Category Archives: General

Carnegie Library Lab

Library-Lab-Logo-orange

The Carnegie Trust has recently announced that applications are open for Carnegie Library Lab – the Trust’s new programme of work aimed at enhancing innovation and leadership in public libraries.

Carnegie Library Lab is a new program designed to support and develop innovation and leadership in the public library sector and will run for three years from 2014-2017. The Trust believe that the challenges faced by public libraries today provide an opportunity to think creatively about their role and potential. The program is aimed at staff in the early or middle stage of their career.

While the geographical spread of this project is limited to the United Kingdom and Ireland what a great idea to emulate!

EIFL Public Library Innovation Award 7

EIFL1

EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) is inviting applications for their new innovation award – for Public libraries contributing to education of children and adults.

• This call is open to public and community libraries in developing and transition countries.
• The prize is US$1,500 plus wide publicity through EIFL’s global communication channels and networks.
• The deadline for submitting applications is October 11, 2014.
• Applications will be accepted in English, French, Russian and Spanish.
• Read more about the EIFL Public Library Innovation Award and how to apply.
This is the seventh award in the exciting series of EIFL Public Library Innovation Awards. There will be more than one winner – the final number will depend on the quality of applications.

 

image

A huge thank you to everyone who made our Satellite in Birmingham such a success. How could it be anything else with such a wonderful range of speakers in a fabulous setting.

Our theme of public libraries in the digital world led to some interesting papers and a lot of discussion. Each of the 150 plus delegates came away with a very real awareness that we need to act now if public libraries are to remain relevant.

Our hosts the Library of Birmingham made us all so welcome in their outstanding new building. We’d also like to acknowledge our partners, CILIP and the Society of Chief Librarians for their assistance.

 

Thanks too for our colleagues from the CILIP Public and Mobile Libraries group who, among other things, arranged for us to be able to see some mobile libraries.

The papers from the conference will be available on the PLS website next week (when we all get back from IFLA in Lyon.

 

 

Working together in Lielahti District Library, Tampere, Finland

 

Game room in Lielahti Library

Game room in Lielahti Library

 

Finland is a good library country, we have 5.4 milloin inhabitants, and according to Finnish library statistics in 2013 every Finnish citizen borrowed 17.2 books. We also have great libraries! One of the newest is Lielahti District Library in Tampere. Tampere City Library consists of 19 libraries and 2 mobile libraries. We lent almost 5 million items and had about 3 million visitors during the year 2013.

Lielahti District Library with bright and modern architecture was opened on 19.May.2014. It is the first library in Tampere which has been built into a shopping mall. Previously branch libraries were often built with schools or youth houses, but the new trend in library building seems to be “be there, where the people are”.

What is special in Lielahti library, is also that its neighbour in the same building and floor are health center, services for elderly people, dentist and children and maternity clinic. There are a lot of plans about what these partners could do together. In the autumn there will be game evenings, where older people can take their grand children and they can practice together computer sport games to improve physics. A physiotherapist from health services can guide them.

Already a doctor sent his patient to library to lend talking books, because she couldn´t see very well anymore. Many courses are planned, like health council and, new technology courses. Many of these bring together the different partners in the building eg blood pressure and cholesterol measuring, lectures on health or maternity care.. And all including book and database information on these same subjects. A win-win situation!

Of course the library also provides the “traditional library services” including fairy tale lessons, book talk etc. The sky is a limit what people can do together, if only they find suitable partners and ways to do things.

Writer: Pirkko Lindberg, Director of Libraries, Tampere City Library
[email protected]

Pictures: Susanna Lyly

 

Speaking Volumes

Small Dianah reads to Niamh 3

A new publication from the Carnegie UK Trust, Speaking Volumes,  provides examples of the wide range of activities that demonstrate the impact public libraries can have in four key policy areas – social, economic, educational and cultural. The leaflet also shows how these directly contribute towards to individual and community wellbeing. The leaflet folds out into a poster and is based on hundreds of examples of practice throughout the UK and Ireland, as well as published evidence of impact. A database of these examples is available on the Trust’s website.

Know your community, Improve your technology services

impact survey

Understanding your community is essential to providing patrons with the technology services they need. The Impact Survey is an online survey tool designed specifically for public libraries that want to better understand their communities and how people use their public technology resources and services. Written and validated by research staff at the University of Washington Information School, this free tool is designed to quickly and easily provide busy librarians with useful data on how their patrons use library technology services. The program saves libraries the time and costs associated with writing, programming, analyzing, and reporting an in-house survey.

The Impact Survey asks patrons about how they use library technology services like public computers, wireless networks, online resources, digital literacy training, as well as outcome oriented use in specific areas such as education, employment, health and wellness, eGovernment, social inclusion and eCommerce.  The site also has links to a webinar and support is avaiable – well worth a look.

 

Explore your library’s community engagement

PEW

 

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has just released a tool to help you learn how your community’s members use their local public library, how they think about their library’s impact on the community, and how they view the importance of libraries in the digital age. If you’re a US Library you’ll  also see how the responses of your group compare with those of the general population, based on the results of Pew’s nationally representative September 2013 phone survey.

This builds on a series of reserach reports by Pew focussing on the role of public libraries in their communities.