The issue in PDF - Scandinavian Library Quarterly

No. 3. 2008
Theme: Excellence in Library Service to Children
Edit rial
Children's right to excellence in library service. Mats Hansson 3
Literary paths for children in Northern Finland. Helena Kokko 4
Tromsø Apple Library project for functionally disabled children. Elin Marianne Paulsen 6
Ten Commandments for the future children library. Anna Enemark 8
The key to future libraries for children and young people. Lo Claesson 10
Viewp int
Portrait of the Google Generation. Seppo Verho 12
The (more or less) bookless children’s library. Monica C. Madsen 14
The room as mediator. Monica C. Madsen 16
Days of children’s literature in Åland. Benita Ahlnäs 18
Gamers ... in the library? Jonas Svartberg Arntzen, Øyvind Svaleng, Marte Vatshelle Salvesen 20
Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. Access to Learning Award 2009 23
Scandinavian Shortcuts 24
Coverphoto: Beate Ranheim. Game evening at Drammen Library
Are library services for children up to date?
There has been much discussion about how library services should be developed to maintain the interest of patrons,
especially young people. Library services for children must also be developed, i.e. what are the best ways to serve
them now and in the future.
Barbro Wigell-Ryynänen
Editor-in-chief.
Counsellor for Library
Affairs, Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland
What does the library offer children? Are the collections diverse enough? Do the library personnel know how to
advise and inspire children? Does the library offer other activities in addition to computer games?
The children’s librarian is specialized in children’s library services, knows how to acquire and recommend suitable
library material for people of different ages, to organize story hours and other activities, to design web pages for children, and to listen to the wishes of children. The children’s librarian is irreplaceable, but children’s library services
are an issue concerning the entire personnel; they are an important part of customer service.
Barbro Wigell-Ryynänen
Editor-in-chief
Translation: Turun Täyskäännös
Tarja Mäkinen,
Assistant editor,
Administrative assistant,
Ministry of Education and
Culture, Finland
Edit rial
Children’s right to
excellence in library service
Libraries for children and young people
have long been a high priority area for
Swedish municipal politicians. Municipalities have had years of experience in successfully developing and maintaining library services for children and young people.
Effective models for cooperation
between public libraries, schools, child
care centres and youth clubs have been
developed, but the very success of these
models may have engendered a certain
complacency – why be innovative when
proven methods work so well? Scandinavian public libraries, especially those
for children and young people, have
long been objects of admiration and
served as examples for library development in other countries.
There is, however, always the risk of
well-established activities stagnating.
Everyday routines might preclude analysis or reflection, and the innovative
might become merely monotonous.
This is why it is so exciting to be able,
in the pages of Scandinavian Public
Library Quarterly, to follow the inspiring projects and ideas that continue to
revitalize Scandinavian libraries.
Dialogue, interaction and cooperation
have become more and more important in the development of library strategies, and nowhere is this more evident than in children's libraries. Today,
more than ever, the special needs of
children and young people are taken
into consideration, making it easier for
them to influence library service
content.
Library service for children and young
people is just as important as service to
adults. Public libraries have a special
responsibility to create and reinforce
reading habits, and to be a resource in
searching for and evaluating information. Through the diversity of library
collections and activities children can
discover for themselves the joy of
reading and the excitement of exploring knowledge. In this way libraries
contribute to strengthening children's
and young people's personal growth
and their development into active
members of society.
Library service for children and young
people can’t be discussed without
mentioning the cooperation that exists
between public and school libraries,
the latter being an essential element of
public library service.
The Swedish Library Act, which came
into force in 1997, makes it clear that
municipalities are responsible for public and school libraries: “Public and
school libraries shall afford special
attention to children and young persons by offering books, information
technology and other media adapted to
their needs in order to promote
language development and stimulate
reading.”
The act emphasizes the mutual responsibility that public and school libraries
have by creating circumstances where
all children have the opportunity to
read for pleasure and to independently
use information they have accessed.
Successful collaboration between public and school libraries is only possible
Mats Hansson
if mutual responsibility is taken by
each sector. There have been suggestions that schools sometimes place
unreasonable demands on local public
libraries by not shouldering their share
of the responsibility, i.e. neglecting to
establish adequately staffed school
libraries.
The Swedish National Agency for Education has stated that many school
libraries are not freely accessible due to
little or no library staff. The Agency
also maintains that international research has shown there to be a relation
between reading ability and access to
school libraries.
The municipalities are the local
authority responsible for both public
and school library budgets, and in
accordance with an addendum to the
Library Act in 2005, are obliged to
formulate library plans - operational
proposals for library service in the
municipality. The library plan should
be a strategic analysis of overall library
requirements in relation to learning,
social, health and industrial sectors in
the municipality. The plans should also
propose measures suggesting how these
requirements can be met by, among
other things, recommending roles and
responsibilities and defining mutual
and specific performance objectives. In
June 2008 less than half of all Swedish
municipalities had ratified library
plans.
Mats Hansson
Desk officer
Swedish Arts Council
mats.hansson@kulturradet.se
Translated by Greg Church
SPLQ:3 2008
3
FINLAND
Literary paths for children
in Northern Finland
The City of Rovaniemi and the Rovaniemi
rural commune merged in the year 2006,
which made Rovaniemi the largest city in
Europe with regard to area. In addition to
the main library, the Regional Library of
Lapland has libraries in four of the larger
residential areas.
The amount of loans exceeded 1.3 million
in 2007, more than 33 % of which were
taken out at the children and adolescent
department.
The different library locations clearly
have different roles based on age.
Adults account for most of the loans
taken out at the main library, but in the
smaller libraries, children and adolescents account for nearly half of all
loans. There are more families living in
the residential areas – when the library
is close by, it is safe and easy to visit.
Moreover, school groups visit more
often when the library is just a stone’s
throw away.
Some of the villages in the municipality may be as far as 100 km from the
centre of Rovaniemi. There are village
libraries in conjunction with ten
schools and two bookmobiles that service the extensive area of the municipality. The bookmobile has a total of 33
routes and 262 stops, some of which
are near schools and daycares. Children
and youth especially are the absolute
number-one patrons in the bookmobile; nearly 70 % of the loans comprise
material for children and adolescents.
Games, movies and books
Merging the municipalities did not
4
SPLQ:3 2008
cause any great upheaval in children’s
library work because the Rovaniemi
city library and the libraries in the
rural commune were already working
in close cooperation. Work in the
children’s libraries is far-reaching and
strives to obtain partners among
various bodies. The work is also rather
mobile, i.e. library staff, equipped with
their book bags, visit schools, daycares,
afternoon school clubs and parentteacher meetings to talk about the
wonders of reading.
The library’s cooperation with daycares
involves familiarizing children with the
library and the presentation of movies.
When children visit the library, the
staff utilizes an idea from the Espoo
municipal library; it is a game in which
the children solve the mystery behind a
mystery card, ponder over book allergies, visit the book hospital, and
change themselves into a book being
loaned. The Minikino movies are presented in the libraries every spring and
autumn. The presentations have been
organized for more than 10 years and
last year’s 21 presentations attracted
more than 1,700 viewers.
More than 350 school groups visited
the libraries in 2007. The visits include
a presentation of library services, use of
databases, and guidance in seeking information. The Regional Library of
Lapland works in close cooperation
with the Lyseonpuisto high school.
First-year students visit the library in
the autumn and receive guidance in
seeking information. Just over onethird of the visits by groups involve
presentations of literature and book
recommendations, to help children
find books best suitable for them and
to offer alternatives alongside the bestsellers. Indeed, a recommended book is
not necessarily the absolute latest in
literature because there are interesting
reads among older literature as well; it
just has to be properly marketed. Book
recommendations not only include
fiction, but also non-fiction, poems,
picture books and comics.
Participation in a number of projects
The Regional Library of Lapland has
been involved in many projects which
promote reading. One of the projects
involved book recommendations,
teaching of information seeking, visits
by authors and shadow plays. The idea
was to present non-fiction literature in
association with textbooks used in
schools. Fifth- and sixth-graders from
various schools took part in the project. History was chosen as the topic
and book packages containing both
fiction and non-fiction about the
Middles Ages, the Iron Age, and
ancient Egypt were created. Raili
Mikkanen, writer for young people,
was a guest speaker, and she told about
the writing of historical novels. Under
the direction of puppet theatre artist,
Leila Peltonen, pupils made shadow
plays of their stories. The project
culminated with an afternoon together
when pupils presented their shadow
plays to each other.
The ‘Lupa lukea’ project came to an
end last year. During the course of the
project, library staff visited village
Helena Kokko
schools in Rovaniemi recommending
books and providing tips for good
reads. The project reached nearly 1,200
children and youth.
Teachers and teachers-to-be are important partners for libraries. Cooperation
regarding children and reading has
been carried out with the Department
of Education at the University of Lapland. Each year, students studying to
become class teachers learn about the
work in children’s libraries and book
recommendations.
Books on the go
The Regional Library of Lapland offers
anthologies for schools to use that contain fiction, thematic packages, poems
and plays. The sizes of the anthologies
vary from 10- to 30-book packages of
the same book for children in different
grades. At the moment, the collection
comprises more than 300 anthologies,
a total of nearly 8,000 volumes. The
anthologies are available to all schools
in the province of Lapland and transportation can be arranged with the
joint transportation system in the
Lapland library network.
Schools in Rovaniemi also utilize the
library collections; reading packages
are made from the collections upon
request, or classes visit the library and
borrow what they want to read.
Teachers in Rovaniemi are given class
library cards, which they use to borrow
reading packages.
Dancing into the world of poetry
The library has strived to expand book
recommendations to young adults as
well, working in cooperation with
teachers of Finnish and literature in
high schools. Anthologies representing
various themes were put together,
including books that were forbidden
during different periods in time, literature from Lapland, poems and plays.
The purpose of gathering together
various reading recommendations was
to introduce readers to the library’s
diverse collection of material and lower
the threshold for taking advantage of
it, while at the same time to present
literary works that teachers do not have
time to discuss during lessons. There
has been a demand for this type of
cooperation even after the project was
finished.
The purpose of the Runotanssi project
is to arouse interest in living literature
by offering a setting for various forms
of art, poetry and dance. Dance is used
to arouse a desire to read; what happens when rhythm, word and motion
are combined? Several different bodies
are taking part in the project, the efforts of whom have helped to prepare
the poetry and choreography for the
presentations and to carry out the
performances. Runotanssi visited
various schools in Rovaniemi during
May 2008, and the project will continue during the upcoming autumn.
Other events intended for young
people include ‘Kirjastorokki’ and ‘24 h’
comics event. The annual ‘Kirjastorokki’ was organized for the first time
in the music department of the Regional Library of Lapland. The occasion
offers an excellent opportunity to both
local bands and bands around Lapland
to perform. Throughout the years,
‘Kirjastorokki’ has grown to such an
extent that it requires large premises
such as youth clubs.
The library worked in partnership with
the Lapland cultural network and the
Arctic Comics Centre in organizing the
international ‘24 h’ comics festival for
the first time last autumn. Comics
hobbyists conjured up characters and
stories and drew their comics around
the clock in the library’s facilities. The
completed works were put in a joint
exhibition in the lobby of the Regional
Library of Lapland in May last. The
comics event will continue in the upcoming autumn.
Helena Kokko
Senior Librarian
Regional Library of Lapland
helena.kokko@rovaniemi.fi
Translated by Turun Täyskäännös
Photo: Tiina Niemi
NORWAY
Tromsø Apple Library project for
functionally disabled children
The Apple Library in Tromsø affirms every
child’s right of access to good books. The
library is a two-year project initiated by the
Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum
Authority. In the spring of 2007 it was decided to establish the first Norwegian
Apple Library at the Tromsø Library and
Town Archives. The aim of the project is to
offer better library services to functionally
disabled children, while at the same time
creating a model library.
All children have the right to books!
The UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child clearly states in Article 23
that: “A mentally or physically disabled
child should enjoy a full and decent life
in conditions which ensure dignity,
promote self-reliance and facilitate the
child’s active participation in the
community”. A functionally disabled
child has the right to special care.
The question is one of equality and of
the right to participate in the life of the
community; at school, at work and
elsewhere. It is a manifest right that all
children should be able to participate
in cultural life. Access to library services is a democratic right, a right affirmed in Norway by the Library Act of
1985, § 1.
A library, user-friendly and accessible
to all, can play a significant role as a
responsible participant in the local
community, always provided it has the
means and the framework necessary to
exploit all opportunities.
6
SPLQ:3 2008
Why place the Apple Library in Tromsø?
In the spring of 2007 the Norwegian
Archive, Library and Museum Authority announced the availability of financial support for a two-year project
which public libraries could apply for
in order to establish the first Norwegian Apple Library.
The aim of the project is to create a
pilot library offering good library services for functionally disabled children,
which can be an inspiration to other
libraries to follow suit. All children
should be able to enjoy an equal standard of services from their local library,
whether alone, together with friends,
family or classmates.
The means employed consist of a combination of standard universal design
with special elements. Improved expertise and user participation are core
strategies in achieving our goal.
We were chosen from among nine
good applicants to establish Norway’s
first Apple Library.
from our neighbouring country,
Sweden. As early as in 1993 the first
Apple Library was opened in Härnösand. Their inspiration in turn came
from ‘The Library for the Handicapped
Child’ in London.
The choice of an apple as a symbol for
this special activity arose from the fact
that the Härnösand Library received
sponsorship from the American computer company in the form of personal
computers, which naturally carried the
firm’s logo.
The Tromsø Library moved into new
premises in August 2005. This meant
that a number of features later necessary to the working of the ‘Apple’
department were already in place from
the start. These included markings
showing the way to the entrance door,
a lift for disabled users and desks
which can be raised or lowered for the
benefit of visitors in a wheelchair.
What is an Apple Library?
When we began the ‘Apple Library’
project in Tromsø last autumn, we
received several comments from people
amused by the name and choosing to
take it too literally. In actual fact we are
talking about a department in the library which is specially planned and
arranged to meet the needs of functionally disabled children.
Since the opening of the Apple Library,
however, a new survey has been carried
out in accordance with an accessibility
standard established in connection
with the project ‘The Accessible Library’. By and large the premises met the
relevant recommendations, but certain
improvements have nevertheless been
carried out. These include a hearing
loop (Telecoil), the marking of stairs
and all glass surfaces, guidelines on the
floor with the apple symbol showing
the way to the department, etc.
The origin of the name and the inspiration for the Apple Library comes
The department’s equipment includes a
personal computer with adapted soft-
Elin Marianne
Paulsen
ware, trackball mouse, a special keyboard and a computer desk which can
be raised or lowered as required. In
addition we have chosen to categorise
the collection somewhat differently
from the traditional system. We have
also used large signs with symbols and
a simple text to make the collection as
accessible as possible.
The department’s media include sign
language, bliss, Braille, audio books
and books with simple text and illustrations. We have also tried to make
the collection more accessible by combining different media, such as putting
a printed book together with the corresponding audio version into one
package. This combination offers
greater possibilities and extra support
for children with reading difficulties.
In addition to the physical surroundings, the infrastructure and the collection of special books and media, the
Apple Library consists of specially
designed services. We are also planning
specific arrangements aimed at different user groups
Our experiences so far
It is relatively easy to point out the
practical steps to be taken when establishing an apple library, mainly because
guidelines already exist to make libraries more accessible to the functionally
disabled.
Specially adapted books and media,
however, are few and far between and
even these are not always as suitable for
our purposes as we could wish. We
have thought creatively and looked for
books and media from less traditional
sources. In addition we have developed
our own ‘packages’ aimed at making
literature more accessible to a greater
number of children.
We should also mention that a group
consisting of staff from the children’s
department, the project group, the
library management and a local politician has made a study tour to Gothenburg and Kungsbacka, where they were
able to benefit from the expertise and
experience of their Swedish colleagues.
The previous project leader for the
Halland region, Kerstin Frii, has been a
constant source of inspiration to us in
our work.
A vital aspect of a well-functioning
apple library is the relationship
between the library and its users. In
order to come into contact with our
users we cooperate with a variety of
organisations, including of course
kindergartens and schools catering for
children with special needs. These
contacts give us important information
in our efforts to ensure that the apple
department meets the requirements
and wishes of its users.
However, the most important factor for
a well-run apple library lies in neither
the physical surroundings nor the collection, but in the competence of library staff. Our experience is that staff
need to upgrade their knowledge with
regard to a better understanding of the
needs of the disabled and the challenges inherent in the various types of
disability. We have paid equal attention
to this aspect of the project as to the
design of the building and the contents
of the collection.
The duties of library staff are many
and varied and in a hectic day’s work it
is not always easy to give priority to the
demands of the apple library. Our
experience is that the establishing and
running of these services is totally
dependent upon the library being able
to put aside resources for this particular purpose, first and foremost a
responsible leader to manage the collection and to maintain contact with
users. The Apple Library in Tromsø
was opened on the 26. May, roughly six
months after the project was launched.
We are now in an initial phase which
will present a number of exciting challenges, the main one being to incorporate the department into overall library
plans, so that it becomes a natural part
of our activities.
An advertising firm has designed the
colourful apple logo which we use in a
variety of ways to present and to promote the library. Our apple symbolises
that every child has the right to feed from
the tree of knowledge.
The library is situated in the centre of
Tromsø.
Elin Marianne Paulsen
Project leader, Apple Library Project, Tromsø
elin.paulsen@tromso.kommune.no
Translated by Eric Deverill
Photos: Tromsø Library and City Archive
SPLQ:3 2008
7
DENMARK
Ten Commandments
for the future children library
A new report gives recommendations and
suggestions for the libraries’ services to
children in Denmark. The goal is that the libraries can match children’s actual everyday lives, media interest and various other
cultural needs with focus on the position of
play, social inclusion, cultural formation
and good reading skills
Children have acquired new media
habits and more leisure arenas, and this
means that the use of libraries is decreasing. The number of children using
the public library at least once a month
has fallen from 51% in 1998 to 39% in
2004.
This fact made the Danish minister for
culture, appointed a committee to consider future library services to children.
The committee made an analysis and
wrote a report with ten specific recommendations – and the conclusion is
clear: The library is still one of the
most important cultural resources for
children in the local communities. But
we need radical changes if we want to
make sure that the library
maintains its status
as a central
educational
institution
for children.
Important
focus
areas in
this
change
are the staff ’s ability to communicate
with children and to support their
cultural development and competences
as well as their play culture.
Library services in the future must
provide broad media experiences
across materials and genres. Mediation
should be adapted to the children’s
need for participation, and they must
be given exciting physical frames within which to expand. New partnerships
with i.a. school libraries and more
outreach activities are also areas open
to change and innovation.
Challenges and new possibilities
The library can no longer base it legitimacy solely on giving children physical
access to sought-after materials as was
the case in the industrial society.
Today the library is not a concept with
one clear function: The library is both a
physical building in the urban space/at
school and a cultural institution in
society. The libraries therefore have to
find a new legitimacy and a more definite profile in relation to children.
In order to support children in areas
relevant to both their everyday lives
and their future, the libraries must
combine the library act’s three overall
objectives about enlightenment, experience and education.
Enlightenment is not just giving individual access to information via search
engines, portals etc. Enlightenment is
also application with insight. The library’s task is therefore to contribute to
developing children’s ability to trans-
form information into relevant insight.
Experience is not just mediating fiction
in book form and creating frames for
cultural events. Experience includes all
cultural expressions – visual, auditive
and multi-medial. The library’s task is
therefore to contribute to developing
children’s quality awareness in relation
to all kinds of expressions and to
encourage their interest in the curious,
surprising and provoking content in all
kinds of materials.
Education is not just the ‘measurable’
that takes place in the formal classroom. Education also happens in semiformal rooms such as the library, and
in informal rooms where learning is
not the prime objective, when children
e.g. learn the rules of role play in order
to join the game.
It is the library’s task to help create
frames where children in the company
of other children and adults can ‘cultivate’ themselves and develop competences. The library cannot and should
not be a school. But the library can become a bridge builder between informal learning processes, individual networks and formalised educational
institutions like school.
The report has been presented on a
number of road shows different places
in Denmark, and the reaction from the
librarians are very positive, so far: They
see the report as a tool to make strategic development of their service and
they are very open to solutions based
on nationwide concepts which gives
some clear advantages and possibilities
to ‘pump up the volume’.
Anna Enemark
The National Library Agency is now
working to support the implement of
the recommendations and suggestions
in the report. Development of new
competences is first priority and there
will be offered courses on diploma level
to the stuff in the library. Beside that, a
number of other initiatives will be
taken by the Agency, launching a national granted programme concerning
the library and social inclusion, e.g.
The report is available in printed and
in digital form. Please send an email to
post@bibliotekogmedier.dk to order
one, or download it at:
http://www.bs.dk/publikationer/andre/
fremtidens/index.htm.
A summery of the report is available at
our homepage www.bs.dk.
The committee’s main recommendations
are set out as Ten Commandments:
1. New competences create new activities
in the library
A new media landscape, new cultural
habits and different demands and
expectations require the development
of new competences in the library.
Library staff must be more visible on
the net, facilitate activities in the
library and organise meetings and
dialogue with users where they actually
are.
2. The library space must create surprise
and inspiration
We need new concepts for the design of
the physical library space. The library
must be attractive for children to be,
learn and play in.
3. The libraries develop their net services
The libraries create new frames and
facilities i.a. by exploiting social
technologies and using staff as hosts
and resources in virtual networks for
children.
4. Children play – in the library
The library can turn play and play culture into a central area of activity. The
library can create space for play, make
toys and games available and advise on
games and toys.
5. The library gives children reading experiences and reading skills
The library continues the work on
encouraging children’s zest for reading,
reading experiences and reading skills.
6. Create assets in new forms of cooperation between school library and public
library
Schools and libraries can work more
closely together and coordinate services
to children. Exploit the various competences of the two library types by doing
things together.
7. The library creates community feeling
– also for those outside
The library adapts its services to children with special needs: Handicapped,
socially vulnerable and children with
ethnic background other than Danish.
8. The library supports learning and
cultural development
The library supports formal and
informal learning that enables children
to grow and develop competences in
coding, creating and exchanging text,
sounds and images.
9. The library must reach out to children
The library reaches out to children and
offer services where children actually
move around: Kindergartens, day-care
centres, schools and associations.
10. The library’s management focuses
on children
The libraries’ management prioritizes
staff, money and time – for continuously rethinking, innovating and
locally adapting the library’s services to
children.
Instead of discussing whether we
should focus on children’s cultural
development or their information
needs, on books or computer games,
on places ‘to be’ or places ‘to learn’, we
need a new foundation for development. A vital resource in the knowledge society is people’s ability to
create, interpret and exchange all forms
of content in physical and digital
media. Consequently, a new ‘cultural
formation’ concept can form the basis
for progressive library service. The
concept includes both information,
experience and communication, both
intellectual and emotional learning
components and ‘old’ as well as ‘new’
media.
Anna Enemark,
Consultant on children and culture
Danish Agency for Libraries and Media
aeb@bs.dk
Translated by Vibeke Cranfield
SPLQ:3 2008
9
SWEDEN
The key to future libraries
for children and young people
The daily lives and media consumption habits of children and young people are subject to rapid and continual change. Their
overall use of the library has diminished
and the way they use the library has
changed.
How then can libraries in the future present themselves as an attractive option for
this user group?
This was the question asked by three
county libraries (Jönköping, Skåne , Västra
Götaland) in the project ‘2020 Mars Express’.
More than three years of intensive
work, hundreds of participating children and young people, study visits,
conferences, workshops, focus groups
and field work have all contributed to
the insights and experience that has
become something that we have come
to call ‘The Mars Express Concept’.
Listening to children and young people
before we initiate changes has become
a fundamental aspect. Familiarity with
children’s and young people’s world
view, their needs and their living conditions is essential.
If we want to create positive and lasting
relations with this group then we must
understand how they communicate,
and learn to communicate with them.
It is essential that library staff are well
disposed towards children and young
people and ‘see them’ when they visit
the library.
2020 Mars Express started in autumn
2005 and ended in February 2008.
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SPLQ:3 2008
Around 15 children’s librarians have
participated, and during the last year,
library directors and library IT-staff
joined each municipality’s project
team.
The project was divided into two
phases. The First Stage was developing
and testing methods to get children
and young people actively engaged in
the design and purpose of the library’s
physical spaces. In the Second Stage we
wanted to find out how new technologies could help make the library more
exciting as well as stimulating reading
and learning – experimentally to begin
with, but with an increasingly tangible
presence in the libraries.
The natural starting point has been
children and young people’s own suggestions, ideas and wishes. Several libraries in the project had previously
worked with focus groups, interviews
and various types of questionnaires but
we wanted to penetrate a little deeper
and, together with children and young
people, test other methods.
Another exciting point of departure
has been Howard Gardner’s theories of
multiple intelligences. If the library is
really going to be an attractive meeting
place for everyone then the physical
space and the activities there have to
reflect the way children express themselves.
Study visits together with groups of
children or young people and observations made with and by children and
young people have also provided interesting results.
We feel as though the most challenging
and useful results have been reached
when we have worked together with
other professions. Using workshops has
been very productive: We have conducted workshops with cultural and
educational pedagogues and social
workers, with architects and architectural consultants, with designers and
artists, with scene and stage designers.
Collaboration with other professions
provides a useful perspective on one’s
own profession as well as enhancing
and increasing personal competence.
Ubiquitous computing
During the information gathering stage
we came across the terms ‘ubiquitous
computing’ and ‘interaction design’.
This felt like something that was relevant for libraries so we contacted
universities specializing in these research areas.
We started to collaborate with teachers
and students at, among others, The
Department for Lighting Design at the
University of Jönköping, Chalmers
University in Gothenburg and the
Computer Science Department at Malmo University’s School of Technology.
Technology in libraries is not just computers. Nevertheless new technologies
can help to develop an environment
conducive to creativity, learning, play
and fantasy. Collaboration with science
centres and museums can provide unlimited opportunities. It is possible for a
library to be much more than that with
which we usually associate the term
without losing its special identity. The
Lo Claesson
connection with universities and other
institutions of higher learning generates a number of positive effects for
further development and spreads the
idea of public libraries as exciting
arenas for new ways of thinking.
University students have worked with
several of the project libraries to produce lightning designs and prototypes
for technical solutions which can contribute to interaction between patron
and the library’s physical space, in turn,
stimulating the desire to read.
Now what?
What will happen now? Will things just
go back to the way they were before?
No – with Mars Express it is obvious
that a process has started. In several
cases at least one of the project goals
has been attained, namely that libraries
in project municipalities start thinking
in new ways as regards children’s and
young people’s libraries. Changes have
happened in all of the participating
municipalities – either in the physical
library space or in staff attitudes. Three
examples of concrete changes/processes
are:
• The Municipality of Molndal is building a new cultural centre to be inaugurated in 2010. Lessons learned in the
Mars Express project have had a broad
influence on planning and thinking.
Even the Molndal City Planning Office
now knows what Mars Express is all
about. Children’s librarians active in
the project have participated in working groups and been able to influence
architects and interior designers. A
digital workshop with a studio for digital media production is planned and
a student of interaction design is building an interactive gaming room as
part of his Master’s thesis.
• The Gislaved Library has been completely renovated including new surface
materials, specially created ‘considerate
design’ furniture, RFID implementation, etc. A windowless room features a
workshop with a black box; here a student from the Department for Lighting
Design at the University of Jonkoping
has suggestions for lighting installations to render the room more flexible
and exciting. Sound domes have been
installed. The project group has taken
courses in storytelling and film editing
with the idea of producing, for example, digital book tips together with children.
• The children’s and young people’s
department of the new Ostra Goinges
library is going to feature a natural
science perspective with a special focus
on astronomy. Here, there will be a
two-level space rocket constructed by
interaction designers with areas for
reading and interaction. The library
catalogue will make it easy to find
books on outer space and astronomy
which will then be simple to locate
thanks to special diode lighting on the
bookshelves. Media packages for borrowing will be placed at the rocket.
Library staff have completed courses in
storytelling so as to be able to work
with natural science stories. These
courses have been complemented with
mime training in an effort to find more
ways of communicating with young
patrons.
“It is stimulating to be made to think
in new ways with 2020 Mars Express.
External impressions, our own efforts
and the things we have seen with our
own eyes all contribute to creating new
processes for every one of us that participated in the project.”
Per Karlsson, children’s librarian,
Nassjo City Library
“These days I see almost everything
with Mars Express eyes. This means
that I ascertain what children and
young kids think before initiating any
changes that affect them.”
Lena Jonsson, children’s librarian,
Molndal
Many other libraries have already been
inspired by what has been done in the
various project municipalities, as well
as the lecture tours, conferences, etc.
which have been arranged.
A documentation of the project can be
found at www.barnensbibliotek.se/
2020marsexpress.
2020 Mars Express was presented at the
74. IFLA Conference in Québec, Canada 2008 where the theme was: Setting
Sails for New Horizons. 2020 Mars
Express has pointed us in the right
direction. Now it is time for takeoff.
Lo Claesson,
Library consultant
Regional Library of Jonkoping, Sweden
lo.claesson@jonkoping.se
Translated by Greg Church
SPLQ:3 2008
11
FINLAND
Portrait of the
Google Generation
New research has burst the bubble about
the Google Generation’s traits of media behavior. However, the generation is a diverse one and demands that library services
are intuitive, interactive and sociable.
The Google Generation refers to those
who do not remember the time before
the Internet, i.e. those born after 1993.
They have also been coined ‘digital natives’, the native-born dwellers of the
digital world.
The real truth about the new generation takes shape in an extensive report
by British research team, CIBER, and a
longitudinal study carried out by
Finnish researchers in the University of
Tampere (see further details at the end
of this article). The CIBER report
counters many myths, e.g. the new
generation does not trust peers more
than authority any more than other
people. Moreover, people of this generation do not use more time than
others in communicating with others
over the Internet; on the contrary,
senior citizens were found to be more
active in this respect. The Google
Generation does not learn new technological phenomena through trial and
error, but through the use of manuals,
like they should. People of this generation want the information they are
seeking immediately and in chunks
easy to decipher, but on the other
hand, so does everyone else.
The most dangerous myth
A commonly accepted myth has been
12
SPLQ:3 2008
that the Google generation is more
skilled in searching for information
than the generation before it. This has
proven to be a dangerous myth as it
does not portray the truth. Adept skill
in word processing does not necessarily
mean adept skill in searching for information.
The CIBER report reveals that, according to library criteria, the skills of
school children in searching for information have remained at a poor level
from one generation to the next. Young
people do not really know how to
choose a database appropriate to their
information needs. Furthermore, they
easily overlook the best hit for their
search results.
One reason for the problems is that
small children, especially, have an incomplete picture of the structures of
the Internet or information, nor do
they possess the linguistic ability
needed to express search terms that
satisfy the lexicon in the search engine.
They would rather use natural
language. One of the worst drawbacks
for young people is their inability to
critically evaluate the reliability of the
information they find; they tend to
analyze a website using dubious
methods, such as basing the reliability
of information on the appearance of
the website itself.
The Google Generation feels that the
information search tools in libraries are
basically catastrophic. The lexicons and
categories are difficult and signing into
a system is seen as an obstacle. To this
generation, the tools libraries offer
have swerved off the paths led by Amazon and Google far into ‘la-la land’.
What is needed is a search engine that
utilizes intuitive and guiding library
lexicons and other resources. With the
help of data mining, ontology, thesauruses, authority data and mind maps
such a search engine should be possible. The website Ask.com has already
embarked down the path of recognizing search terms in natural language.
Information seeking skills for children
CIBER refers to a study in which the
researchers were surprised to find that
the information seeking skills of
teachers in high schools do not seem to
be reaching their students well enough.
However, the study also revealed that
using library services at a young age
and being taught by parents or teachers
how to look for information as a young
child, resulted in good information
seeking skills later on and this was also
reflected in good school performance.
Information seeking skills should be
taught at an early age. If it is left until
high school or university, it may be too
late. There is a strong social demand
for the teaching of media literacy and
information seeking skills.
Many Finnish libraries have seized the
opportunity. Working in cooperation
with schools, they organize teaching in
information seeking on a regular basis.
This means that library professionals
must also have some pedagogical skills.
An on-going media education project
in Finland, coined ‘SuperLib’, is aimed
at emphasizing the significance of
Viewp int
Seppo Verho
... friends are extremely important to young people but they are not very interested in social forums offered by libraries
media education and training both
library professionals and teachers to
become ‘SuperLibs’, i.e. media educators.
The Google Generation’s sharpest profile
Many of the myths about the Google
Generation have been made obsolete.
In many ways they are just like any
other generation, but in other ways
they are in sharp contrast.
Indeed this generation is skilful in information technology. According to a
study in Finland, they are multi-skilled
and they use several services and programs on a regular basis. Many times,
they have a number of different media
in use simultaneously, surfing while
listening to music, etc.
The Google Generation does not passively follow the media; rather, they want
to participate and do things themselves. They communicate in Facebook,
publish things on YouTube, write blogs
and contribute to Wikis. This is evident
in the decrease in popularity of passive
media, such as television and newspapers, among people of this generation.
For today’s children and youth, the
Web is a powerful social tool. Usually,
they use it to keep in contact with
friends they normally see, but they are
also able to reach others, with whom
they share something in common and
who live outside their place of residency. Friends are extremely important to
young people.
The social dimension is difficult
The Google Generation’s favorite pastime has begun to take physical shape
in libraries. Equipment and premises
for filming and editing videos, small
recording studios, music rooms, game
rooms and performance stages have
found their way into the library.
The social needs of children and adolescents can be problematic as they
would like to ‘hang out’ together in the
library and this tends to cause clamour.
The Espoo Sello Library has experimented with the notion of the library
as a social scene with great success.
Usually young people tend to vanish
from the library but the library in
Espoo has succeeded in keeping them
as patrons and not only that, but in
committing them to the library. Of
course, it demands a lot from the staff,
including new skills in youth guidance
and counseling.
As the services of Library 2.0 become
more common, interaction and participation are increasing in the virtual library as well. Libraries have also explored their possibilities in SecondLife,
Facebook, and in other social media
where young people meet.
Social forums function according to
the peer principle, and the library may
not be a welcome visitor unless it is
able to find something in which children and youth are really interested.
Not only does the library have to be
present, but it also has to offer some
kind of advantage.
According to the CIBER report, young
people are not very interested in the
social forums offered by libraries.
However, critiques of collections,
commentaries and tagging could be
successful because they support the
library’s basic function. Young people
also had a somewhat positive attitude
toward book clubs and publishing lists
of their own collections.
Being social is such an important dimension of new generations that libraries should practice becoming more
social until they have a knack for it.
Competition steps up
CIBER predicts that the competitive
position of libraries will tighten up in
the future. The explosive growth in
Web publishing seems to be increasing
as the threshold becomes lower and
availability increases, for example with
on-demand technology and the semantic Web. With this in mind, libraries should take the needs of the
Google Generation very seriously.
Seppo Verho
Chief Editor
Kirjasto magazine
verho@fla.fi
Translated by Turun Täyskäännös
SPLQ:3 2008
13
DENMARK
The (more or less) bookless
children’s library
A children’s library designed with children
very much in mind and within the framework of the knowledge society – this is the
underlying ambition of Aalborg Libraries’
development project ‘The (more or less)
bookless children’s library’.
If the children’s library is to play a vital
role in the knowledge society, it is not
enough just to offer children spectacular activities within a defined part of
the circulation area. Traditional library
practice, partly based on the book and
partly on equating mediation with
making things available, is obsolete in
relation to modern children’s needs,
according to the staff at the children’s
library in the Aalborg Libraries.
The aim of the project ‘The (more or
less) bookless children’s library’ is
therefore fundamentally to reconsider
design, activities and materials so that
the children’s library no longer primarily concerns itself with mediating
books, but rather with children’s own
culture and the new ‘Bildung’ concepts
and cultural perceptions that set the
agenda in the knowledge society’s
universe of children’s culture. In this
way the library will to a greater extent
be able to act as creator of frameworks
for children’s interpretation of themselves and the surrounding world.
In concrete terms the children’s library
is moving 90% of its books into an
open book stack in the basement and is
arranging a number of different mediation sections centrally in the circula-
14
SPLQ:3 2008
tion area, where computer games,
books, DVDs etc. are presented in
equal measure in relation to the users’
various needs. In order to match the
children’s interest in media and media
usage, 75% of the materials account is
spent on play station, DVD and music
and 25% on book material with the
emphasis on the books the children ask
for.
At the same time the librarians are very
determined not only to keep the new
media in stock, but also to mediate
their content via activities in which
they themselves participate actively and
in an initiating way. DKK 100, 000, are therefore earmarked for arrangements and activities during the project
period.
• The laboratory, a science room with
textbooks, DVDs and special subject
displays about e.g. weather conditions, natural disasters etc., as well as
PC, scanner, printer and practical
help available to children in the
homework café.
The actual design of the different areas
is done in a cross-functional collaboration between the library and interior
designers from Scandinavian furniture
store Ikea, The regional theatre and
other local partners. Mediation of the
materials is primarily to take place via
activities around the children’s library’s
various media, expressions and cultural
forms, where children, media and
librarians interact.
• The square, which is the first room
you enter, with an exhibition area for
materials from the other rooms,
common facilities for the other
rooms and service area.
Each room is therefore designed with a
view to exactly those activities and
arrangements that take place there:
• The gaming den, a PC room where
you can surf the net and test genrecategorized games for PC, PS2, PS3
and Nintendo wii before borrowing
them to take home
• The reading room, a ‘chill-off ’ room
with soft sofas, special subject displays and ‘I recommend’ exhibitions.
• The nursery, a place for 0-7 year-olds
and their parents where they can
play, read aloud and find materials
• The discothèque and the cinema, a
mini cinema and a ‘listening post’
with display of CDs and DVDs
In all the rooms all digital resources are
exposed and mediated as well as all types of materials and new forms of mediation such as podcasting, big screens
etc.
In connection with the rooms there
will also be a gaming club for boys, a
manga club, a reading club where children and librarians regularly compete,
exchange reading experiences etc. Help
with homework in cooperation with
the Danish Refugee Council is also on
offer.
The library also presents various arrangements with topical trends and cul-
Monica C.
Madsen
“Hi. I would so much like to lend a book”.
“Sorry - but we have many other good
stories”.
tural phenomena from children’s
every-day lives, which give the children
the chance to actively confront the
culture in which they live. For example
theatre sport, babybooktalk, computerintro for the youngest, search courses
on the net, Singstar competition, computer games and animation workshop,
chemistry show, author’s school, celebrity visits, film marathon night, poetry café, hobby workshops, recital and
author arrangements, mini concerts
and visits by a policeman or a zoo
keeper combined with subject-related
mediation of specialist literature.
The arrangements are planned in cooperation with relevant associations
and institutions like for example Jako
Bole Theatre, Universitarium, AAU
Spiluddannelsen, TRoA, GameSector.
dk and the association ‘Tinsoldaten og
Biocity’.
ences to other interested children’s
libraries at a final conference the 20. of
November 2008.
The project has received funding from
the Development Pool for Public and
School Libraries. The project started in
February 2007, the new children’s library was inaugurated in October 2007
and was ‘run in’ via current evaluation
until October 2008.
During the project 58 different arrangements and activities took place and
permanent collaboration with at least
20 partners was established.
The library is also mediating its experi-
Monica C. Madsen
journalist, Bureauet
mail@monicamadsen.dk
Illustration: Dorte Karrebæk
Translated by Vibeke Cranfield
SPLQ:3 2008
15
DENMARK
The room as mediator
Why are you not satisfied with the way
the children’s library functions today?
- We have a lot of books and rows and
rows of bookshelves in the circulation
area, but the book no longer plays such
an important part in children’s lives.
The consequence is that we are making
room for the other media on an equal
footing with the books, both in terms
of purchasing, shelf metres and the
mediation as such. We are certainly not
dropping the book, but we create space
for the introduction of other media so
that they can interact with each other
as well as with the book.
As to the book, we should like to
mediate it in new ways, like reading
clubs, national reading aloud competitions, kindergarten libraries, literature
pages on the net etc. At the moment
most of our books are arranged in long
rows with their backs turned towards
the public, and when we arrange them
so that people can see the covers, loan
figures rise by 50%. We have therefore
concluded that the endless shelf metres
are in effect a barrier to attracting children to books.
As researcher Lotte Nyboe from the
University of Southern Denmark
points out in her study of children’s
use of the library, many children believe that they cannot ask for anything
other than books at the circulation
desk. And when you think of the massive wall of books they are faced with
in the library, it is no wonder that it
affects the way children ask and the
way librarians think. We therefore want
to get most of the books down into an
open stack in the basement and use the
circulation area for activities where together with the children we delve into
the content of all the different forms of
material and services that the library
has to offer.
16
SPLQ:3 2008
Why do you attach such importance to
a radically new design of the physical
space in the children’s library?
- We wish to let the room act a tool for
mediating our materials and knowledge. Today the library’s physical space
seems more like an opponent, because
it doesn’t show what we are capable of
at all – that we do in fact have the competences for promoting the media in
equal measures, and that we can do so
much more than just passing a book or
a cassette over the counter.
It is therefore important to us to turn
the design into a co-player in the mediation process so that our competences, our activities and the way we design the room form a whole. In fact, we
want to use the circulation department
as a kind of showroom with different
areas where the children can experience
our materials and offers in different
ways. And it is vital that the activities
take place in the circulation area, because this signals very clearly to the
children that the library is a place
where you can have a dialogue about
more than just being handed the materials.
In what way have you developed the
new design for the library?
- During the spring we developed ideas
for the design together with Ikea’s interior designers where our librarianship
competences and their design competences were intertwined. And we have
been talking about getting a display
artist to help with our various displays
of materials. We want to get away from
the usual institutional furniture and
display tables covered in velour.
How exactly are you going to mediate
the content of your material through
activities you participate actively in
yourselves?
Interview with project manager
- Rather than just passing computer
games over the counter we want to
concentrate on the content together
with the children the way they do it in
for example reading clubs. Amongst
other things we will arrange computer
and PlayStation clubs where we sit
down with the children and play computer games and set up tournaments
and experience the universe of the
games with the children. On their
terms – with popcorn and cola etc. We
also want to arrange learning activities
like e.g. mini courses in photo shop so
that you can edit photos for e.g. Arto (a
danish chatroom for children).
What does this kind of material mediation via activities require from the
librarian?
- That we – in an interaction with the
children – delve into the content. That
is to say that we actively and with total
commitment share with them the experiences inherent in our materials and
thereby create the essential dialogue for
getting the message across.
Why do you want to involve partners
from outside in the mediation to the
children?
- You often have a tendency to forget to
draw on competences other than those
you automatically meet in your daily
work. We can for example use people
from our IT department in workshops
on picture editing or people from computer games shops like EB-games, who
are superb at introducing games to the
children. And we can put focus on the
content of non-fiction books by inviting a policeman to come and tell us
about his work, while at the same time
we introduce the children to books
about the police. Or a keeper from the
Zoo, while introducing books on
animals.
Sonja Ibach Nissen, Aalborg Libraries
Lotte Nyboe’s study shows that the new
media are not being mediated actively
enough – is she right in saying that
generally speaking librarians are not
sufficiently equipped to promoting the
new media?
- Yes, I think so. The library’s task is to
mediate and not just make material
available and hand computer games
over the counter. It is what is inside
that is interesting to children. It is
therefore important that as a librarian
you get to know the new media and
play the games together with children,
show them how to use net services,
arrange workshops where they find out
that the librarian possesses knowledge
which they can draw upon etc. This
creates the dialogue with the children
which is all-important in mediation,
because this reveals what they think is
cool and what is not.
How do you make sure that all librarians get the necessary technical knowhow?
- Most of us are quite familiar with
new media – not all of us are crazy
about computer games, but we have
grown up with the new media. So we
do know something about them,
although everything develops rather
rapidly. Our team is composed according to our different skills, so we have
for example a super specialist on
computer games etc. By teaching each
other and exchanging new knowledge
we make sure that we are all of us
reasonably updated.
We have made an agreement that we all
have to be able to run a gaming club,
and we therefore hold tournaments for
the staff in e.g. PlayStation 2. We will
also arrange workshops on e.g. blogs,
Arto etc. These ‘gaming days’ is time
well spent, because you develop
competences in relation to the new
media when you get down to it and
have a go yourself. It is an effective way
to conquer any hesitation towards
something unknown and to learn
something about children’s own culture in relation to the new media – i.e.
picking up the language and the concepts children use when they are
gaming or chatting.
Have some librarians found it a bit
difficult to change the daily practices so
radically?
- No. We have been discussing matters
for such a long time that nobody feels
that they have been pushed into it.
Everyone in the team accepts that
something radical has to happen if we
want more children to use the library.
You can’t keep going round and round
in circles. But it is, of course, a challenge for all of us – everyday life won’t
be the same again ever.
Do you have some advice for others
who want to change the daily working
routines as radically as you are doing –
how do you get all members of staff ‘on
board’?
- We spent a lot of time talking things
through before writing the application.
We all realised that the circulation area
was totally out of date and not at all
able to compete with the other offers
children come across in their leisure
time. And we agreed that something
had to happen in the circulation department if we want children to go on
visiting the library.
While discussing what we could do
differently, the idea for the project
emerged. And because we discussed it
for a long time before writing our project application to the Development
Pool for Public and School libraries last
autumn, everyone has had sufficient
Monica C.
time to get used to the idea of change
Madsen
as a necessary condition chosen by
ourselves – it is not something that we
have been forced into. Everybody in the
team being included 100% in the process all the way through makes for a
positive and open attitude on behalf of
all participants. And we have committed ourselves to each other with
certain rules for how we should act in
relation to the new demands and challenges we are going to face – that we
have to be prepared to say yes to developments.
At the same time we are well aware that
it may be difficult to change our fixed
habits in certain areas, and that we are
undoubtedly not going to get it 100%
right the first time round. But via the
current evaluation which we have built
into the project, we have the chance all
along to correct and change.
How do you make sure that you keep
up with the children’s changing needs?
- We are going to appoint a children’s
council, where we use the children as
experts in relation to what is in, and
what is not right now. The council will
i.a. consist of representatives from our
gaming- and reading clubs, and via the
schools we will invite children from
e.g. the pupils’ council so as to include
others apart from our core users in the
council.
Interviewer: Monica C. Madsen
journalist, Bureauet
mail@monicamadsen.dk
Translated by Vibeke Cranfield
SPLQ:3 2008
17
FINLAND
Days of children’s
literature in Åland
“I got to learn new things.
Now I want to start writing.
Reading books is more interesting now
that I know the writers.”
(Comments from children at the Days of
Children’s Literature, 2007)
Wind in the sails of
Days of Children’s Literature
“Reading books is more interesting
now that I know the writers”. This is
what children, who attended last year’s
Days of Children’s Literature (DCL),
had to comment about the event.
Helena Bross, one of the writers who
took part in the event, sums it up and
says, “Everything was so well organized
and really made an impression on me.
It was very positive to see that the DCL
seemed to be a communal event.
People participated; they weren’t just
doing their job, but exhibited true personal commitment to it.” The key
words here are interaction between
writers and children and that the DCL
event was a communal event on Åland.
Days of Children’s Literature!
DCL was organized in association with
the 15. annual Mariehamn Literature
Days. It is a similar event that arouses
interest. This year’s DCL took place
between the 14. and the 18. of April.
School librarian, Elspeth Randelin,
blew wind into the sails of DCL four
years ago. The force behind the idea
was to increase children’s interest in
18
SPLQ:3 2008
reading. Revealing the primary idea
behind the event, Elspeth says, “Children should not have to settle for
crumbs. Children’s literature should
have the same status as adult literature.” She continues, “Children should
also have the right to literary adventures and events with writers.”
With this in mind, DCL began to take
shape. A committee was established
which comprised representatives from
Mariehamn’s school administration,
Åland’s library association and Åland’s
school districts. The idea was to create
an event for the children of Åland in
grades 1-9. Visits by Scandinavian
authors of children’s books would be
organized in all schools, and the event
would culminate with the Vimmelfest
to be organized in Mariehamn’s city
library.
Enthusiastic reception
DCL was organized for the first time in
2005. It was received with enthusiasm
and the committee began planning the
programme for the following year. In
2007, the Åland library association became the organizer for DCL. The previous year the association had participated in organizing the event with representatives of the school districts and
Mariehamn’s school administration.
Committee 2008
Members of the committee for 2008
included Carina Sandell, Monica Andersson, Kerstin Gäddnäs, Agneta Wilhelms, Elsbeth Randelin, Gun Lindblom, and Marie Norrgran.
The province of Åland, various foundations, institutions and associations
have funded DCL. In addition to these,
various enterprises and private persons
have sponsored the event. Schools in
Åland also participate in sponsoring
the event by giving 5 euros per pupil.
The funds are taken from each school’s
budget for cultural activities.
Before this year’s DCL a representative
from the Svenskbygden succeeded in
getting an interview with teacher
Kerstin Gäddnäs, who represented
northern Åland, Elspeth Randelin, who
represented Mariehamn, and Gunilla
Jansson, who is the cultural director in
Jomala and chairperson for Åland’s
library association. They formed an
enthusiastic trio that bubbled with
tales to tell.
This year all of the pupils in Åland’s
schools in grades 1 to 9 took part in
the event, as well as daycares and
schools for pupils with disabilities,
which means a total of 3,000 children
were introduced to authors who visited
each school. The organizers explained,
“The authors travel all around Åland,
from Brändö to Fäglö, to the southern
part of the archipelago and from Geta
to Eckerö. Every school on mainland
Åland receives at least one visit by an
author with the exception of Lumparland, which meets their author in
Föglö.”
Thirteen writers and one illustrator
A total of thirteen writers had been
invited to the event: Ann-Christine
Waller and Anni Wikberg from Åland,
Benita Ahlnäs
Carina Wolff-Brandt and Yvonne Hoffman from mainland Finland, Jonathan
Lindström, Monica Zak, Mecka Lind,
Christina Wahldén, Moni NilssonBrännström, Per Nilsson, Kerstin
Lundberg Hahn and Niklas Krog from
Sweden, and Jörn Jensen from Denmark. The organizers felt that this was
an interesting group of writers for children. The organizers explained, “Moni
Nilsson-Brännström is the holder of
chair number 17 at the academy for
children’s literature in Sweden.” Anni
Wikberg is an illustrator and she works
for the post office illustrating stamps.
She has also illustrated Ann-Christin
Waller’s book Små sommarsagor.
Another interesting aspect of the event
is that it has become so popular that
writers actually ask to take part. The
organizers emphasized that DCL is the
first event of its kind in Scandinavia.
DCL is like a smorgasbord, and it is
not just for children. There are evening
lectures and the opening of an exhibition for adults. The DCL opening ceremony was held in Mariehamn’s city
library on 14 April at 7 p.m. and Britt
Lundberg, Åland’s Minister of Culture
and Education, delivered the welcome
speech. The idea is to make the Days of
Children’s Literature an event for
people of all ages.
Vimmelfest
Vimmelfest is intended for children in
the fifth grade and it has been described by children as the Nobel Prize
celebration for children. It is an event
where 320 children dressed in their
absolute best enjoy ice cream, sitting at
tables festively decorated just as in the
Mariehamn city library. It is reminiscent of the Nobel celebration in that
at one point the serving staff walk
down the stairs carrying flambéed ice
cream. DCL is a great opportunity and
a source of joy for both children and
participating writers. All of the writers
are accommodated in the same hotel,
which enables them to meet with each
other and enjoy enriching moments
together.
Passionate about the event, Gunilla
Jansson, Kerstin Gäddnäs and Elspeth
Randelin felt that DCL has fulfilled all
of their expectations in relation to the
fact that an interest in reading and a
love of children’s literature have grown.
After having first chatted in Mariehamn’s city library, we went to one of
the city’s bookshops, which had set up
a book display well before the Days of
Children’s Literature. “The books have
sold like hotcakes,” the shopkeeper told
us. All three book-shops in Mariehamn
sponsor the DCL event.
Benita Ahlnäs
Librarian, Porvoo’s official tour guide and freelance
journalist
benita_ahlnas@hotmail.com
Translated by Turun Täyskäännös
Photo: Maria W. Boström
SPLQ:3 2008
19
NORWAY
Gamers... in the library?
Drammen Library is proud to be among
Norwegian pioneers in the introduction of
video games as a natural part of library
services for children and young adults. In
this article we shall present the arguments
in support of the use of video games in the
library arena and give some advice to
anyone interested in carrying out a similar
project.
expressed in the mid-90s about the
usefulness of the Internet and the
feared possibility of people surfing for
pornography in a public library. Today
the question is how can something so
commercial, so ‘pointless’ and so potentially harmful to kids as video
games really find a place in the library
- and why should one pursue such a
project?
Video games in the library
When new media enter into traditional
arenas there is usually no lack of dire
warnings. Think back to the introduction of films into libraries, the criticism
It can be daunting to be faced by new
and unfamiliar things, but that is no
excuse for not looking more closely in
order to judge whether or not the
myths are true. The media follow their
own agenda, often focusing on conflicts and the negative aspects of a particular phenomenon, which in the case
of video games means addiction and
violence. These are, of course, genuine
problems that must be taken into
account.
There is, however, another reality,
namely that video games can have a
social and socialising effect. They can
teach us new skills, such as languages
and mathematics, they can offer an
alternative and more interactive
method of telling stories and they can
improve our ability for logical thinking
Øyvind
Svaleng
and reaction. Most important of all,
however, is the fact that video games
possess their own intrinsic value as a
cultural expression. Therefore any
argument for their inclusion in the
library must go to the very heart of
library philosophy, combining old and
new conceptions as to what library
space should contain and, not least, for
whom it should exist in the first place.
Booklovers and newspaper readers
already have their place in the library,
but what about those youngsters who
in their daily lives enjoy a completely
natural relationship with computer
games? Should we simply direct them
to literature for children and young
people? In many cases this will be
tantamount to showing them the door
and reinforcing the myth that libraries
are just places full of dusty books and
of no possible interest to them.
Take video games seriously
Moralising objections must be met
with the same rationality shown when
arguing for the purchase of books and
periodicals. Not everything is good.
Not everything is constructive.
However, the material concerned may
have its own inherent value and potential. One of our aims in introducing
video games into our library is to make
them less ‘scary’ to new user groups.
By bringing them into the library we
hope to offer those who normally
would not play such games, both visitors and librarians, the opportunity to
try it out.
Video games are also a good way to
activate children. Today’s games are by
and large a social activity, where players
participate in a different way than before. Video games are also an excellent
way to involve and attract new users to
the library.
Gaming in the library
Unlike a personal computer, a video
game console is a machine designed for
one purpose only, namely to play
games. Today’s consoles can be roughly
divided into two types and three manufacturers. The two types are handheld and stationary. Hand-held is a
portable console made to operate
anywhere and anytime, whereas a stationary console requires a power supply,
cables, a screen and controls.
The three manufacturers are Sony,
Nintendo and Microsoft. Sony makes
two stationary consoles, PlayStation 2
and 3 (PS2 and PS3) and also the
hand-held PlayStation Portable (PSP).
Nintendo offers one stationary console,
the Wii, and one hand-held device, the
DS. Microsoft has its Xbox 360, a stationary console. Here, at Drammen Library, we have decided to concentrate
on video game consoles as the simplest
solution, since neither the game itself
nor any other software requires installation. Once the console is plugged in
and the game inserted, one can play on
an unlimited number of machines. A
video game console is therefore less
demanding than traditional computer
games and also costs less than a PC.
Fixed consoles in the library
We have purchased all the types of
Marte
Vatshelle
Salvesen
Jonas
Svartberg
Arntzen
gaming consoles, except for the PSP.
We have taken a broad aim in order to
attract as many users as possible. The
Xbox 360 and the PS3 are set up as
fixtures in the library and are available
for use at all times when the library is
open. Users are required to borrow
games from the desk and find a place
at a vacant machine. The games cannot
be taken home (due to Norwegian copyright legislation) and the age limits
enforced are the same as for borrowing
films.
In order to avoid extra work and cable
problems, we do not offer sound or the
possibility of saving games on the consoles. Some users find it boring without sound, so we are considering supplying headphones. By and large, however, things work quite well without the
sound. Both the Xbox 360 and the PS3
have large inbuilt hard disks where
games in progress can be stored. However, although this facility is available,
there are no safeguards against other
users continuing with the game or
erasing it completely.
Every Wednesday is gaming day
Once a week we connect the Nintendo
Wii to a projector, in order to play on a
large screen. This makes the game more interesting both for the players and
for the spectators. The Wii is particularly suitable for this type of active and
social gaming.
On the Wii console four persons can
play simultaneously. Motion sensors in
the controls make it necessary to move
when playing, so that those playing
SPLQ:3 2008
21
tennis, for example, must perform the
actual tennis strokes. Pressing buttons
is no longer enough. The various
multiplayer modes create a social
atmosphere. Many of our preconceived
doubts were proved unfounded. Children are good at organising themselves
when they play these games, but adult
supervision can be useful.
Play, play, play
For librarians with limited personal
experience with video games, choosing
the most suitable titles can be a challenge. We spend time testing games,
reading reviews on the Internet and
keeping ourselves up-to-date. When
choosing a game one must take into
account playability, degree of difficulty
and suitability. One of the most important aspects is to choose games which
appeal to users and which they can
quickly master. It can be tempting to
purchase games with an educational
element, but our experience shows that
these are seldom lent out. Our users
prefer to leave the schoolroom behind
when they come to the library. Another
and equally good solution can be to
choose games together with the
youngsters themselves.
Borrowing statistics
In 2007 we had about 5,000 borrowings of games for the Xbox 360,
which represents a circulation of somewhat more than 100 per game. A particular feature of the Xbox games with
the highest turnover is that they all
have a minimum age limit of three
years and that they contain a social
22
SPLQ:3 2008
aspect, either on the basis of cooperation or of competition.
The most popular games at Drammen
Library are those based on car and
motorcycle racing and other sports.
The 13 top favourites include no less
than 9 from these categories. Our statistics reflect the fact that we strictly
enforce age limits, the majority of
borrowers being under 16 years old.
The games with the lowest age limit
will naturally be those with the highest
borrowing figures. At the same time we
can observe that the most popular
games are those where two or more
participants can play. It is also the case
that the games most often borrowed
are those which are easy to grasp,
require no prior knowledge and have a
fairly straightforward plot.
Many possibilities
Whether or not the introduction of
video games into libraries is a success
naturally depends on the resources
available and on the interest and abilities of those managing the project. We
have outlined some aims and possibilities, but our solution is not necessarily
the final answer. We believe that video
games have a place and a future in the
library and that this is only the beginning to what libraries can offer in this
area. Acquiring one or two consoles in
order to attract greater participation in
library activities could be a good place
to start.
Jonas Svartberg Arntzen
IT-librarian, Drammen Library
jonarn@drmk.no
Øyvind Svaleng
Cultural worker, Drammen Library
oyvsva@drmk.no
Marte Vatshelle Salvesen,
librarian, Drammen Library
marsal@drmk.no
Translated by Eric Deverill
Photos: Beate Ranheim
Recommended literature:
Gamers... in the library? By Eli Neiburger
Grand Theft Childhood
by Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson
drammenpopkult.wordpress.com
gaming.ala.org/news
- News about games and gaming
PROCESS FOR SELECTION
An international advisory
committee made up of librarians,
information technology experts,
and foundation staff evaluates
applications based on candidates’
innovative efforts to:
• make computer and Internet
access free to the public
• train the public in using technology and accessing information
• educate staff on technology use
and
• reach out to underserved
communities.
The committee selects a list of final
candidates for consideration by the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Following an independent financial and organizational review of
the finalists, the foundation selects
the award recipient.
HOW TO APPLY
Deadline
Completed applications must be
submitted by 31 october 2008.
Obtaining application forms
The Access to Learning Award
application form is available for
download at:
www.gatesfoundation.org/ATLA.
We invite you to apply for the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation’s annual Access to Learning
Award
The form is only available in
english and must be completed in
english in order to be eligible for
review by the advisory committee.
Applications may also be requested
by email at:
ATLA@gatesfoundation.org.
Scandinavian
Shortcuts
Mobile Library Brønderslev
DENMARK
Mobile library services of today
and tomorrow
Following the structural reform in
municipal government in Denmark several of the new and bigger municipalities have closed down smaller library
units and replaced these with mobile
libraries. In addition to the more traditional library services such as borrowing books and information retrieval the new mobile libraries also provide citizen services. This could mean
e.g. information and guidance on how
to register at the daycare centre or how
to change your address, how to apply
for housing subsidy or health insurance
and the forms needed for doing this.
24
SPLQ:3 2008
In the case of Brønderslev
municipality 15,000 of the
35,000 inhabitants live
outside the bigger communities which means long
distances to the nearest
library or citizen service
centre. The subject areas
covered by the service at the
mobile library were decided in cooperation with the citizen service centres.
The subject matters that were chosen
are the ones most often asked about
and the kind of questions that can be
handled at a mobile library. The library
staff have a hotline to the citizen
services even at times when the town
Mobile Library Ringkøbing-Skjern
hall is closed. The idea is to provide the
services as close to the citizens as
possible by using the mobile libraries.
The traditional library services and the
citizen services are not the only service
forms of the mobile library, though.
The new and popular ‘Book a Mobile
Library’ service means that the local
communities are able to get tailormade services where and when they
want them.
In the same issue of Danmarks Biblioteker another mobile library is also
presented. Denmark’s biggest municipality Ringkøbing-Skjern runs a special
mobile library serving the kindergartens and daycare centres in the large
town. The mobile library not only
offers the usual services of borrowing
and returning materials but also rhyme
workshops, book talks, performances
by professional actors, dancers, musicians etc. The kindergartens get to
book ‘the rolling children’s library’
themselves at a time when it is most
convenient for them.
(Danmarks Bbiblioteker 2008:4)
Crime Book Fair in prison
What better place for an event concentrating on detective stories and popular
criminal literature than a former prison! Horsens Public Library in Denmark has organised their Crime Book
Fair since 2003. This year’s fair kicked
off with a one-day workshop on detective short stories for library staff,
authors and high school teachers. On
Saturday there were talks, discussions
and interviews with authors – plus hot
dogs and beer. This year the library
also launched a crime wiki with articles
on books and films. The local event
gets good and well-deserved coverage
in the media.
(Bibliotekspressen 10:2008)
FINLAND
Oulu City Library reaches out
to housebound users
Oulu City Library and the Department
for the services for senior citizens have
been working together to improve and
develop the outreach services of the library. The aim was to improve the services for senior citizens and the visually
impaired, to increase the number of
users and to make the services more
effective.
The common goal for the library and
the Department for the services to the
elderly was to find new ways to support
the living at home of the aged. As a
part of the Virtual Personified Service
Portal for Senior Citizens Project the
library took part in a view phone pilot
project, organised literature circles for
senior citizens and produced a literature CD to support work with the
aged.
During the four-year project new
features were added to the library system so that personal profiles on the
reading habits of the senior users could
be saved in the system. The system can
check new titles against a list of previous loans to find books the users have not read yet. Several different profiles can be defined for any one user.
The aim was to increase personalisation of the services and to make
distance use of the services easier for
housebound library customers.
Kirjastolehti
(Link at http://kirjastoseura.kaapeli. fi)
Municipal decision-makers
as library users
Oulu is by no means the only city in
Finland to carry out projects or user
surveys but also the second piece of
news from Finland happens to come
from the region of Northern Ostrobothnia where the public libraries
mapped out the local decision-makers’
knowledge of library services and their
use of the libraries.
All municipal decision-makers in
charge of library matters were sent a
questionnaire which they could answer
anonymously. In the city of Oulu, the
response rate was an acceptable 47%.
All the respondents thought the public
library to be an important basic service. The decision-makers proved to be
rather active users of library services;
half the respondents reported visiting
the library monthly and reading more
than 20 books a year.
Most respondents said they used the
library mostly for borrowing material
but also for reading newspapers and
journals and visiting the exhibitions at
the library. 37% reserve material and
renew loans on the Internet. As many
as 80% are happy with the library collections – still, half of the respondents
would use the library services even
more if new titles were more easily
available.
When asked about developing the
library services the respondents suggested, maybe somewhat surprisingly,
establishing new libraries for new residential areas, organising literary events,
increasing the book budget, listening to
user feedback - especially from chil-
SPLQ:3 2008
25
Scandinavian
Shortcuts
dren and teenagers plus more active
information about the library services.
A lot of the survey results sound very
promising and will hopefully make all
the decision-makers more aware of the
current library services. One of the
questions produced mindboggling
answers, though. When asked how big
a proportion of the municipal budget
the library services made up, only 27%
could even roughly estimate the share
of the library expenditure while a third
of the respondents did not so much as
hazard a guess.
the law and the author signs a contract
stating she or he owns the copyright to
their material. The library believes the
demotek to be a real alternative to
YouTube and the abstract nature of
computer files: to have your music CD
or manuscript available at the local
library is more concrete and tangible.
While delivering and hanging up
posters for the Demotek, the library
staff already encountered enthusiastic
reception: At a café a member of staff
wanted to give two music CDs to the
librarian to take to the demotek.
(Bok og bibliotek 2:2008)
(Kirjastolehti)
(Link at http://kirjastoseura.kaapeli. fi)
NORWAY
Bergen Library
The first demotek in Norway
The first demotek in Norway was
opened in Bergen in March and is
modelled after the 80+ demoteks in
Sweden (presented in SPLQ 2007:1).
The new department at the library
hosts demos in the fields of music, literature, film, photography, graphic arts
etc. It is meant to be a stepping stone
for aspiring artists from 14 to 30+ in
the city of Bergen. Nobody will be refused providing the works do not break
26
SPLQ:3 2008
Library users: Who are they and what
do they really do at the library?
A study of 3,337 library users in Oslo,
Trondheim, Kristiansand, Stavanger
and Bergen was carried out using
observation of user behaviour during
library visits. Borrowing and returning
books accounted for 50% of user
activities which is yet another indication that new measures are needed for
describing library use. The mere
number of visits or issued books does
not tell us how the visitors make use of
the library.
A library without barriers
In Kongsberg Library the traditional
information desk has been replaced by
a round table where the information
retrieval takes place in a more democratic setting than before. This has
been done in many libraries elsewhere,
but in Kongsberg the use of laptops
makes searching information and
revising the initial searches possible
also between the shelves. This simple
solution makes it easier to work with
the users instead of working for them.
Removing the physical barriers
between library staff and users can
create a more equal situation. It also
makes running back and forth between
the desk and the shelves unnecessary.
The use of laptops also made it possible to take the library out to the
streets during the yearly jazz festival:
Librarians equipped with laptops and
book trolleys could lend out material
for relaxed patrons at the pavement
café.
(Bok og bibliotek)
According to the results, 71% of the
library visits lasted less than half an
hour while on average a library visit
took 35 minutes. 11% of the visitors
were studying or working at the library
for over half an hour whereas 2% of
the visitors did not use any library
services during their visit. A quarter of
all visitors approached the staff with
questions. The assumption of libraries
as complex institutions with numerous
uses was confirmed by the results: The
library visitors really used the library in
different ways for studying, leisure,
reading, meeting people, accessing the
Internet etc.
(ABM-skrift 46, 2008;
Bok og Bibliotek – aktuellt:
http://www.bokogbibliotek.no)
SWEDEN
The whole of Malmø is reading
The biggest reading initiative in Sweden was awarded the Swedish Arts and
Business Award 2007 in the category of
‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ for
the successful cooperation between
Selected by
Päivi Jokitalo
Malmø City Library and the Swedish
Savings Association Foundation. The
target group of the 3-year project are
all second to fifth graders in Malmø,
24,000 pupils altogether. The initiative
is carried out in cooperation with the
local pedagogical centres and other
cultural institutions in the city. Wellfunctioning and permanent structures
and networks have also been created
between the public library staff and the
school libraries.
out. In the region of Skåne, several
projects have been initiated where culture is seen as one of the tools towards
better health. All the women taking
part in the literature circle were registered library users but had not been
frequenting the library for a long time,
maybe several years. Meeting with the
other women, and reading aloud from
works of fiction is meant to have a
positive influence on the health of the
participants.
(Biblioteksbladet 2008:5)
The two project coordinators have organised seminars in e.g. dramatised
book talk for the staff and come up
with ideas for activities, but it is up to
each library and school class to decide
what methods and events they want to
make use of and arrange. One of the
most exciting sub-projects was the
detective story relay where over 500
school pupils in grade 2 wrote a
whodunit called The Secret Mission of
Konrad and Milou with the first and
last chapters written by an author. The
book was also printed and made into a
play.
(Biblioteksbladet 2008:5)
A more silent library by adding sound
Contradictions in terms can sometimes
work and produce desired effects
against all odds. This has been the case
at the school library in Viktoriaskolan
on the island of Oland in Sweden. After
setting up a sound installation of the
sounds of wind, water, forest, birds and
even frogs, the sound levels at the
library have actually fallen. The wallpaper of the sounds of nature has
made the school library a quiet and
peaceful working and studying environment. It even drowns the noises
from the printers and the ventilation
system.
Reading aloud for burned-out women
The public library in Helsingborg has
started a literature circle for women
who have been diagnosed with burn-
(Biblioteksbladet 2008:4)
Scandinavian Shortcuts are selected by
Päivi Jokitalo
Licensing Coordinator
National Electronic Library Services /
FinELib The National Library of Finland
Keep up with developments in the Nordic public libraries in Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly
Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly
Volume 41, no. 3, 2008
SPLQ
Ministry of Education and Culture
P.O.Box 29
FI-00023 Government
Finland
Legally responsible publisher:
Editor-in-chief
Barbro Wigell-Ryynänen
barbro.wigell-ryynanen@minedu.fi
Assistant editor: Tarja Mäkinen
tarja.makinen@minedu.fi
Ministry of Education and Culture
Co-editors in Denmark,
Norway and Sweden
Jonna Holmgaard Larsen
jhl@bs.dk
Danish Agency for Libraries and Media
Tertit Knudsen
tertit.knudsen@abm-utvikling.no
Norwegian Archive,
Library and Museum Authority
Mats Hansson
mats.hansson@kulturradet.se
Swedish Arts Council
Lay-out: Staehr Reklame & Marketing
Print: C.S.Grafisk A/S
ISSN 0036-5602
Electronic ISSN: 1604-4843
Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly
(SPLQ) is published by the Nordic
Public Library Authorities
Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly
www.splq.info