My focus will be on letting creativity an imagination free in the library. And tell you about how we atempt do just that in Århus
250 public libraries - more than 700 fixed service points The Danish Library strategy – some important principles: Core library services free of charge The hybrid library model is the frame for library development in Denmark (books and other media – games, digital information and so on disseminated on equal terms. No separation of the digital and physical library – one joint service)
The Municipality : 300.000 inhabitants Aarhus Public Libraries: 18 branches, 2.1 million visits per year
The main library, 3000 m2 for the users, 90 pc’s with internet, 750.000 visits per year Building from 1934
The picture is from the children’s section where local daycares and kindergartens have contributed to the decorations. A governmental rapport from 2008 has highlightet some important points in the development of the Danish children’s library: Families are an important target group The librarian has to get out there virtually and physically Play – the culture of children should be dissiminated like any other culture Social inclusion – providing a sanctuary and community for children – especially the less privileged The library management must prioritize the work with children and families
Team family is a busy family – we live in a individualized culture and we expect to be able to do our own thing When asked adults find family and work to be the two most important prioritees in their live. Danish children spend more and more time in institutions, but the time we spend together we really spend together – eating, talking, going out Finding the balance is an ongoing negotiation of individual needs versus the needs of the community – democratic family pattern
The family is an important factor for children using the library – they come together as a common activity. Children are also an important factor for adults coming to the library – it works both ways Family becomes an important target audience – not children and adults but families Experience – a common activity that unites the busy family They want to be together, but not necessarily to do the same thing – different activities Library is a safe place
85% of the danish population have internet acces at home 64% of the Danish population considers themselves experienced or very experienced in regards to using online search engines 53% of the danish youth (16-24 years) have great or some experience with using chatrooms or other online social foras The borrowing of books has gone down with 30 % in 10 years On a national basis only 50% of the library users take home books or other media. The fundations of the library is changing – regardless if your working with children or adults The change is more evident when working with children – because they use ICT more naturally than most library staff does
Children today are also reffered to as digital natives because they are born into the internet age – to them world without www is just as strange as the world without printing would be to us – the digital immigrants who have proactively integrated www into our lives When digital immigrants function as mentors for the digital natives it is important that we do it on their terms and that we are open to dialogue and for learning something new ourselves We still have to play our part in the digital education of children – handling, sorting and remixing the information and entertainement available The library has an important role for those children who don’t have the financial means or parental support to integrate ICT in their everyday life
Mediaspace 2014 Reason for testing and devlopping new services (Knowledge and experiences are gathered and transferred in some way into the planning of this new building.) Has renewed the focus on the physical library – what is the physical library to be, when more and more services are available from home, more and more information available om the internet – news, weblogs… Why spend time at the physical library – thoughts and ideas from Web 2.0 / Library 2.0 transferred to the physical library: Integrating and presentating data and dialogue in a new way Users can relate to different subjects and express their oppinion Blurring the line between creation and consumption
I now want to share with you some exempels of our atemps to bringe creativity and imagination in the library.
Projectpartnership of three public libraries and two research centres Why play in the library? Connecting children across age (in school, institutions, sports they are coupled with children their own age) Play is the culture of children – it’s a heritage that needs to be collected an dissiminated like other cultural stuff
The Danish educational system has had a preference for introducing play as a means for learning – learning math, geography through play and games. ” Families at Play in the Library” is about play for the sake of play – play has a meaning by itself . You don’t just have to play to learn, but you have to learn to play – every game has its rules, abiblities – running, spitting, jumping, singing, rhyming Play promotes social skills (getting along), creativity and imagination – compentencies that are important in today’s globalised world ” coming into play” (the trampoline) – emidiate response, unpredictable, sets your body in motion, negationating and developping the rules and purpose of the activity, in a closed space (the net) - Stimulate physical activity and recreational purposes
The storage room is a living lab – observations, small changes for instance in our behavior – one week laid back staff and one week very tidy staff Not a playground but a construction ground – explore, build, replace, experience, go back in time to when your parents were children Preliminary results of observations: Children get the spirit of the installation immediately, but it is very important to address the parents through a code of conduct and dialogue The old computers and Nintendo appeal to older children and their fathers. Many stories of childhood dreams and hopes have been told The exploration part – finding what is in the drawers and closets appeal to the girls and the younger children
Play as a motivation for learning Creating, interpreting and exchanging the complex web of words, sounds and pictures that compromise modern ICT and social technologies Exploring the design of the physical library, linking the gap between the virtual and the physical through pervasive computing
Inspirational browser for children’ s litterature Using new technology and physical play to create interest and dialogue around children’s litterature
A device that reads the books RFID-tags. Make a comment on the book and listen to others.
New technolgy, old topic: Local heritage , history. Creates dialogue among the children – how does it work and in the families – mother and father get an oppertunity to reminess about their own childhood
In Denmark children are quite old before they are free to move around by bike or public transportation Until the children are around 6-7 years they primarily move around at home or in the close neighbourhood, school. When they go elsewhere it is typically a planned activity – sports, playdates… The library represents a space where children across age and cultural background can get together a develop their social and negotiation skills It also represents an activity to do together within the family We just have to provide the physical settings and staff that will get the families in a playfull mood
New technology as a topic for teaching children and thereby also creating a formalized sozial network for the participating children
A living picture of the local community – loved by both adults and children, many family portraits tapestry
Teenagers The spotmobil was designed and decorated by teenagers It goes where teenagers go and gives them what they need: internet, magazines, lounging, wii The library gets an outpost to inform on library services to a target audience that find the library concept quite boring
To approaches to working online with children, tweens and teens: One is an extension of the spotmobil – use the social media the children already are using, use their language, get them to design and create the content. The other is an example of a hostess service for children where we on a national basis create safe browsing and chatting
World of Warcraft battle at the library – open all night Working from the perspective of your target audience – knowing their preferences, language and get a hold of their network
Chat with Olivia Answar each others questions Design postcards Surfing
Co-creation Methods that create new ideas and raise commitment around the library
Getting in touch with your users or non-users
Workshops – testing your ideas before or creating new ones – saves time and money
Parents modify their children’s behavior The signals adults pick up on and the ones children pick up on are not the same – children are fare more intuitive while parents assess their behavoir in relation to signs and staff behavior Parents have a predisposition for making their children restrain themselves to finding books when they come to the library – they want to give their children the same library experience they had as children
Children have great importance on the parent’s use of the library – how often and how long Parents are until the children reach 8-10 years the initiator of library visits
Modern libraryservice goes two ways – it’s a dialogue Library staff in Denmark are working with the challange of leaving their position behind the computerscreen as experts – we don’t know it all (especially in regard to tweens and ICT) and start asking questions , learning more about our users
Picture of a bodystorm – a paperversion of the story surfer … to raise commitment … to gain knowledge of library users and their needs … to create innovation meaning new ideas put to use
With all these new social technologies it is easy to loose one self in all the information, but library 2.0 is about connecting people not data! Especially important if you try to transfer the notion of library 2.0 to the physical library – it becomes more a mindset and not so much technology
So before investing in new technology, creating blogs or shooting videos for YOUtube be clear on, what is it you want to tell – whats the story , the content can never be ”testing this or that technology”
The commitment of library staff is very high (we get paid) when it comes to promoting and developping library services, but people in general are very busy – if you want their opinion or attention make it shot, easy and concise – we often overestimate the time people have available
The competent person is a development where Network for Adult Education in Aarhus and Citizens' Services and Libraries are working to innovate the potential for cooperation between public education and public libraries. Project partners will work with other key stakeholders to create a model for decentralized collaborative constellations in the future to meet the individual citizen's needs for competence. The project must first identify the collaborative experience already exists in Aarhus and identify barriers and opportunities, and gather ideas for future work together through the idea development workshops and also explore new cooperative constellations. The ambition of this project is that it will help to build bridges and create synergy between public information, volunteer actors, adult education and public libraries at municipal, regional and national levels.
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