermore, research hasshown that there is a positive correla-tion between access to books, dailyreading for pleasure and school per-formance in reading skills. Finnishpupils are close to the top in the OECDwith regard to daily reading for thesake of pleasure, and this result iscorrelated with the high reading skillsamong Finnish pupils described in thePISA surveys. At the same time, theFinns are the most frequent libraryusers in the EU. It is reasonable toregard this in light of the fact thataccess to libraries is significantly betterin Finland than in the other Scandi-navian countries.

One of the most interesting findings inthe PISA study from 2002 was thatpupils who come from a disadvantagedsocio-economic background but areavid readers in their spare time, onaverage have a higher reading scorethan pupils who come from a mediumor privileged socio-economic back-

Joron Pihl

My assertion is that as long as the political responsibility for the library sector lies with the

Ministry of Culture, this will act as a barrier to integration of libraries as arenas

for learning at all levels of the educational system

DENMARK

anonymity afforded the users onHomework Online can be important.There is a tendency for some boys inthe target group not to feel sociallyacceptable when seeking and usinghelp with their homework. This isoften the reason why older boys stopvisiting physical homework cafés.

For others the most important thingmay be the chance offered by Home-work Online to create a neutral place, ifone’s academic abilities seem to be ‘dis-carded’ beforehand by teachers andother pupils at school.

In its present form Homework Onlinehas offered help with homework sincethe beginning of 2010. The projectperiod has just been prolonged for a 3-year period. The funding of about DK2.5 mil. annually comes from thegovernment’s special means for sociallymarginalised. Together with the Mini-stry for Children and Education andthe State and University Library, theDanish Agency for Culture (previouslyDanish Agency for Libraries and Me-dia) constitutes the steering group forthe project.

Project management and implementa-tion of Homework Online is the re-sponsibility of the State and UniversityLibrary. Apart from being a universitylibrary, the library also handles a num-ber of tasks in relation to the publiclibraries – including library service toethnic minorities.

The homework helpersThe homework helpers are gatheredtogether in a call centre at the State andUniversity Library in Aarhus. Most ofthem are volunteers, recruited among

the students who use the State andUniversity Library. At the moment thedaily manning of the call centreamounts to 11 persons, and all in all140 homework helpers are attached toHomework Online. The State andUniversity Library currently recruitshomework helpers, as experience tellsyou that at every end of term about25% will leave.

Motivated volonteersWhen dealing with voluntary home-work helpers you can only make de-mands to a certain extent, and thelibrary therefore has to make the jobgood fun, exciting and stimulating.Volunteers are motivated in differentways: Some want a precise and definedtask, while others get their motivationfrom developing personally by gaininginfluence and responsibility.Homework Online must therefore beable to include great diversity amongthe homework helpers: CV-grubbers,

The Danish offer of homework help on thenet, Homework Online, is targeted olderchildren and young people in residentialareas with many socially vulnerable inha-bitants – including pupils with an ethnicbackground other than Danish. The Home-work helpers are primarily students, andcommunication with the pupils takes placevia both chat and web camera/microp-hone.

When homework helpers in Home-work Online sit down in front of theirPC and open up homework help at 5o’clock each evening from Sunday toThursday just a few seconds pass beforethe pupils clock in and begin to queueup on homework-online.dk

2011 saw a breakthrough for Home-work Online with a growth rate of asmuch as 460% for visits to the site youhave to log into in order to get help. Interms of number of users this meansthat during November there wereabout 4,400 unique visitors.

An external evaluation of HomeworkOnline suggests that a major reason forthe pupils to seek help on HomeworkOnline is that here they can get exclu-sive, personal help for 45 minuteswithout being disturbed. HomeworkOnline differs in this way from the helpusers can get in physical homeworkcafés or at school, where many otherpupils will be wanting the attention ofthe homework helpers, which makes itthat much harder to get the help youneed. Some pupils may also find itdifficult to concentrate in the companyof others.

The evaluation also points out that the

10 SLQ:1 2012

Homework Online benefits bothpupils and homework helpers

idealists, innovation seekers, fellowshipseekers etc.Homework Online puts great emphasison equipping the homework helpers aswell as possible for handling their job.They all attend courses with focus onfor example pedagogy and the pupils’academic level in the different grades.Altogether Homework Online spends alot of effort on developing the mostoptimal processes also in relation torecruiting, communication, admini-stration, involvement, motivation andsustainability, and it is therefore – interms of resources – a demanding taskto manage a team of more than 100active homework helpers. The buzz-words in Homework Online’s efforts to

keep the homework helpers are dia-logue, recognition and responsiveness.In satisfaction surveys among the hel-pers Homework Online has achievedhigh marks for this attitude.

By offering the homework helpers thechance to getting properly involvedthey might well develop a more defi-nite feeling of ownership, which willhelp sustain the motivation and encou-rage them to go on for a longer periodof time. Homework Online has there-fore involved homework helpers inteams dealing with competence de-velopment, marketing and social soli-darity among the group of homeworkhelpers.

A team of 10 ‘fliers’ has also been re-cruited among the homework helpers,who are employed to assume an extraresponsibility in the call centre. ‘The‘fliers’ have taken part in a learningprocess with focus on how in the bestpossible way to support, help andadvise the other homework helpers inthe call centre. The philosophy behindhomework help is to help the pupilshelp themselves. The various teams and‘fliers’ ensure the internal sparringwhich contributes to the cohesivenessbetween the project team and thehomework helpers in the ever growingorganisation.

A common learning precessThe overall aim for Homework Onlineis therefore that both pupils and home-work helpers participate in a learningprocess. Through homework help thestudents acquire teaching experiencevia the use of new media, and viateamwork many of them also get theopportunity to test some of the compe-tences achieved through their training,for example in relation to communica-tion, PR and marketing.

Ann PoulsenSenior Adviser

Danish Agency for Cultureapo@kulturstyrelsen.dk

Translated by Vibeke Cranfield

11SLQ:1 2012

Ann Poulsen

Facts about Homework OnlineTarget group and subjects: The primary target group is children and young people in 6.-10. form in residential areas with many socially marginalised inhabitants.The pupils especially seek help with mathematics, Danish and English. Opening hours: 17-20 from Sunday to Thursday.

Project period: The project has been running since June 2009 and continues up to and including 2014. Before that the aim is to find a sustainable business modelfor continuing without project means. Homework Online plans to open more call centres elsewhere in Denmark and to extend the opening hours from 16 onweekdays.

tion services strategy is carried out andalso evaluate the success of it.

The committee’s first meeting was heldin 2003. During that meeting the mem-bers decided that library staff couldparticipate in the open training of thedifferent libraries. A joint trainingcalendar was created for this purposewhere each library could notify thoseinterested about upcoming trainingopportunities; the calendar is still usedtoday. Patrons may also participate inthe open training organized by thelibraries and therefore they benefitfrom the calendar as well.

During this first meeting, the membersof the committee also decided to orga-nize a seminar that would concentrateon creating a joint description of thefunctions of the Jyväskylä Libraries.The costs of the seminar were dividedamong the different library units basedon the number of participants. Divi-ding the costs was seen as a good prac-tice and it is still in use. The committeealso decided to organize future trips forthe library staff to take together, forexample to book fairs, etc. As with thismeeting and the ones that followed, thegreatest contribution has been theexchange of experiences among thestaff members of the libraries.

The Liaison Committee meets 4-6times a year. The chairperson haschanged every two years. Each librarytakes its turn in organizing themeetings. At the time this article isbeing written the university library isresponsible for chairing the meetings.Over the years, the following tasks havebecome the responsibility of thecommittee:

• Coordinating and developing librarycollaboration

• Evaluating and ensuring the infor-mation services strategy is carried out

• Organizing training for the staffmembers in the libraries in Jyväskylä

• Distributing information and in-creasing information flow

• Organizing and carrying out joint events

• Carrying out development projects • Collaborating to develop library

services and practices.

The Liaison Committee has createdsub-committees as needed; at present,there are sub-committees for customerservice, training, the music library andonline services. A sub-committee maybe given the task of compiling guide-lines for customer service, making a

12 SLQ:1 2012

FINLAND

Collaboration between different sectors inthe library field varies from place to placein Finland; some places collaborate frequ-ently and others less frequently. A goodexample of active, productive collaborationcan be found in Jyväskylä where the Jy-väskylä University of Applied Sciences Li-brary and Information Services, the Jy-väskylä City Library - Regional Library ofCentral Finland and the Jyväskylä Univer-sity Library engage in well-functioning col-laboration.

The above libraries have carried outsystematic library collaboration fornearly 10 years now. Local collabora-tion was complemented in 2008 whenthe AO Library of the Jyväskylä JointMunicipal Authority for Education wasinvited to join the Liaison Committeeof Jyväskylä Libraries. The aforementi-oned libraries are hereinafter referredto as the Jyväskylä Libraries.

Collaboration began in 2003 when theinformation services strategy for Jy-väskylä was completed with projectfunding provided by the Ministry ofEducation and Culture at the time.One of the proposals in the strategywas to make library collaboration inJyväskylä permanent and to organize acommittee for the libraries, whichwould coordinate collaborationbetween sectors. The purpose of thecommittee would be to draw up a planeach year for the further training oflibrary staff in pedagogy and informa-tion management and to ensure thetraining is carried out. The committeewould also organize events to enablelibrary staff exchange expertise and getto know each other. Furthermore, thecommittee would ensure the informa-

Library work across sectors Collaboration among libraries in Jyväskylä

proposal for a new practice or organi-zing a day of training. Joint trainingopportunities are organized once ortwice a year. The theme(s) of the trai-ning is based on people’s suggestionsand feedback to ensure it is appropriatefor all of the participating libraries.

Joint projectsSubsequent to the first informationservices strategy, the libraries in Jy-väskylä have carried out several jointprojects, for example the website forthe Jyväskylä Libraries and a study onlibraries, studying and material inelectronical format.

The Central Finland Library Portal,which works through the NELLIportal, was created to help patrons findinformation more easily, i.e. it is a jointinformation search channel for theJyväskylä Libraries and the Aalto libra-ries in the region, which allows users tosearch for information in the databasesof all of the libraries belonging to the Kirjastoportti conglomerate.

Finished in 2005, the Kirjastoportti wasa good example of the regional colla-boration between academic librariesand public libraries, and at the sametime it was the only library con-glomerate of its kind in Finland.

has been introduced at international,field-related conferences in 2008 and2010. The aim is to introduce it againin the 2012 IFLA Conference in Hel-sinki.Many things have been accomplishedthrough collaboration, but there arestill many things to do in the upco-ming years. To mention just a few ofthese challenges: increasing the mutualvisibility of the Jyväskylä Librariesthrough marketing and communica-tion and establishing the activities inthe information literacy promotion plan.

Johanna VesterinenLibrary Director

Jyväskylä City Library - Regional Library of Central Finland

johanna.vesterinen@jkl.fi

Translated by Turun Täyskäännös

13SLQ:1 2012

Johanna Vesterinen

A public library and a university library have carried out a well-functioning collaboration for nearly 10 years

During the past couple of years librarystaff members have worked in otherlibraries less familiar to them throughjob rotation. In August 2011, 40 staffmembers took a sightseeing touraround the province to visit the diffe-rent library locations.

It is safe to say that the first mutualcircle closed on 8 February 2011,Lainan päivä = loaning day in Finland,when the Jyväskylä Libraries publisheda revised plan, compiled in collabora-tion with the city’s educational servicesdepartment, to promote informationliteracy. The 2003 joint informationservices strategy for the JyväskyläLibraries was used as the basis for theplan. The purpose of the completedplan is to facilitate information searches and to develop skills in ob-taining information. The plan providesguidelines and means to organizeteaching in information acquisitionand to consider information acquisi-tion more closely in teaching curricula.The plan also elucidates the distribu-tion of work in the libraries.

New introduction at IFLA 2012Although the members of the com-mittee have changed over the years, thecommittee has remained active. Thenotion of library work across sectors

Jyväskylä City Library - Regional Library of Central Finland (left) and the Jyväskylä University Library (right) engage in well-functioning collaboration

SLQ:1 2012

took me to an other world. And thejourney started in a library.

That’s how I thought of a library, andthat’s how the majority of people visi-ting the libraries still think.

After the beginning of my presidencyat the library association, many thingschanged. Most importantly, I learnedsoon that libraries are about lots ofother things than Johannes Gutenbergcould imagine. I learned that, basically,my tarzanite memories guided mewrong.

Books are there, quite often, at least,but the interesting and relevant side ofthe modern library is hidden in theundercurrent of ones and zeros.

The bits. They are there, behind every-thing, even though we can’t see them.They can appear in various visibleforms, but they never get exhausted bythem. The current of the bits is theReal of the new library, or the platonicidea of it.

That’s how it is in the modern library,at least. We can’t see the bits, and there-fore we are destined to cope with theirgawky expressions that construct therather dysfunctioning material worldwe live in. The bits are perfect, thebooks, the CDs and such are not.

The problem is that we have to dealwith this imperfect material world. Ithink that is why we are, deep down, sounsatisfied with the symbol of theentire library institution, the printedbook.

When organizing, when makinglistings and catalogues, the electric

14

When I was a rookie in the world of libra-ries, I thought the whole business wasabout books. You know. The rectangle-shaped objects shelfed on the walls,containing sheets of paper that haveobscure black figures printed on them.Words, sentences, chapters, universes.

That was two years ago, at the timewhen I became the president of TheFinnish Library Association, out of theblue. I had, of course, consumed thelibrary services a lot, but I had nevervisited the other side of the countermyself. I was not a librarian.

So what kind of place was my library,back then?

During the days of innocence, thatlasted until the aftermath of the day Iwas elected to the post, I had a roman-tic and nostalgic approach towards thelibraries: the real library, I thought, is aplace of books, silence, dust and such.That’s how it was when I turned ten,and ever since.

A couple of years ago, thinking of alibrary still took me back to the mid70’s, when I cycled to the local libraryto borrow books by Edgar Rice Bur-roughs, who taught me that a lion isnuma, elephant is tandor and Tarzanmeans ‘white skin’ in the language ofthe great apes that lived in the forgot-ten jungles of Africa. The Burroughsbooks were all there, twentyone whitebacks in a row, at a lower shelf on yourleft, telling a lot about the wild side oflord Greystoke. These books permittedme to escape the anxieties of civiliza-tion, such as the parental demand toremain seated at the table untileveryone had finished eating. They

FINLAND

Libraries, books, dust and such

information lines up neatly somewherebetween your screen and the depths ofthe server. And just when you thinkthat the world is in perfect order, youwatch over your sholder only to realizethat the physical world is ruled by godsof chaos and disharmony: the booksare not on the shelves, they are in thewrong order and a couple of them havemissing pages. There is nothing youcan do to abort, retry or ingnore thesefatal fails, unless you walk to theshelves and do the tricks required, withyour hands.

Would the library be a better, moreorganised and more harmonious place,if the insufficient matter was replacedby the perfection of the digital currentof information? Of course it would.(The ebook will be the future of libra-ries, after certain problems associatedwith it, are solved. I am not going intothem, now. I just pretend that they willbe solved, to return to my point.)

The visitors, however, are not seekingthe beauty of the pure ideas when theydrop into a library. They are lookingfor books. These dusty, heavy and old-fashioned objects that contain all themagic one can imagine, and the abilityto take one to another world.

People do not see the bits, nor do theyhave the need to imagine them. Thereis no emotional tie between the clientsand the pure beauty of the ones andnils. People love the books.

They still do. After introducing myselfas a representative of a library associa-tion I have heard a great number oftimes a personal confession of love:the same childhood memories ofbookshelves, I have myself; the trig-

Jukka Relander

Viewp int

gering content of the books on them,the nostalgic smell and the silence ofthe most exciting building of our child-hood.

I guess the library has changed, and itwill change a lot more. Yet still, we haveto rely on the support of the citizens, ofthe visitors: the memories of the smellof the books, the romance, the excite-ment and the nostalgia, to get ourwonderful new library funded.

These same cofessions of love are whatthe librarians keep hearing over a glassof sparkling wine, at the city halls andofficial receptions. There is a toast, anda speech by a city official or a politi-cian, confessing his or her personalrelationship with books and the libra-ries.

When meeting with these people, mypoint has been that if you love us, it isvery easy to show it. It is in fact once ayear, when making the budget.Confession of love can be presented ina most meaningful way, in the form ofones and zeros, on the bank account.

There would not be a dime, did not thedecicion makers of the municipalitieslove libraries at all. We just have toseduce them to love the libraries a bitmore. By triggering the memories, andat the same time, whispering to theother ear of the libraries’ ability toestablish a totally new kind of edu-cated, profitable and empoweringknowledge society, where the bookswill still smell as they used to do, wecan perhaps succeed.

So we need the nostalgia, transformedinto ones and zeros. That’s how it is.

Jukka Relander,Writer, educator, politician,broadcast media specialist,President of the Finnish Library Association

I guess the library has changed, and it will change a lot more. Yet still, we have to rely on the

support of the citizens, of the visitors: the memories of the smell of the books, the romance,

the excitement and the nostalgy, to get our wonderful new library funded

SWEDEN

Public libraries as learning spaces

profound impact on how we learn inthe future:

OpennessIncreasing numbers of universities andcolleges distribute learning resourcesfreely on the net as open educationalresources (OER). OER can be video,audio, texts, photos or animations thatmay be shared freely according toCreative Commons licensing. Channelssuch as Apple’s iTunes U and YouTubeEdu mean that content is no longerexclusive and content sharing has be-come a marketing tool as well as acontribution to global lifelong learn-ing. Context is now king and theteachers’ ability to inspire, facilitate andguide is now the university’s trumpcard.

GlobalisationThis abundance of material has lead toan explosion in informal learning thatis increasingly student-driven. Studentsare able to study courses from differentinstitutions, form their own studygroups and design their own learningpaths. This puts pressure on universi-ties to be able to examine and assesswork that has been compiled at otherinstitutions. The ability to validateinformal learning acquired at work oronline is another important futuredevelopment.

Social mediaA great deal of discussion, reflectionand collaboration takes place outsidethe university’s learning managementsystem on open social networks, blogs,wikis and YouTube. Students are crea-ting their own personal learning en-vironments using the tools and net-works they prefer rather than the tools

provided by the university. This makesthe student’s work more public and canbe compiled into e-portfolios to attractfuture employers.

MobilityFuture students expect all course mate-rial and information to be accessibleany place, any time and on any device.All course literature should be availableon a tablet/iPad, laptop or mobile. Theneed to come to campus or classroomhas to be re-examined.

These factors bring into question therole of the library in a world where allinformation is only a click away. Whenmost of the bookshelves have beenmoved to the cellar the library becomesa learning space and information huboffering professional guidance in infor-mation retrieval, source criticism andinformation analysis. These servicesmust be available both in the physicalbuilding and on the net and a library’svalue will no longer be based on itsphysical collection but on the skill levelof its staff.

New identityThe challenge for libraries is not onlyto redefine their role but also to com-municate it to the public. There is aclear mismatch between the library’sown view of its role and the perceptionof students, teachers and the public ingeneral. Despite excellent efforts, li-brary skills and services are still seldomfully integrated into the curriculumand everyday classroom activities. Wecannot simply assume that all studentsare digital natives; they often lack basicinformation retrieval skills as well assource criticism and furthermore theyseldom see this as the library’s core

The role of public libraries is changingrapidly and the rise of open educationcreates opportunities for them to be hubsfor lifelong learning. Alastair Creelman,blogger and e-learning analyst at LinnaeusUniversity in Kalmar, examines some of thekey current trends in net-based learningand discusses the future role of publiclibraries in this context.

In the last few years a vast range ofeducational material has been madefreely available. Lectures from theworld’s universities, instructional films,documentaries, guides, articles, scien-tific reports and podcasts can now befreely accessed from laptops or mobiledevices making mobile learning areality. Knowledge and instruction areno longer restricted to classrooms andlibraries and students are able to takecharge of their own learning in com-pletely new ways. Flexible online col-laborative learning challenges the tradi-tional classroom model based onstudents coming to a school or college,following a set curriculum and sittingstandardised examinations.

Changing student needsThe need for higher education in theworld is growing rapidly, as part of alifelong learning perspective. Thestudents of the future will not be sotied to the university campus and willrequire help and advice wherever theyare. Public libraries have a key role toplay in supporting such students.

An ever-changing worldIt’s not just the students’ needs that arechanging. Educational technology andour relation to it are constantly shiftingand the following trends will have a

16 SLQ:1 2012

business. Instead they turn to theteacher who is often lacking in manyaspects of digital literacy. It is vital thatlibraries clearly define themselves asinformation hubs and resource centresfor digital media offering impartial,professional advice and guidance.

As the size of the book collection fadesin importance the competence of thestaff becomes crucial. Students visit thelibrary (physical or virtual) to ask foradvice and guidance on net-basedresources or help with digital tools andservices. Open access and open educa-tional resources mean that public libra-ries have access to scientific publica-tions and teaching material that waspreviously locked away in universitylibraries or behind expensive academicjournal subscriptions. The previousboundaries between public and aca-demic libraries are already blurred and

future students will expect helpwherever they are.

The design and layout of future libra-ries will vary greatly and there arealready many inspiring new examplesboth in Sweden and internationally.However the virtual space can becreated through national cooperation,possibly a national virtual library withcommon resources and services butoffering a more local profile oncelogged in. Increased cooperationbetween libraries, adult education,schools and universities is needed toavoid reinventing the wheel.

Future libraries will offer services suchas career and study advice to a greaterextent than today. As the range of studyoptions multiply and become trulyglobal students will increasingly needhelp to choose the right path. Here the

library can have a central role as animpartial broker helping studentschoose from a multitude of optionsvarying from local classroom-basedcourses to net-based studies at interna-tional universities or peer-based onlinelearning with organisations such asPeer 2 Peer University.

Education is facing a major upheavaltoday. Traditional roles, structures andprocesses are being questioned andchallenged by new opportunities forcommunication, collaboration andcreation. The paradigm shifts that havetaken place in the music and film indu-stries are now affecting education.Ubiquitous access to open educationalresources and the collaborative oppor-tunities of social media will change theeducational landscape in the next 10years. Libraries have a crucial role toplay in this shift but it is essential thatthey position themselves clearly asinformation professionals and provideservices both face-to-face and online.Your local library could well be an appon your mobile - always availablewherever you are.

Alastair CreelmanCoordinator of Distance Learning

Center for Educational Development in Higher EducationLinnaeus University

391 82 KalmarSweden

alastair.creelman@lnu.se

Useful linksFull report, Future Student (in Swedish)http://issuu.com/alacre/docs/framtidensstudent

Alastair Creelman’s blogs on IT and learning:Corridor of Uncertainty (English)http://acreelman.blogspot.com/Flexspan (Swedish) http://flexspan.blogspot.com/

17SLQ:1 2012

AlastairCreelman

...it is essential that they position themselves clearly as information professionals

and provide services both face-to-face and online

Face-to-face it-servioce to student at Professionshøjskolen Metropol, Copenhagen. Photo: Claus Bjørn Larsen

DENMARK

being an essential competition para-meter, DEFF pursues and supports theknown connection between corporateresearch and innovation activities andincreased growth and productivity.That is why a crucial task of the nextyears is to create the framework for theinfrastructure to be applied in a widercontext in order to make Denmark ahighly innovative society. The greatchallenge is however that many privateand public companies, who are to workincreasingly evidence-based, lack bothcompetencies (information literacy)and resources to ensure systematicaccess to, as well as retrieval and use of,research-based knowledge. Here,DEFF-libraries can indeed make adifference.

The expansion of DEFF’s field of actionToday DEFF-services reach 65 % of thefuture Danish workforce who shallgrow up with the libraries’ digital offersof working with knowledge in collabo-ration with other people. On this basisDEFF’s vision, mission, main focusareas and target groups – or dare I saymarket segments – have been revised.

MissionDEFF is a digital meeting place with aresearch-based knowledge bank, aninfrastructure and interactive servicesthat support learning, research, know-ledge sharing and innovation at Danisheducational institutions as well aspublic and private companies in everypart of the country.

VisionDEFF is to make it possible for youngstudents, researchers and employees inprivate and public companies to workwith digital knowledge in collaboration

At a time with low growth and recession,both in Denmark and globally, Denmark’sElectronic Research Library (DEFF) has gota new mission. A mission of placing itselfas a central player on the Danish growthand innovation agenda. This has at one andthe same time become both more difficultand more important. More difficult be-cause public funding is under pressure,and more important because access toknowledge is vital.

DEFF is about to launch a new strategywhich covers its main efforts in theyears of 2011-2016. The title of thestrategy is Libraries as a Catalyst for theDevelopment of Denmark as an Innova-tive Society and focuses on today’sfundamental challenge of growth viainnovation in the Danish knowledgesociety. A knowledge society in whichlifelong learning has become a pivotalfocus area in the Danish Government’seducation and innovation policies.

Over the past 13 years, DEFF's initia-tives have helped create a good frame-work for better research, a higherquality of teaching and education aswell as innovation opportunities.DEFF’s traditional tasks have been toprovide services and access to digital,research-based knowledge to research-ers, teachers and students. Now thescope and target groups have been ex-panded. Put simply, the big challengesconsist of providing access to research-based knowledge and ensuring thecompetencies for searching and ap-plying information in private and pub-lic enterprises. If these challenges areovercome, DEFF has contributedheavily to laying the groundwork forinnovation and growth.

A new strategy – a new focus:It’s the access, stupid!With DEFF's contribution, a significantpart of the nucleus in the Danish digi-tal knowledge infrastructure is now inplace. The intention of the new stra-tegy is to extend existing DEFF servicesand take into consideration graduates(alumni) who after graduating loseaccess to the library databases andsmall and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) and public institutions’ accessto qualified knowledge. DEFF sees anevident potential for promoting inno-vation by providing improved access toresearch-based knowledge to SMEs. Byentering into cooperation between theresearch institutions and the businessworld, the DEFF-libraries can contri-bute to strengthening the SMEs’ abilityto innovate. Additionally it is a strongbelief that DEFF can strengthen thelevel of information literacy among thecounsellors of the SMEs in the entre-preneurial greenhouses and other insti-tutions promoting trade.

Also, by providing the new targetgroups with access, and by supplyingthem with better competencies to navi-gate in the morass of knowledge, theDEFF libraries can contribute to anunderpinning of Danish competitivepower. And not least to accomplish theDanish knowledge strategy includingdemands of lifelong learning. Danishpublic libraries already do run severalprojects on both formal and informallearning getting financial support fromthe Danish Agency for Culture (for-merly Danish Agency for Libraries andMedia). Now, it is the research libraries’turn.Today’s demands of innovation as aprerequisite for growth, knowledge

18 SLQ:1 2012

Innovation and Business Developmein Danish Research Libraries

DEFF-libraries’ services in order to usethe best collections of knowledge inworking with innovatory methods intheir jobs. This fits perfectly the EUand the governmental ambitions ofeven lifewide (formal, informal andnon-formal) learning from pre-schoolto retirement age. Altogether the mainobjective of DEFF is to turn the libra-ries into a key pillar in making Den-mark a leading growth-, knowledge-and entrepreneurial society.

It might not even suffice to develop theright competencies and skills in orderto implement the strategy in a success-ful way, even if the strategy is in accor-dance with the political agenda natio-nally as well as internationally. Thequestion is if institutions, enterprisesand political stakeholders are ready forthis. Another big question is if thelibraries are ready for providing thesenew services and what future role theresearch libraries see for themselves.General tendencies in research librariespoint towards them focusing onservices rather than on the collection.Also learning and education coursesseem to change, focusing more andmore on network, social media andlifelong learning. At the same time re-search processes seem to become moredigital, collaborative, inter-sectorial(public-private) and coupled to inno-vation and adding value. By implemen-ting the new strategy, DEFF has shownat least one pro-active way of valuecreation.

Jakob Nedergaard Mortensen,Senior adviser

jnm@kulturstyrelsen.dkDanish Agency for Culture

19SLQ:1 2012

with others in Denmark and abroad, sothat Denmark becomes a highly inno-vative society.

Focus areas and organisationThe strategy extends DEFF's field ofaction with e.g.:• A service for all users that makes it

possible to join with other users to work on a subject or an idea

• New user groups, including business academy course participants and teachers, regional growth organisa -tions, research parks as well as SMEs and public institutions

• Increased digital access to the know-ledge of libraries and research and educational institutions

• New service offers aimed at research-ers, teachers and young students.

With the main objectives being that thelibraries are to make researchers' workavailable, that all students should con-tinually use the library services duringtheir studies and that in the long term,graduates (alumni) should maintainaccess to the library services, the fol-lowing main focus areas have beendefined:• A: Access to knowledge for all via an

optimum digital infrastructure• B: Competences and services to

support teaching, learning and de-velopment

• C: Competences and services to

support research and development• D: Competences and services to

support innovation and promotion of trade.

The tasks in these four areas (A-D) arebeing carried out by four differentworking (programme) groups whosestructure follows the line of thought inthe strategy. The new DEFF-focus (D)presupposes collaboration with thenew user groups and with the stake-holders and interest organisations inthe field. A number of focus areas havebeen identified via pilot projects inorder to come up with potential busi-ness models. Again, informationliteracy has been a key area and thepilots have shown that assistance fromthe local public libraries is absolutelykey. Also the library services needmarketing and making visible in orderto prove their added value. In otherwords the success does not come of itsown accord. It will take a massive effortto establish new roles for the researchlibraries in the innovation system.

A new role for the research library?DEFF aims at developing its libraries’services into a tool, which is being usedwith the same frequency and matter ofcourse as the internet is being used bythe researchers, teachers and studentsin their daily doings. Also graduates(alumni) should maintain access to the

Jakob N.Mortensen

ent

About DEFFDenmark’s Electronic Research Library (DEFF) is an inter-ministerial collaborative organisation forDanish academic educational, special and research libraries. DEFF is co-funded by the Ministry ofCulture, the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education and the Ministry of Children andEducation, and its secretariat is placed in the Danish Agency for Culture. Since 1998 DEFF has contri-buted to creating an infrastructure in the educational, special and research libraries, which via userfriendly systems provides researchers, teachers and students with considerable amounts of digitallyaccessible research-based knowledge. In other words, DEFF generally promotes Denmark as a know-ledge society by supporting improved research and by contributing to qualifying students. This alsohappens by common initiatives and cooperation on both a Nordic and a European level.

...the main objective of DEFF is to turn the libraries into a key pillar in making

Denmark a leading growth-, knowledge- and entrepreneurial society

20 SLQ:1 2012

public libraries in Larvik and Tønsbergand the municipal adult educationassociation in Tønsberg were invited tojoin since they had local projects theycould bring to the Nordic cooperation.

In Sweden, the county libraries in Öre-bro and Dalarna have collaboratedwith county learning associations onjoint supplementary training for stafffrom libraries and adult learning insti-tutions. This cooperation was partlybased on a pre-study of the possibilityof cooperation between libraries andthe community learning field publish-ed by the Regional Association in Öre-bro. Another project that joined theNordic cooperation was IKT-lyftet – acollaboration between libraries andcommunity learning organisations thatformed part of the national initiative toimprove digital competence.The Danish Agency for Libraries andMedia had publicised information onproject funds with the aim of findingcooperation models between publiclibraries and educational associations.Aarhus public libraries received fundsfor The Competent Citizen project, andtherefore joined our Nordic coopera-tion. The educational association Fritid& Samfund (Leisure and Community)from the adult learning field in Den-mark also participated.

The public library as a learning arena Public libraries and adult learningorganisations are based on both thecommon Scandinavian tradition ofproviding community learning and ajoint value base, a fact that is verified inthe legislation that governs their activi-ties.

Today’s library likes to present itself asa learning arena. This aspect of libra-

NORWAY

Space for learningNordic project for a cross-sectoral strengthening of community learning

It is a common belief that public libraries,like adult education institutions, shouldmake a contribution to community learn-ing. It is also widely agreed that such ge-neral education should help to develop andenlighten citizens. Both libraries and adulteducation institutions therefore need spa-ce where this process can take place –space for learning and enlightenment, bothliterally and metaphorically. Can public li-braries serve as a common space for suchlearning, or can other similar space becreated through cooperation betweenthose involved in community learning?

The aim of the Nordic project Spacefor learning (2010-2012) has been toencourage a cross-sectoral strength-ening of community learning in theNordic countries, thus contributing to

achieving the goal of providing every-one with equal access and equal rightsto knowledge. The project has beenfunded by the Nordic Council of Mini-sters through the Nordplus frameworkprogramme.

The project has involved gathering experience from both ongoing and newsub-projects that have a profile relatedto cooperation on community learning.The point of departure has not onlybeen the library as a physical space, butalso cooperation in general terms.Drawing on these projects, the partici-pants have discussed the gains that canbe derived from cooperation betweenlibraries, adult learning associationsand other adult education institutions.

A platform of local projectsSpace for learning came into beingthrough environments that were allengaged in projects related to coopera-tion between parties involved in com-munity learning. These parties becameaware of each other and wanted toraise national discussions to a Nordiclevel.

In Norway, libraries and adult learninginstitutions have collaborated since the1990s on the annual learning campag-ne: Adult Learners’ Week. The Norwe-gian Association for Adult Learning(NAAL) organises the campaign andhas had the Norwegian Archive, Libra-ry and Museum Authority as a keypartner representing the libraries.These two institutions took the initia-tive to establish Space for learning. Thenational library became the Norwegianproject partner when it took over thelibrary assignments from the Authority,which now no longer exists. In addi-tion, the county library in Vestfold, the

A booklet and a number of other good examples from the project are describedon the project’s website: www.nb.no/nbdigital/dannelseblogg/

library can serve in a cooperation thatsupports adult learning. The reportdescribes how the library can be a goodphysical (or virtual) and social learningenvironment that promotes the know-ledge people need to enable them totake part in society.

From national to regional and localThe sub-projects in Space for learningare good examples that show how co-operation between libraries and adulteducation can enrich both parties. Thebest examples are perhaps those thathave their roots at national level andthat are put into operation on a regi-onal or local basis. One such exampleis the Swedish campaign Digidel 2013that aims to increase digital participa-tion in Sweden. National players withinlibraries and community learning havetaken the initiative to start thecampaign, while efforts to promotedigital participation take place throughlocal teaching, often in the form of acollaboration. Denmark has a similarinitiative in its network that encouragesIT learning – Lær mere IT. In Norwaythe Adult Learners’ Week, is an exampleof local cooperation with a nationalbase. The campaign is coordinated byNAAL in collaboration with a councilconsisting of different parties fromadult education, including the libraryfield. The events take place nationwide,many of them in libraries.

Cooperation can also be based in theregions and spread to local communi-ties. The project in Örebro and Dalarnais an example of this. Through a colla-boration between county libraries and

learning associations, local cooperativeprojects were initiated in the two coun-ties in the project Folkebibliotek og folk-bildning til ömsesidig nytta (The publiclibrary and community learning – ofmutual benefit).

A booklet of examplesThe Space for learning project hasproduced a booklet containing 12 goodexamples of cooperation between libra-ries and adult education institutions.The projects that have formed the basisfor Space for learning are all part of the12 examples, and in addition a selec-tion of other examples is also presen-ted. Seen as a whole, the projects covera wide range. The booklet places parti-cular emphasis on the results of theproject in Aarhus, which has identifiedeight specific motivational factors forcooperation and gives eight pieces ofadvice on cooperation, four sugges-tions for cooperation methods and sixevident interfaces between the areas inquestion. Particular emphasis has alsobeen placed on experiences from theproject involving the local libraries andlearning institutions in Örebro andDalarna.

However, the booklet of examples isnot the only end product. A number ofother good examples are described onthe project’s website: www.nb.no/nbdi-gital/dannelseblogg/.

Arne GundersenSenior Adviser

National Library of NorwayArne.gundersen@nb.no

Translated by Akasie språktjenester AS

21SLQ:1 2012

ries is clearly emphasised in nationalstrategies such as the Norwegian whitepaper on libraries: Report No. 23 to theStorting: Libraries – Knowledge Com-mons, Meeting Place and Cultural Arenain a Digital Age and the Danish reportPublic Libraries in the KnowledgeSociety. What kind of implications doesthis have for the relationship betweenlibraries and adult education? Does thismean that cooperation will be evenbetter facilitated, or will a competitiverelationship develop instead?

The competitive relationship betweenlibraries and adult learning associa-tions is most pronounced in Denmarkwhere the libraries are also perhaps themost developed as learning arenas. The2010 report from the communitylearning committee on the social im-portance of community learningpointed out that many library activitiesare similar to those that take place inlearning associations. The committeerecommended a value-creating coope-ration between the two – partly toavoid competition but also to enableeach to benefit from the competenciesof the other.

The University College of Borås hasrecently published a knowledge over-view focusing on libraries and adultlearning. Three common perspectivesare emphasised in the debate on thelibrary as a learning arena: a lifelonglearning perspective, an educationalperspective and a community learningand culture dissemination perspective.In this context these three perspectivescan express different functions that the

...library as a learning arena

is clearly emphasised

in national strategies

Arne Gundersen

Now, the libraries want to becomeequally suitable arenas for knowledgeand learning for children and adole-scents.

Large geographical areas and a scat-tered population represent a challengein the Northern Troms region.However, a cooperation involvingschool libraries and public libraries,primary schools and day care centres,with project funding from the NationalLibrary of Norway and Troms CountyAuthority, will now ensure that thelibraries can provide all children andadolescents with the same services,irrespective of what municipality theylive in.

Tertit KnudsenNational Library of Norway

Tertit.knudsen@nb.no

Translated by Akasie språktjenester AS

22 SLQ:1 2012

Six municipalities in Troms County inNorthern Norway have upgraded theirpublic libraries into student libraries withworkspaces and access to technology.

North Troms Study Centre, funded byTroms County Authority, in thismanner is implementing flexibleeducational programmes at universitycollege and university level for adultsthroughout the county. The libraryemployees have undergone qualifica-tion in fields such as supervision andadult learning. The students have theirown key cards, making them lessdependent on the libraries’ openinghours.

Scandinavianviews

NORWAY

Student libraries in local communities

Photo:Tobias Toyberg

23SLQ:1 2012

The book Biblioteket i byudviklingen –oplevelse, kreativitet og innovation(Eng.: The library in urban development– experience, creativity and innovation)brings into focus the correlationbetween library development andurban development. It is written on thebasis of a research project conducted atCentre for Cultural Policy Studies, TheRoyal School of Library and Informa-tion Science. In connection with theproject the researchers studied cutting-edge libraries in the Nordic Countries,Europe and North America. The bookis aimed particularly at architects,cultural and urban planners, librarypeople and others who wish to partici-pate in the discussion about how libra-ries can fortify urban potentials interms of experience, creativity andinnovation.

Although the public libraries are undereconomic pressure at the present time,exciting new thinking is emerging.There is a growing interest internatio-nally in using the library as a dynamicfactor in urban development. Youmight even say that the physical libraryis experiencing a renaissance. Based oncutting-edge examples the book showshow libraries act as a motivating forcein urban development. For exampleRem Koolhaas’ remarkable library inSeattle, which has become an icon forthe city at the same time as its gigantic

Living Room has created an attractive,public meeting place. In Amsterdamthe new Openbaare Bibliothek with itsmore than 6,000 visitors a day acts as aplacemaker in the new Oesterdokdistrict. In Elsinore the new mainlibrary is part of a hybrid culturalarena, which together with othercultural offers, contributes to revita-lising the former industrial harbour.All these libraries and a large numberof others introduced in the book canbe seen as motivating forces in urbandevelopment.

Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen, HenrikJochumsen and Dorte Skot-Hansen:Biblioteket i byudviklingen – oplevelse, kreati-vitet og innovationDanmarks Biblioteksforenings Forlag, 2011.The book can be bought at www.db.dk

Jonna Holmgaard LarsenChief Consultant

jhl@kulturstyrelsen.dkDanish Agency for Culture

Translated by Vibeke Cranfield

DENMARK

New book on libraries as a motivating force in urban development

24 SLQ:1 2012

In October 2011 the Danish Seniorsurf Daywon the prize “Best European TelecentreInitiative” in the European organisationTelecentre Europe.

Libraries all over Denmark helpedarrange the Senior Surfday in October2011. Libraries and data rooms openedtheir doors to the country’s seniors inorder to properly introduce them tothe wide variety of possibilities offeredby the internet. The day was a greatsuccess, and senior citizens from allover the country took part.

On the basis of the successful result theSeniorsurf Day won the prize “BestEuropean Telecentre Initiative” in theEuropean organisation TelecentreEurope. According to TelecentreEurope the initiative has “outstandingdigital inclusion efforts, achievementsand best practices”.

Seniorsurf Day 2011 was a joint projectbetween the Danish Agency for Libra-ries and Media (now Danish Agencyfor Culture), DaneAge Association,Danish Association of Senior Citizens

and the National IT and TelecomAgency (now the National DigitisationAgency) with Radio Denmark ascontributor.

Jonna Holmgaard LarsenChief Consultant

jhl@kulturstyrelsen.dkDanish Agency for Culture

Translated by Vibeke Cranfield

DENMARK

Denmark wins European prize for IT learning for senior citizens

The idea of a Senior surf day was developedin 2000 and today all Nordic countries areactive on the senior it-front.

Scandinavianviews

25SLQ:1 2012

DENMARK

Cutting through library jargon by crowdsourcingThe trade union section of informationspecialists in the private sector have setup a LinkedIN group where the mem-bers try to translate library jargon intomore comprehensible language. Manyof the group members need to explainthe workings of classification or index-ing to their boss or co-workers in acompany where they are the onlylibrary professionals. The motto for thegroup: “the more participants, thebetter the explanations will be” is akinto the idea behind crowdsourcing. Bytapping into the knowledge, creativityand experiences of the crowd you areable to accomplish more than on yourown.

Perspektivhttp://perspektiv.bf.dk/Nyheder_BPR/2011/

FagligeTermer.aspx

Collaborative art by library usersFredriksberg Public Library and theNational Gallery of Denmark are de-veloping an application which willallow library users to create collabora-tive art. The user will download part ofthe work of art, add his or her owntouch and upload her version on theplatform. The result will be a multifa-ceted, chaotic but also artistic collabo-rative virtual mosaic, created by libraryusers. The project brings togetherlibraries as disseminators of media andmuseums as mediators of the visual.The exciting one-year project started inFebruary with the help of a grant fromthe Danish Agency for Culture.

http://projekter.bibliotekogmedier.dk/

projekt/collaborative-art

The future is a joint ventureWhat do the libraries of the future looklike? How can libraries gather evi-

dence-based data on users, non-usersand the interests and needs of differentuser segments? These are some of thekey questions the new library thinktank will try to explore. The nationalassociations of library directors andpublic, school, research and collegelibraries have initiated a project whereall types of libraries are welcome totake part. A few private companieshave also been invited. Many of thechallenges libraries are facing today,e.g. digitisation, concern all librarysectors which is why collaboration isneeded. The Danish library think tankstarted work in February 2012.

http://fremtidensbiblioteker.blogspot.com/

FINLAND

Libraries partners in eReadingeReading is a development and research project that began a couple ofyears ago. One of the aims of theproject is to develop business andservice models for the distribution ofelectronic contents. Since 2012 thepublic libraries, represented by Hel-sinki City Library as the CentralLibrary for Public Libraries, and theNational Library are among the projectpartners along with several publishinghouses. Libraries will develop test en-vironments for ebooks and gather userexperiences from library customers.Also in Sweden the Library Associa-

tion and the Publishers Associationhave appointed a working group whosetask it is to find a solution to ebookdistribution through libraries: to workout a feasible business model for sellingelectronic books to libraries andlending them out to users.

The 2011 Apps4Finland winners

http://apps4finland.fi/fi/en

Librarians on wheelsIn May 2011 over 80 librarians fromthe Nordic countries, Europe and as faras the US cycled from Copenhagen toBerlin. The Cycling for Libraries tourand unconference offered lively discus-sions on librarianship, a chance forcollaborative learning and makinglibraries and librarians visible outsidethe library buildings. This year, thispopular if somewhat unconventionalform of international cooperation andprofessional education heads for theBaltic countries prior to the WLICIFLA congress in Helsinki. This isappropriate as the idea for the Cyc4Liboriginated in Finland. The 2011 ven-ture is well documented in blogs, pic-tures and videos, which will also be thecase with the Baltic tour starting inVilnius, Lithuania on June 28.

Cycling for Libraries 2011.

The documentary

http://www.kirjastokaista.fi/cyc4lib/

http://www.cyclingforlibraries.org

ScandinavianShortcuts

Päivi Jokitalo

cation and linking of digital resources.The material will contain metadata onpersons, events, orchestras, bands,pictures, places, articles, books, pub-lishers, ads, concerts and sheet musicwith a connection to the musical scenein Bergen from 1765 onwards. Thepublic library owns a Grieg archive andthe concert programmes of the localorchestra will be scanned and docu-mented. A user interface making use ofthe potential of linked data will also bedesigned so that contents from diffe-rent and diverse sources can easily bediscovered and accessed.

www.nb.no/content/download/12911/81085/

version/1/file/2011-491.pdf

Information literacy for Ph.D. studentsWeb-based information literacy instru-ction, the role of libraries in researchand the needs of research library usersare being discussed in the InformationManagement for Knowledge Creation

NORWAY

Out in the woods: Nordic Camp IIIThe future of Nordic Labs and a morestable cooperation between them werediscussed during the third NordicCamp, held in Oslo in January.Another theme was the design of user-oriented services: how do we developservices that are simple and attractiveto the end-users? The Nordic Labs arean open network of library professio-nals with the aim of building networksand contributing to competence de-velopment especially in the area of newtechnologies. With the help of a grantfrom the National Library, Oslo PublicLibrary had hired a cottage for the 25participants on the outskirts of Oslo inorder to escape the buzz of the cityduring the two-day workshop. Thecampers came from public librariesand national or regional labs agencies -and the enthusiastic bunch evenmanaged to fit in a couple of skiing

spurts. One of the central ideas behindthe informal cooperation is to cut costsby designing joint services - andlearning from each other in theprocess.

http://bit.ly/nordicvideolab http://www.flickr.com/photos/buskfyb/

sets/72157628994314471/

Musical history of Bergen available to the publicThe most interesting projects of todayall seem to be the result of cross-sectoral collaborations. This is also thecase with the Musical History of Bergenproject where the libraries of theUniversity of Bergen and the Norwe-gian University of Science and Techno-logy in Trondheim, the Bergen Philhar-monic Orchestra and the Edvard GriegMuseum work together with theBergen Public Library in making themusic-related local contents availableto all users. The project also exploresnew methods and tools for the classif

26 SLQ:1 2012

ScandinavianShortcuts

Most wanted! Library data visualized

The Apps4Finland competition looksfor useful and fun applications andvisualizations of open data. Last year,the special prize for cultural data wasawarded to a visualization of the mostpopular works of fiction in the HelMet(Helsinki metropolitan region) libra-ries’ collections. The winning entrydepicts how the popularity of the mostborrowed fiction titles develops overtime.Two billboards based on library opendata were also shown on the streets ofHelsinki during February as part of theWorld Design Capital year. The postersrepresenting the most wanted titles andthe most popular subject areas of the

public library book collections werepart of a campaign promoting thevisualization of (open) data throughthe means of information design.

The 2011 Apps4Finland winnershttp://apps4finland.fi/fi/en

From the award galla in Helsinki

project, a collaborative endeavourbetween the university libraries of Osloand Bergen, Bergen University CollegeLibrary, Norwegian School of Econo-mics and Business Administration Li-brary and Aalborg University Libraryin Denmark. The first phase of theproject looked at the doctoral students’information needs and behaviour andstudied how the library services answerthese needs and support the researchprocess. Interviews with the Ph.D.students and their supervisors in bothcountries showed that libraries need tobe well familiar with the research pro-cesses to be able to give adequate help.It has also become clear that an on-going contact with students creates agood relationship with the library.Help and instruction will have to betailored and offered early on in doc-toral studies. The project funded by theNational Library of Norway continuesuntil 2013 when the web-based infor-mation literacy education modules willbe launched.

http://inma.b.uib.no/

SWEDEN

Mobile learning for university studentsThe University of Borås is one of thefirst in Sweden to invest in mobilelearning. The Library and InformationScience department has initiated thedevelopment of an application whichmakes mobile and flexible distance

learning possible. As practically everystudent owns a mobile device thechance to follow lectures and commu-nicate with teachers is welcomed by thestudents.

Biblioteksbladet nr 8, 2011

Letters to numbersAll the library sectors in Sweden areconsidering switching from theircurrent classification system to Dewey.This is a result of the National Librarymaking the decision to start using theDewey system in 2011. A project admi-nistered by The National Library

charted the needs of public and schoollibraries at the turn of the year fol-lowed by a pilot project with Sigtunamunicipal library. Sigtuna began thetransition from the Swedish SAB classi-fication system to Dewey in January.Although the individual organisationsmake their decisions independently,many of the public, school, academicand special libraries have alreadychosen to make the move. To make iteasier for the libraries, the NationalLibrary is organising staff training,ranging from introductory days toweek-long courses and regular webi-nars.

Biblioteksbladet nr 9, 2011

New kind of tablets for hospital patientsThe Uppsala University HospitalLibrary is quick to introduce newtechnologies. In addition to books,magazines, newspapers, music andfilms, the hospital library offers DVDand CD players for loan. A librarianvisits the different care units once aweek but patients can also book a visitfrom the staff to their bedside. Lastautumn the library piloted the use oftablet pc’s at the hospital in differentdepartments. Patients and their familyare able to access the internet, readebooks or use the iPads provided bythe library for playing games.

Biblioteksbladethttp://biblioteksbladet.se/index.php/2012/03/

13/patienter-far-lana-surfplattor/

Keep up with developments in the Nordic libraries in Scandinavian Library Quarterly. www.slq.nu

Scandinavian Library QuarterlyVolume 45, no. 1, 2012SLQNational Library of SwedenPO Box 24124 SE-104 51 StockholmSweden

Legally responsible publisher:Gunilla HerdenbergNational Librarian of Sweden

Editor-in-chiefRickard Carlssonrickard.carlsson@kb.seNational Library of Sweden

Co-editors in Denmark,Finland and Norway

Jonna Holmgaard Larsenjhl@kulturstyrelsen.dkDanish Agency for Culture

Barbro Wigell-Ryynänenbarbro.wigell-ryynanen@minedu.fiMinistry of Education and Culture

Tertit Knudsentertit.knudsen@nb.noNational Library of Norway

Lay-out: Staehr GrafiskStaehr@staehrgrafisk.dkPrint: C.S.Grafisk A/S

ISSN 0036-5602Electronic ISSN: 1604-4843

Scandinavian Library Quarterly(SLQ) is published by the NordicPublic Library Authorities

Päivi JokitaloFreelance Library

Specialist

pjokitalo@gmail.com

www.slq.nuScandinavian Library Quarterly