Category Archives: General

Route 2020: undertake and cooperate

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Guest Blogger: Henriëtte de Kok, Tour guide Route 2020.
Digital developments, cost reductions and changing usage are external developments that influence the work of public libraries. The collective libraries of the Netherlands have decided to undertake actions to anticipate these trends. A budget has been provided to this end. To focus the effort, a number of topics has been concentrated upon. The fundamental idea is: by, for and through libraries.

  • learning from each other and undertaking;
  • cooperation and network development;
  • collective positioning in relation to local financing.

Two travel teams got to work. One for the component of positioning and one for undertaking and cooperation.

The project, running to the end of 2017, got started under the title Route 2020. We chose the metaphor of the expedition, heading for the future together, we examine and discover, we share experiences. And periodically we meet each other physically at a stopping place. At Hilvarenbeek we focused on the theme of the ‘Places to bieb’. At Assen we discussed the library as entrepreneur and the social value of libraries.

The route for Action line 2: undertaking and cooperation started with an exploration by about fifty regional guides. They collected real-life examples from the entire country. Examples that have already proven their value. There are plenty of nice plans, but we were looking mainly for successful implementations.

In experimental gardens we investigate in what way the knowledge of the various subjects can be made transferable to fellow libraries. Themes that feature in this are:

  • developing libraries into future-oriented organisations;
  • platform for communities;
  •  all under one roof, multifunctional organisations;
  • Places to bieb, the library is everywhere;
  • a lifetime of learning;
  •  the free library;
  •  this is how the library works, HRM aspects.

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Regularly we send the home front a postcard. We have found many small beautiful projects and campaigns during our exploratory phase. Too small for a substantial experimental garden, but worth the effort to share with our colleagues.
By means of biebtobieb the libraries are kept informed of our experiences and are invited to join the expedition interactively.
By the end of 2017 we will have the travel guide 100% libraries, and beyond that the expedition will surely continue.

Provincial Support Organizations

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Guest Blogger: Tineke van Ham, Manager Rijnbrink

The system of public libraries in the Netherlands consists of three layers. A national, provincial and municipal layer. The provincial layer is formed by the Provincial Support Organizations (PSOs). They play a part in the coordination between the national and municipal levels, in stimulating and facilitating the provincial network, in encouraging local innovations and in the organization of activities transcending local level that benefit from a larger scale. Their scale ensures that the PSOs for libraries are a gathering point of knowledge and a platform for expertise and knowledge sharing.

Provincial Support Organizations in the system
PSOs are non-profit social institutions . They are publicly commissioned and are partly funded by one or more provinces and partly by the libraries they support. PSOs align their range of assignments with the provincial policy and the demand of the libraries in their region. Furthermore, in CPN context (see text box) they align their activities between themselves and look for alignment with national associations. The Dutch System of Public Library Facilities Act (WSOB) appoints the provincial support organizations a number of general and specific tasks that need to be performed. Apart from that, the PSOs undertake several activities that to a certain extent have to be paid for entirely by its users.

The PSO activities on behalf of the system of public libraries comprise:

1. Network partnership (art. 6,7,8 WSOB)
PSOs are part of the network of public libraries and fulfil a role within the national system. This role is determined in the WSOB. PSOs, at the layer of the provincial network, are responsible for stimulating, facilitating and coordinating the network at the provincial level. They do so in alignment with the National Library of the Netherlands, which is responsible for the national network. In this way, the PSOs in consultation with the local libraries and the National Library accomplish the regulations on participation with the network, as mentioned in article 8 of the WSOB:
– together with the other participants it uses a collective catalogue of available volumes;
– is part of the inter-library loan system, indicated in article 15;
– performs its collection policy in accordance with the joint collection plan, indicated in article 10;
– makes use of a digital infrastructure that is aligned with the other participants;
– aligns its member administration and its general conditions with the other participants;
– supports education.

Furthermore, PSOs stimulate network cooperation by offering libraries services in the area of business management that support the business process. This concerns ICT, financial administration, employee and salary administration, and HRM. These services in all provinces constitute services that have to be paid for in part or entirely by the libraries. In its position as provincial manager of the library automation systems, the PSOs play a part in the implementation and demand settlement for the national digital infrastructure. These latter services are outside of the tasks as determined by the WSOB and have to be performed while at least covering costs. In this, the PSOs usually work together in CPN context to make arrangements with national associations.

2.  Support of the inter-library loan system (art. 16 WSOB)
– PSOs provide the transport of volumes between libraries in the provinces that subsidise them;
– the PSOs collectively provide the transport between provinces.

3.   Support of the collection policy (art. 10 WSOB)
PSOs contribute to the national collection policy which is formulated under the direction of the National Library, translate the policy in consultation with the libraries to provincial collection plans and facilitate the provincial collection formation.

4.   Developing innovations (art. 16 WSOB)
PSOs collectively and individually develop innovative service concepts for purposes of the local libraries. They align their innovation plans with each other and with national associations such as the VOB, BNL and the National Library. In this regard, they participate with the implementation of the strategic agenda of the branch of industry (The Library provides value – 2012). With this, the PSOs perform their legal innovative task. The objective is to support local libraries in the necessary transition to a crossroads of knowledge, contact and culture (report committee Cohen: Library of the future – 2014).
The innovations mainly focus on the development and implementation of service of the functions of the library: reading, learning, informing, meeting and debating, and getting acquainted with art and culture.

In the association Cooperating PSOs in the Netherlands (CPN), all PSOs are cooperating. CPN is a network cooperation par excellence: provincially where it needs, nationally where it can. All PSO managers hold a substantive portfolio, employees of the different PSOs function based on suitable abilities in collective implementation programmes. This contributes to the efficiency. CPN looks after the collective national lobby of the PSOs and after the collective implementation of programmes such as the Library in school (see blog by Adriaan Langendonk), basic skills, the digital library and the sharing of knowledge.

Dutch libraries busily in motion

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Guest Blogger: Jos Debeij, head of staff department library system, Koninklijke Bibliotheek (Royal Library), National Library of the Netherlands.

In the month of November, a dozen library bloggers outline an image of what is taking place in the system of the Dutch public libraries. In the Netherlands as well, the past years have seen considerable cutbacks in budgets of public libraries as a result of the economic recession, the formation size has been reduced substantially and quite a few larger independent branches in neighbourhoods and towns have been closed or converted to smaller service points in schools and townhouses. It sounds contradictory, but at the same time many new library buildings are being built. There too, a large change is visible. The issues are simultaneously to economize, consolidate and renew, but to do so with less money and fewer professionals.

Another trend is the library more and more focussing on social issues and personal development. The library, rather than a ‘repository of books’, is becoming a place for meeting and working. The amount of lends has decreased significantly over the past twenty years. New activities are being taken up. Following the tradition of reading advancement, all Dutch public libraries put a lot of effort in language development and digital skills. The approach is twofold: 1. Preventive, in cooperation with intervention programmes from the National Reading Association, such as Bookstart, the Library in school and the ReadAloudExpress , to reach children from a young age and bring their language development to a higher level, and 2. Curative, with the library as a language house where anyone who has functionally insufficient language skills or digital skills is welcome to attend language cafes, workshops and schooling programmes or other support. In this, the libraries cooperate with numerous local education and social partners and with large groups of citizens, such as voluntary trainers and ‘buddies’. With the Dutch Tax Authority agreements have been made to support all libraries with the electronic filing of the digital revenue form or the digital request for grants. The renewed vision on media wisdom (link to English version) elaborates on 21st century capacities: the role of the library as signpost and workplace is being expanded: the library as knowledge workplace and as makerspace.

With the new Library Act (WSOB)  the National Library of the Netherlands has gained a new function and adjusted its policy accordingly,  and the position of the provincial support has been consolidated with focus on the innovation at local libraries. At the National Library, we continue building the national digital public library. With digital collections and services that are available to every person in the Netherlands and are part of the digital infrastructure for all members of the local libraries. The local public library and the national digital library complement each other and are connected. In searching for the public library of the future the Dutch libraries are working closely together. With a collective innovation agenda, with an exploration of the VOB called Route 2020 (see blog Henriëtte de Kok), with the knowledge sharing platform Biebtobieb (see blog Levien den Boer), with the marketing campaign The Library Enriches You (see blog Coen van Hoogdalem) and with a collective quality framework for audits and certification (see blog Willem Camphuis).

The world is changing, and so are public libraries. In the Netherlands as well, public libraries are busily working on their future. To continue bringing people and information together. In this way, libraries continue to contribute to the personal development of the Dutch people and a smarter and more creative Netherlands.

 

 

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Libraries and Human Rights– caring for the whole community

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EUROLIS (the consortium of librarians from European cultural institutes in London) and the International Library and Information Group (ILIG) of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) have organised a one-day seminar focusing on the role of libraries as institutions at the forefront of profound changes in society. Libraries and Human Rights – caring for the whole community .

Leading experts from Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Germany, the UK and the USA will present current projects and share their experiences and ideas with the audience.
The seminar will be chaired by Martyn Wade, Chair of the CILIP Board and IFLA FAIFE committee.

Fri 25 Nov | 9:30am – 4:30pm| £ 60 (£50 conc.) including lunch | At the Goethe-Institut London | Tickets are available on Eventbrite

Ideas Box Launches in Yungngora Aboriginal Community

In September this year, staff from the State Library of Western Australia delivered the Ideas Box to the Yungngora Aboriginal Community near Fitzroy Crossing in the West Kimberley. The Ideas Box is a revolutionary portable library which provides access to information, cultural heritage and education. The project is delivered in collaboration with the Yungngora community and has enabled training and employment for two community based Aboriginal staff members. It includes multiple forms of literacy, from books and magazines, to digital cameras, laptops and tablets, as well as board games, and a TV for film screenings.

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Student at the Kulkarriya Community School at the Launch of the Ideas Box 14 September 2016 Yungngora Community

The Ideas Box is a national and international collaborative project between Bibliothèques Sans Frontières (Libraries Without Borders LWB ) based in France, and the State Libraries of Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia.  The project commenced in 2012 when LWB a not for profit international organisation based in France which aims to promote access to information and culture for vulnerable populations, worked with designer Phillipe Starck on the concept of an innovative device to  enable access to information for people emerging from humanitarian crisis. The box was first installed in African and Syrian refugee camps in Burundi, Rwanda, Jordan and Lebanon and since then has been installed all over the world including in Brooklyn and Paris, to provide information and learning access to vulnerable metropolitan populations.

LWB first presented the Ideas Box at the IFLA Conference in Lyon in 2014 where it sparked the interest and excitement of CEOs and staff from Australian state and public libraries who had the vision to see its potential for delivery in remote Indigenous communities, who face some of the same barriers in accessing information and learning. The implementation in Australia has focused on building literacy, digital literacy and access to cultural heritage, stories and creativity. In both Western Australia and Queensland community members have been trained and employed to manage and evaluate access to the box and its resources.

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Elizabeth Spencer A/Director Community Learning and Discovery State Library of Western Australia and Senior Yungngora Community member Mavis Kennedy, 14 September Ideas Box Launch Yungngora Community

 

The Ideas Box program was presented again at the recent 2016 ALIA National Conference in Adelaide by Libraries Without Borders and State Library of Queensland, and was extremely well received, generating a large amount of conversation throughout the week. Conference delegates were particularly interested in talking to staff from Queensland and Western Australia about the specific challenges of installing the box in remote Australian Aboriginal communities.

The WA launch took place in the grounds of the Kukarriya Community School where the box will be located for the next six months. It was a great success, with many community members from young to old attending and enjoying what the Ideas Box had to offer. A lunch was provided by the community, and teachers struggled to tear the younger students away from the games, i pads, books and films. The Ideas Box will remain at the Yungngora Aboriginal Community for a period of approximately six months, followed by an evaluation of the pilot program and potential delivery into more communities.

For further information about this project please contact Elizabeth Spencer Acting Director Community Learning and Discovery on 08 9427 3238 [email protected]

Arca das Letras Rural Community Library – Agrarian Development Ministry Program

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To bring knowledge to rural communities by encouraging access to books and reading habits is the proposal of Arca das Letras Rural Libraries Program, created in 2003 by the Department of Agrarian Reordering of Agrarian Development Ministry.

If the community wishes to receive a library, it has to organize and identify among its residents, at least two people who will be “reading agents” that volunteer to define the best place to install and take care of the library. The Arca das Letras Program introduce the community in the program to receive its collection and promotes reading agents training.

There are about 200 books in the Library collection, separated into themes such as children’s literature, young’s literature and adult’s literature, textbooks and technical, which will be organized in a wood furniture of standardized format and size.

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The reading agents becomes fundamental piece to motivate the community around rural library by conducting campaigns to enlarge the collection; organizing cultural events and celebrations; and transformation of the library into a dynamic space.

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For the implementation of rural libraries, the Ministry of Agrarian Development is responsible for the financial resources of the transport logistics of books and people. The program has the support of a network of partners to manufacture library furniture and to receive the donation of books and publications. This network is made up of public and private institutions, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations of public interest, federations and unions of rural workers, social movements, states, municipalities, schools, other public and private libraries, urban population, publishers and artists.

Since its launch in 2003 until August 2016, Arca das Letras Program has implemented 11,354 libraries in five regions of Brazil, in 2,501 municipalities, benefited 1,275,081 of rural families, distributing 2,435,919 books, and trained 20,017 reading agents.

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