Theme:

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

No. 1. 2011

The art of defining quality. Barbro Wigell-Ryynänen 3

KPI Index – K(ey) P(erformance) I(ndex). Ulla Kvist 4

Development of the Library Index. Thomas Angermann 5

Quality recommendation. A national goal. Hannu Sulin 6

A new quality recommendation for Finnish public libraries. Marjariitta Viiri 7

One lives longer by visiting the public library. Hrafn Andres Hardarson and Margret Sigurgeirsdottir 10

Indicators for Norwegian public libraries. Torill Redse and Erlend Ra 14

Almost 100 % satisfaction and so what? Sara Svenstrup 18

Cycling for libraries – The first cycling unconference for librarians. Mace Ojala 20

Happy campers create innovation from cooperation:Helsinki Midwinter Darkness Camp. Päivi Jokitalo 22

Scandinavian Shortcuts 25

Remodelling the instruments

Library professionals all over Scandinavia are currently considering appropriate tools for measuring performances.This is not something that has been agreed upon jointly, the entire library field just seems to have come to the sameconclusion simultaneously. Production and use of library services have changed in so many ways, now is the time toremodel outworn measuring instruments.Sweden started with a comprehensive article on this theme in SPLQ 4/2010, in this issue there are articles fromDenmark, Finland and Sweden on this subject.Although not part of the ‘publishing company’, Iceland is invited to contribute every now and again. There have not,however, been any articles from Iceland for a very long time. Warmly welcome back, Icelandic colleagues!

Barbro Wigell-RyynänenEditor-in-chief

barbro.wigell-ryynanen@minedu.fi

Edit rial

Barbro Wigell-RyynänenEditor-in-chief.Counsellor for LibraryAffairs, Ministry of Educa-tion and Culture, Finland

3SPLQ:1 2011

In Finland we strongly focus on the role ofthe public library as conveyor and providerof knowledge and culture in a networkingsociety. Library expertise and services ofquality are key words. Libraries are expec-ted to mediate relevant information andknowledge and to create quality onlineservices. They are seen as places forlearning and personal development. Cen-tral actors in the knowledge provision forindividual citizens, organizers and initia-tors of online contents they bridge the di-gital information gap. The National DigitalLibrary will soon provide access to culturalheritage. Public libraries are part of thishuge project, functioning as access pointsbut also digitising regional collections ofnational interest. Providing access to thisextensive treasure of cultural heritage willcertainly improve the quality of services.

According to the Library Act the muni-cipality shall evaluate the library andinformation services it provides. Thepurpose of the evaluation is to developand ameliorate the services. As no timelimit is mentioned in the paragraph theself-evaluation is done from time totime, if ever perhaps, in some cases.

Evaluation methods are of varyingquality, from simple questionnaires toambitious surveys. The regional admi-nistration evaluates so-called basicservices annually, and library servicesbelong to these services along withhealth, education and rescue services.Certain service areas are targeted, forexample supply of material in elec-tronic format or the extent of servicessupplied by SMS and e-mail.

The new quality recommendations,issued in 2010, will be fundamental forrenewing the performance indicators.The working group behind the recom-mendations represents different kindsof libraries as well as library admini-stration on regional and national level.

There are many factors behind thereborn interest in measuring perfor-mances. Library use and user beha-viour have changed. There are newservice expectations, new ways oflooking up and processing informa-tion. Other information providers andthe social web influence user expecta-tions of how information should bepresented and conveyed. The structureof collections and services has changed,and so has the use of the physicallibrary. Measuring instruments andindicators have begun to appear partlyinadequate and unsatisfying.

Last but by no means least there is alsothe existential question, the need totestify to societal implication and effectin order to argue maintenance andfinancing in times of profound struc-tural change. In municipal servicesurveys inhabitants tend to give locallibraries full marks for excellent,friendly services. Decision-makers, onthe other hand, tend to ask for specifi-cation and reasons of expediency.

Barbro Wigell-RyynänenCounsellor for Cultural Affairs

Ministry of Education and Culturebarbro.wigell-ryynanen@minedu.fi

Barbro Wigell-Ryynänen

Edit rial

The art of defining quality

therefore specified not only what oneought to count, but also how.

Even this was not sufficient enough tobe able to compare the figures, and theAgency therefore wished to take yetanother step and introduce a uniformsystem for counting.

The productAfter lengthy preparations the Agency,in collaboration with Gentofte Library,in 2007 signed a contract with the firmKPI Index that suggested an alternativemethod for measuring usage. The log-analyzing program, which KPI Index isbased on, is called Webtrends and is awidely used commercial product. Thesystem collects statistics from home-pages, catalogues and net libraries via ascript placed on the relevant home-pages. On the basis of the informationgathered a series of reports are gene-rated which contain the common in-formation about the usage. These re-ports provide a large number of keyfigures and statistics on the develop-ment concerning usage.

The agreement means that smallerpublic libraries are offered a compre-hensive and comparable account of theusage of their own homepages and ameans to prepare comprehensive sta-tistics for local usage. The large publiclibraries are offered a more flexible so-lution that makes it possible to adjustconfiguration and choose differentparameters for e.g. local use. It mightbe an overview of where the users ofthe homepage come from, where theyclick most frequently, what is not being

used at all – a great advantage whentrying to improve local mediation.Finally, a few selected comparable keyfigures are extracted and presented onthe same interface called Denmark’sLibrary Index, www.bib.kpiindex.dk.The figures are counted each week.Here you can see i.a. number of pageviews, visits, visitors, and visits per1,000 inhabitants.

The annual reporting to the nationalDanish library statistics on the usage ofthe public libraries’ homepages thustakes place via KPI-Index.

DevelopmentsSince the signing of the contract thepublic libraries’ use of the internet haschanged a great deal, and in order to beable to catch up with digital develop-ments and measure the usage of newservices, the Agency in 2009 grantedfinancial support for the purpose ofexamining the possibility of further de-veloping KPI-Index to i.a. also includethe use of blogs, social media etc. Thisdevelopment is described in furtherdetail in the following article in thisissue.

Finally, it should be mentioned that anew three-year contract has beensigned with KPI-Index taking effectfrom 2011 with participation by 89public libraries.

Ulla KvistLibrary consultant

Danish Agency for Libraries and Mediaukv@bibliotekogmedier.dk

Translated by Vibeke Cranfield

KPI IndexK(ey) P(erformance) I(ndex)With the help of KPI Index Danish Librariescollect comparable statistics on the use ofthe libraries’ homepages and digital ser-vices.

BackgroundToday relatively many resources arespent on the running and further de-velopment of the libraries’ homepages,and it is therefore extremely importantto be able to compile statistics on thisusage. It is important to be able to re-gister whether an extra effort, for example in marketing or development,results in an increase in usage. It ismoreover important for the publiclibraries to be able to produce a reliablestatement to the effect that the use ofthe library increasingly takes place viathe internet. Such an account of theindividual library’s homepage is notvery valuable by itself, however, be-cause it is impossible to know whethere.g. 10,000 visits per month is a lot ornot. It is difficult to judge whether thelibrary’s homepage is of a high stan-dard unless you have something tocompare it with.

The Danish Agency for Libraries andMedia has for several years been work-ing on finding an accurate and compa-rable indicator for the usage of the li-braries’ homepages. Originally the viewwas that like within other areas of li-brary statistics it would be sufficient toagree on common definitions (e.g. of“a visit to the homepage”). It turnedout, however, that it was also necessaryto use the same procedure in order forthe figures to be comparable. It was

DENMARK

4 SPLQ:1 2011

Ulla Kvist

DENMARK

The public libraries’ online activities havechanged considerably since the establish-ment of the Library Index in 2009. Increas-ingly the libraries are using the internet ina more versatile way and targeting com-munication and services at certain specificgroups, needs and situations. Also elec-tronic materials have gained a firmer foot-ing since 2009, both in terms of what is onoffer and in terms of usage. In 2011 the Li-brary Index will be developed further witha number of new measuring and bench-mark functionalities that will enable Da-nish libraries to learn from and handle theonline business.

From domain to activity-based figuresThe use of campaign sites, blogs andother social media means that the li-brary’s online activity does not onlytake place on a main site as it used todo, but is spread around the internet orhappens in partnerships with other in-stitutions. One library may perhapshave established a blog on Word-press.com where the music librariancan more easily promote music andcreate a dialogue with the users. Aspecial site for a local book festivalcould also be an example of onlineventures that are now being measured.It is now possible to measure this typeof activities and they will establishthemselves on a par with the library’sother sites.

The development of the Library Indexalso makes it possible to group contentinto a number of categories which willbe uniform all over the country – forexample ‘search’, ‘mediation’, ‘event’.

This will make benchmarking easierbecause the libraries can now be com-pared on the basis of content and notonly on the slightly anonymous totalfigure.

The real-time libraryAll in all the libraries possess a largenumber of transaction data which eachin their different ways represent a greatpotential for learning in the libraries.The figures from the Library Index are often only used in annual reportsaimed at management and politicians,but the activity-based approach tomeasuring enables the libraries to bet-ter exploit these data for creatinglearning and using them operationallyfrom day to day.

The development of the Library Indexprovides the opportunity, for example,to follow popular searches in the libra-ry base in order to spot user trendsacross the country. Searches are a per-formance indicator that tells you some-thing about which subjects the usersthink the libraries can elucidate, and bycomparing the searches with the collec-tions it is also an indicator of to whichextent the libraries are able to meet theuser’s expectations.

The development project will meanthat the use of licensed resources (data-bases, e-books etc.) can be monitoredcollectively, centrally and right acrossthe country. In Denmark a large num-ber of different suppliers deliver onlinematerials and enable everyone to lo-cally extract consumer figures from thesystems, but a collective overview from

Development of the Library Index

5SPLQ:1 2011

Thomas Angermann

day to day will make it possible tobenchmark campaigns and strategiesboth between libraries, but also inter-nally in the local organisation.

Platform for strategic thinking in everyday lifeThe development project is not onlyabout more technology, more indica-tors and more benchmarking. It is alsoa question of the competences of li-brary staff. The digital library opens upfor an increasing flow of knowledgeabout what actually happens when thelibrary meets the user, but one mustpractice using this knowledge to createlearning and innovation. The techno-logical development is therefore beingfollowed up by a number of courses.

The expectation is that the develop-ment project will make the LibraryIndex the strategic platform fromwhich we will be arguing in favour of selection or de-selection, developingour mediation initiatives and alto-gether creating a better online productfor our users.

Thomas AngermannHead of Development

Gentofte Librariesthan@Gentofte.dk

Translated by Vibeke Cranfield

figures to be used in the public libraries’ statistics database.

The work of the workgroup was pri-marily based on the municipalities’ re-sponsibility for organizing the libraryand information services needed by thepopulation and on the municipal libra-ries’ obligation in terms of library eva-luation, as stipulated by the LibraryAct. A quality recommendation prima-rily aiding and supporting the develop-ment of operations and the municipa-lities’ own self-evaluation was set as agoal in the very early stages of thegroup’s work. For the evaluation of theinfluence of library services, a researchproject funded by the Ministry hasbeen launched at the University ofTampere’s Department of InformationStudies and Interactive Media. Theproject is a study of the importance ofpublic libraries in the daily lives of resi-dents, in relation to other methods ofinformation acquisition. The resultswill be published in spring, 2011.

It was decided that the Finnish publiclibraries’ statistics database should in-clude, in addition to the requested in-formation, the following sub-catego-ries: staff ’s level of competence, moreaccurate cost distribution, acquisitionand use of electronic materials andproduction of library events.

The quality recommendation draftedby the workgroup includes a back-ground frame of reference for evalua-ting library operations, a quality mana-gement recommendation for qualitywork in libraries and quality descrip-tions, presented from the point of view

of a good and high-quality publiclibrary.

The drafting of a national library ser-vices quality recommendation is theagenda of the Ministry of Educationand Culture, and it clarifies the rightsof the library user and the availability,accessibility and quality of the services.High quality library and informationservices provide timely and economicbenefits and positive, lasting socialchange. The quality recommendation isa logical continuation of the previousrecommendations and goals and itsupports the implementation of nati-onal library policy agendas. The corecompetency of libraries – content ma-nagement – will continue to produceadded value for which there is a de-mand. More and more, libraries havecause to develop their operations on alllevels from the point of view of thelibrary user. The development and re-vision of public library services requireactive interaction among differentparticipants, continual evaluation ofoperations, marketing and informationand, above all, a competent, motivatedstaff, whose work ensures high-qualitylibrary and information services.

The quality recommendation for Fin-nish public libraries is also being pub-lished in Swedish and, later in thespring, an edited English version willbe released.

Hannu SulinCounsellor for Cultural Affairs

Ministry of Education and Culture hannu.sulin@minedu.fi

Translated by Turun Täyskäännös

6 SPLQ:1 2011

FINLAND

The Ministry of Education and Culture’s Li-brary Policy 2015 program outlines nati-onal strategic focal points for public libra-ries for the upcoming years. The program’smain objective is to safeguard citizens’cultural rights and access to informationand culture in a quickly changing environ-ment. The program emphasizes expertiseand quality as central focal points for thedevelopment of public libraries.

In the spring of 2009, the Ministry ofEducation and Culture appointed aworkgroup to renew recommenda-tions. The workgroup consisted of re-presentatives from public libraries andstate administration. The basis for thework was the quality recommendationsfrom the previous library policy pro-gram in 2001-2004, drawn up for thelibrary and information services of aninformation society. The recommenda-tions have since been partially modi-fied and have been used widely as atool for local, regional and nationalevaluation. With the drafting of theLibrary Policy 2015 program, it becameclear that the previous quality recom-mendations and goals for public libra-ries had to be revised.

The assignment of the workgroup wasas follows:• to draw up a presentation of a nati-

onal set of criteria for quality for public library operations, which observes local and regional condi-tions and which generate tools for libraries’ self-evaluation

• to draft a presentation about how thesocial impact of public libraries can be measured on a national scale

• to make proposals about new key

Quality recommendation A national goal

FINLAND

reached along a path of development.A good library should be everyone’sgoal. We can only aim for a good libra-ry by creating an image of the desiredobject, by evaluating and developingthe current one, by fighting unwanteddevelopments and by formulating stra-tegies and choosing methods. Alongthis path of development, we needverifiable evidence. We need evaluationand the ability to map the future, andwe need to learn the jargon used bydecision-makers.

The basis for making the quality re-commendation was simple. The work-ing group had a common vision. First,the working group realised that libra-ries cannot ignore the need for self-evaluation, even though they haveperformed excellently in a number ofsurveys gauging service quality. Theymust be able to demonstrate theirexcellence and the good quality of theirservices based on the same professionalstandards used elsewhere. Operationsand services must be evaluated fordevelopment; we cannot get stuck in arut.

Secondly, we must recognise the neces-sity of emphasising the library user’sperspective. Development efforts must

be based on the library user’s needsand expectations, and on the smoothfunctioning of the library’s operations.Therefore, focus on the library usermust be included as a key factor inboth quality evaluation and develop-ment. Identifying the different needs oflibrary users and meeting those needsin a changing work atmosphere re-quires continuous feedback and assess-ment of key operational indicators, aswell as the opinions and views of allpotential library users.

Thirdly, the working group shared thevision of integrating quantitative andqualitative perspectives. Exclusive re-liance on quantitative benchmarks andstandards for evaluation can only yielda partial picture. With quantitativeevaluation methods, we can obtain in-formation, for example, on the numberof acquisitions, but not about what li-brary users feel about the library’sopening hours and collection policy,nor about the kinds of impressionslibrary users have of the library. Bothmethods need to be used in goodcombination.

A fourth trend considered by theworking group was the emergence ofthe local stakeholders’ viewpoint and

7SPLQ:1 2011

How do we understand the concept of qua-lity in library services? Excellence, rele-vance, economic efficiency and the abilityto change? Or, above all, responding to theneeds of library users and the community?This article describes the new quality re-commendation for Finnish public libraries.The main focus is on the presentation ofnew quality descriptions. To get the bigpicture, we will also shed some light on theframe of reference for evaluation and thequality management needs of libraries.

At the end of 2010, a high profileCountry Brand Working Group ap-pointed by the Finnish Minister ofForeign Affairs published its final re-port. The report included a list of de-velopment challenges for different sec-tors. The library of the future is de-scribed in the report as a so-called“Tacit Factory” hosted by people-oriented problem-solving and informa-tion search experts also known as Fin-nish library professionals. A pleasant“Tacit Factory” library represents theculture of sharing and could form thespearhead of soft Finnish diplomacy.Future libraries would build relation-ships and networks between people,with the end products being learningand shared experiences. And all ofthese factors would have a powerfulcompound effect.

The working group report showed thatthe value of libraries is recognised, butin a constantly changing world, value isnot maintained automatically. PublicLibraries are facing the fact that the“Tacit Factory” library ideal cannot bereached in a single leap. It can only be

Marjariitta Viiri

A new quality recommendationfor Finnish public libraries

“

the library’s influence. The targetedoutcomes of the cultural policy of theMinistry of Education and Culture in-clude the strengthening of the culturalfoundation of the community, the pro-motion of citizen’s well-being and par-ticipation in culture, and the strength-ening of the economic role of culture.Local stakeholders and decisionmakersare being offered an opportunity toreach these goals with relatively littleeffort through libraries. If the munici-pality guarantees, by providing suffi-cient resources to the library, the pro-duction of high quality services, theseservices will be used and they will havean influence on the well-being andsatisfaction of the whole community.

They can, at best, prevent marginalisa-tion and help increase Finnish know-how and competitiveness.

The recommendation consist of fivecore quality descriptions that includeall the decisive factors influencing ser-vice structure, operations and the finalresult. These are 1) Local decision-makers’ viewpoint, 2) Services andtheir use, 3) Personnel and professionalcompetence, 4) Collections and 5) Pre-mises.

The quality description concerning thelocal stakeholders includes some of themost fundamental elements in theoverall quality of a library. This infor-

mation is intended as a brief for deci-sion-makers, and it includes the libra-ry’s service promise. It is, in a way, asummary introduction to high qualitylibrary services, the positive influencesof library operations, as well as the im-portance of an up-to-date library sy-stem and collection, skilled staff, versa-tile premises and sufficient openinghours. Everything is fine if the munici-pality realizes, is aware of and takesadvantage of the library’s possibilitiesto enhance the well-being and enjoy-ment of the municipal residents, and ifdecision-makers take time to check

the accessibility of services regio-nally, across municipal borders.

Leadership is important and,from the municipality’s per-spective, the best administrativemodel is one in which the bestexpertise is used in library- related decision-making. We canensure the high quality of theseservices with funding require-

ments amounting to about 1-1.5percent of the municipality’s

operating budget. The importance ofthe perspective of the local residentsand library users, as well as the exten-sive evaluation and follow-up methods,are also emphasised to the decisionma-kers.

The local character of services is emphasised in service delivery. How-ever, local services are not always eco-nomically feasible – Finland still hasmany sparsely-populated rural areas. Insuch cases, accessibility must be im-proved through the introduction ofmobile services, home services ortransportation to the library. The libra-ry user should be offered the opportu-nity to choose the service type bestsuited to him or her. Self-service andassisted services complement eachother.

8 SPLQ:1 2011

By ‘quality’ in

tion of access and equality require-ments for basic services. With the aidof the quality recommendation, libra-ries are able to identify problem areasin their own operations. At the muni-cipal level, it can be used, for example,for monitoring the population’s serviceneeds and the user-orientedness oflibrary services. Since this is a nationalquality recommendation, there shouldat some point be a national evaluationof the implementation of the recom-mendation.

By ‘quality’ in this recommendation, wemean excellence, relevance, a focus onthe library user, ability to change andeconomic efficiency. The quality mana-gement guidelines included in thequality recommendation describe whatkind of procedures, processes or sy-stems the library should use to ensurequality. It focuses on the ease of theprocesses, the library users’ perspective,the importance of management andgoal orientation. A good library mustbe able to learn – and competentlibrary staff ensures the library’s abilityto renew itself. Success does not comeby itself. By networking and establish-ing partnerships, the library can growstrong and fulfil its social responsibi-lity.This quality recommendation is cur-rently being introduced. Trainingevents are being organised and librariesare being encouraged to compile theirown evaluation materials. During theintroductory phase, it is hoped thatlibraries will test the usability of therecommendation, for example, in regi-onal or municipal pilot projects.

Marjariitta ViiriSenior Library Advisor

Centre for Economic Development, Transport and theEnvironment for Ostrobothniamarjariitta.viiri@ely-keskus.fi

Translated by Turun Täyskäännös

The library’s collection should be de-veloped for the needs of the residentsof the municipality in question and therenewal of the collection should betaken care of. The library collectionmust be developed as a part of a re-gional collection and the library mustbe involved in regional cooperation inacquisition, stocking and evaluation.Collection content is presented to thepublic in different ways and materialsare transported to those in need usingeffective logistics. In addition to prin-ted and other traditional library mate-rial, e-materials licensed for nationaluse and other e-materials are available,and people have access to periodicalportals, which complement printedperiodical collections. The recommen-dation does not include guidelines onthe quantities of different types of ma-terial in the collection.

A proper library requires proper pre-mises. A year ago, in an evaluation oflibrary premises, 70% of Finland’s pub-lic libraries thought they were situatedin suitable locations. More than half ofthe libraries considered their premisesto be good or excellent, but every tenthlibrary needed urgent improvements tothe premises in order for them to be-come nice places to pop into, work andstudy. A good library is centrally lo-cated, and its premises are attractiveand so versatile that the library turnsinto a community centre. Effective userequires generous opening hours. Themain factors are accessibility and safety.The quality recommendation was in-tended to set benchmarks for self-eva-luation by libraries. However, it can beused equally well as an aid in peer eva-luations and as a starting point in de-veloping user and non-user surveys. Ata national level, the recommendation isused for the follow-up of the imple-mentation of agendas for library policyand the follow-up of the implementa-

Likewise, locally produced servicescomplement the online services thatlibraries produce together. Whateverthe type of service, it must be effec-tively marketed and using the servicesmust be made easy by providing guid-ance and assistance. The workinggroup also included a handful of quan-titative criteria: The trip to the libraryshould be less than 2 km, or should nottake more than half an hour. Satisfac-tion level in customer surveys shouldbe at least 80% and these should becarried out every 2-3 years. If the li-brary services are good, the librarybecomes part of people’s everyday lifeand leisure. If the library has at leasthalf of the municipality’s residents asactive users, and they visit the libraryonce a month and borrow 20 books ayear, the library may emphaticallydeclare itself a good library.

From the point of view of the qualityof library service, it is absolutely essen-tial that there is a sufficient number ofemployees with up-to-date competen-ces to meet the demand for services. Itis equally important that the libraryhas a passionate and determined di-rector who is provided with the toolsfor good management.The workload required to maintainonline services must be consideredwhen decisions of the number of staffmembers are being made Experts inspecialised fields cannot be hired inevery library, and this is where librariescan show their ability to collaboratewith others.There is also a number of national firstclass web-based services produced byskilled staff, and libraries should takefull ad-vantage of them. The municipa-lities vary greatly, but a good servicelevel can generally be achieved if thereis staff of 0.8-1 man-years per 1,000population.

9SPLQ:1 2011

this recommendation, we mean excellence, relevance, a focus on the library user, ability to change and economic efficiency

One lives longer by visiting the

Two pensioners having a good time at the library. Photo: Tao Lützen

ICELAND

Reading is a kind of sport. We must alllearn to read; and then practise reading forthe rest of our lives. Scientific research has shown that libra-ries and reading are likely to extend lifeexpectancy considerably more than anyother physical exercise. The brain is a bodyorgan that needs work-out and constantstimulation – and reading is the best acti-vity for this.

According to Keith Oatley, writing inNew Scientist, fiction improves one’sIQ. The public library is therefore akind of health centre. Hrafn AndresHardarson and Margret Sigurgeirs-dottir, librarians at Kopavogur PublicLibrary/Bokasafn Kopavogs, Iceland,say: “You live longer by visiting yourlocal library, borrowing books andreading them.”

Reading is a kind of sport. Everyonemust learn to read. Once learned, it isthen imperative to maintain this skillby constantly reading – both fictionand non-fiction – both for one’s better-ment and for the sheer enjoyment of it.Exercising the tools of reading, the eyesand the brain, means that the sport ofreading is also a training for a healthybrain.

Libraries are the power stations for thissport of reading and are where endlessprocesses of reaction take place inthousands of brains. People of all ageswalk or run or take buses or cycle totheir library (others may of coursechoose to come by car or taxi) so as toselect books and other media to take

home. And this movement to and fromthe library is both sound and refresh-ing.

Using scientific research, it has beenproved that the reading of books andthe use of libraries actually lengthenspeople’s lives. In fact, these investiga-tions show that it is more likely tomake us live longer than any otherphysical activity. As a corollary to this,it has become evident that people whosmoke but do not read have a shorterlife expectancy than those who smokebut do read. In other words, readinghas been shown to extend life; and thebenefits of using libraries surpass othersocial activities such as work-outs inthe sports centre. Run by municipali-ties, libraries can therefore be seen assomething akin to health care centres.As library people have long known, thebrain is a part of the body that needsboth practice and challenges to func-tion fully. Reading is the best brain-training possible; and the combinationof this and of walking regularly to thelibrary is something both healthier andcheaper than many other pastime acti-vities.

Whilst other sports may also be benefi-cial, all of them having many positiveaspects, the list of additional thingsthat are also health-giving is topped byreading. Your local library is thereforeto be seen as a physical training centreand a place of energy generation asmuch as a culture centre. It can there-fore be concluded that to drop by thelibrary and train one’s brain is a smartthing to do.

The example of the woman who says thatreading is best “Some years back I became ill and hadto undergo a general anaesthetic onseveral occasions within a short period.Following this, in spite of being abook-lover, I suddenly stopped readingand became rather forgetful. Some-thing that was far from pleasant forme. I had always kept myself quite fitby working out and felt that I shouldtherefore have been in good shape. Butwhile my body had recovered fully,reading was a problem for me. I simplycould not concentrate on books orother information media. I was neitherable to remember things nor to applymyself properly to anything.”

Something had to be done.“Thinking of how one has a personaltrainer for the body, I transferred thisidea to training for the brain. So I wentto school and for a whole winter I saton a school bench and completed acourse. And this was my personal training for the brain. This obliged meto read simply because the courses allfinished with an exam. Through thiswork my memory improved greatlyand I found that I was once again ableto concentrate and get real enjoymentfrom reading. And so, in my opinion,reading is the best of all activities. Itwas this that saved me.”

Another example that is relevant is theKopavogur Library’s Literary Clubwhich has now been running for over25 years. It was aimed at people over 50and was intended as a ‘soft landing intoold age’. It currently has about 30

11SPLQ:1 2011

Hrafn AndresHardarson

Margret Sigurgeirsdottir

public library

Dr. med Docent Markku T. Hyppa ofthe Nasjonalt Folkehelseinstitutt inFinland sees this participation in thesocial community as something thatboth strengthens democratic awarenessand encourages further activity. Aftermany years of research, he concludesthat the library is one of the few insti-tutions where everyone can meet on anequal footing, which makes it an extre-mely healthy place for people.

‘Novels make one smarter.’ Read novels, be smarterIn an interesting article in Morgun-bladid on Saturday, 23rd August 2008,Throstur Helgason wrote:

“Keith Oatley, writing in New Scientist,says: “For the first time it can now beproved that fiction has a good effect onone’s soul.” Oatley, himself a novelist, isalso a professor in psychology andleads a team of researchers at the Uni-versity of Toronto which has studiedthe effects of reading fiction on a per-son’s intelligence.

In an interview with The Toronto Star,Oatley says that the reading of fictionseems to stimulate those parts of thebrain where compassion and empathyare born. “When you read a novel youare allowing yourself to becomeanother person for a short time; andthis loosens up the strictures of yourown personality. Through a series ofstudies, we have discovered that, at itsbest, fiction is not only enjoyable butalso enhances our ability to empathisewith other people, thereby connectingus with something larger than our-selves.”

The article goes on:“Oatley and his team ran a combina-tion of experiments before arriving attheir conclusions. They first assembleda number of people who were splitevenly between those who liked andthose who disliked fiction. Both groupstook a series of diagnostic tests todetermine their social acumen. Thefiction readers, they found, demon-strated “substantially greater empathy”than their counterparts. But whichcame first, they wondered, the chickenor the egg? Could it be that people who

12 SPLQ:1 2011

members, including some of the foun-ders who are now close to 100 yearsold. It only meets during the wintermonths and in spite of what theweather may be like, they all attendevery single meeting. Do we needfurther proof?

The eyes are the portals of memory and remembering Our eyes are a part of the body thatneeds training; and for this purposereading is particularly suitable. At thesame time they clearly also need to berested so as not to overstrain them.That is where one of the beneficialside-effects of reading enters the story,the side-effect being memory since,through reading, we also collect otherpeople’s memories into our brain’sstore. Furthermore, when we readsomething that we especially like, wetend to make the effort to learn it byheart. Once learned, it can then bebrought to mind time and again, andrecited silently or out loud – and evenwith one’s eyes closed, the eyes thusbeing given the chance to rest.

In the article Besök ofte ditt lokalebibliotek og lev lenger (4) it says:

“The library is a formal space wherepeople from many different walks oflife can meet without concern. With noregard for either age, gender or socialstanding, all sorts of friendships andrelationships can easily develop fromsuch meetings. In this way a visit to thelibrary can be seen as a thoroughlypositive experience, something whichcan indeed lengthen our lives.”

... fiction is not only enjoyable but also enhances our ability to empathise with

other people, thereby connecting us with something larger than our-selves

are naturally more socially developedgravitate towards fiction, that their affi-nity for novels is an expression, not acause, of their talent for empathy? Toresolve this, the researchers then cameup with another experiment, this oneinvolving Chekhov’s story The LadyWith The Dog.

First, researcher Maja Djikic wrote a‘control’ version of the story. This waswritten in a documentary style, was thesame length as the original and de-scribed precisely the same events. This

was rated just as interesting by GroupA (non-fiction readers) as Group B’s(fiction readers) rating of the originaltext. Before and after the reading, bothgroups filled out questionnaires whichevaluated their personality traits andemotions.

Oatley declined to speculate muchfurther, pointing out that similar expe-riments using video games or moviesinstead of Russian literature could verywell produce comparable results. Andhe freely admitted that there were

many questions his findings did notresolve. Would, for instance, a shortstory by Chekhov produce the sameresult as a Tom Clancy airport thriller?In which is one more likely to gatherknowledge about a people, a pop novelor a literary memoir? And what abouta piece of writing that purports to benon-fiction but is actually to a greatextent made up (à la James Frey); or apiece of fiction that is actually a thinlyconcealed account of things that realpeople really did?

Oatley concedes that it is possible hisresearch applies, if not exclusively thenat least especially, to good fiction. Butwhat is good fiction?

This article was published in the Icelandic dailyMorgunbladid and the Iceland Library Association’s

Bókasafnsi in Icelandic.

Hrafn Andres Hardarson FCLIP and Margret Sigurgeirsdottir MS

Bokasafn Kopavogs, Hamraborg 6a,200 Kopavogur. ICELAND

hrafnah@kopavogur.is margretsig@kopavogur.is

13SPLQ:1 2011

SPLQ:1 2011

Commons, Meeting Place and CulturalArena in a Digital Age from 2009 placeemphasis on the use of statistics. Libra-ry Reform 2014 embraces all types oflibraries and comprises two docu-ments; firstly, one that sketches outstrategies and measures, and secondly abackground document Norgesbiblio-teket (The Norwegian Library) – net-work for knowledge and culture. Thereport launches the term ‘Norgesbiblio-teket’ as a cooperative library network.Working together, all types of librarieswill be able to give the public a broadlibrary service. Report no 23 to theStorting focuses on content and ser-vices, on structure and organizationand on competence and research.

In chapter 2 of Library Reform 2014, itstates: “The compiling and analysis ofstatistics and other documentation isimportant in the evaluation of libra-ries’ activities and performance com-pared to the goals that are establishedfor the activities in Norgesbiblioteket.This is an area that will be of evengreater importance in the future. It isalso important to develop tools thatcan measure the activity and can con-tribute to raising the quality of theservice...”.This is followed up in Report no. 23 tothe Storting:

Statistics and analysis“In addition to such measures, it isessential that various kinds of indica-tors be developed for what constitutesadequate provision of service in ar-chives, libraries and museums... In thelibrary field, the work on indicatorswill first and foremost be concentratedon the field of public libraries.”

14

Report no. 23 to the Storting emphasizesthe use of statistics as a tool to ensurequality in the library field and also theneed for indicators that can be used inthis connection. Quality in the collec-tions, services and the work processesis essential to the role of libraries intoday’s society. Quality can be definedas the totality of features and characte-ristics of a product, process or servicethat bear on its ability to satisfy statedor implied needs (NS-ISO 8402).

In order to judge whether the require-ments for quality have been fulfilled,they must be stated. Developing qualitytherefore involves defining visions forthe service, setting out goals and prepa-ring guidelines for quality (policy onquality). Visions and goals will to someextent follow on from lawmaking andstate guidelines in this area and alsopartly from political and professionalevaluations regionally and locally.

An indicator can be defined as a quan-titative and qualitative device to mea-sure the value of an activity/service.Performance indicators comprise va-rious types of measurement methods;quantitative or qualitative evaluationsused in library management, which can measure or describe directly orindirectly to what extent the libraryachieves its overall goals in a givenperiod. Systematically compiled dataand active use of indicators provide animportant basis for resource manage-ment, decision-making and documen-tation for the management/owners.

KOSTRAIn Norway, KOSTRA is a central sourceof information on municipal and

Libraries face huge challenges. They needto keep up with technological develop-ments and be active contributors to the de-velopment of culture and the knowledgesociety. In addition, central and local au-thorities impose stricter demands on re-porting and management by objectives.This requires systematic recording of dataand statistics as well as the tools and com-petence to use the data that have beencompiled.

National public library statistics are animportant source of information. TheNational Library of Norway collectsand publishes data on public libraryactivities annually. Another importantsource is KOSTRA (Municipality –State – Reporting) run by StatisticsNorway which presents a large body ofdata on municipal services and finan-ces annually. Moreover Statistics Nor-way publishes statistics on people’s useof culture and media, including use ofpublic libraries.

Systematically collected data and stati-stics can reveal activity / achievement /development in individual libraries andin the sector as a whole. They can beused as a basis for making decisions inpublic administration, locally and cen-trally, and also in the individual insti-tution as a basis for management anddevelopment. Statistics and other datacan provide a better overview, insightand information about the librariesand can be used to make visible theactivities and importance of libraries.

The study Library Reform 2014 from2006 and Report no 23 (2008-2009) tothe Storting: Libraries – Knowledge

NORWAY

Indicators for Norwegian public libraries

county service provision and finances.KOSTRA was implemented in 2002and is a national system for statisticsrun by Statistics Norway. All Norwe-gian municipalities and counties mustdeliver standardized data about theiroperations. Large quantities of data arereadily available and these are also pre-sented in the form of indicators. More-over the system allows for comparisonsbased on grouping of municipalitiesaccording to population and financialframes of reference.KOSTRA is a good tool, but cannotcover all the requirements for indica-tors in the field of public libraries. Thelibraries will in addition need variousindicators suited to local objectives,and which require data that cannot becompiled from national statistics. Aswell as annual national statistics, it willbe necessary to collect data for exampleby having public questionnaire surveys,focus groups or observation.

Indicators for public librariesOn account of the need for indicatorsin the area of public libraries, ABM-utvikling (Norwegian Archive, Libraryand Museum Authority) in 2008 set uptwo project groups, one for public li-braries and one for university and col-lege libraries. The groups were to de-velop tools for evaluating and mana-ging their own libraries and for makingcomparisons with other libraries. Theywere to arrive at recommended sets ofindicators; one for the public librarysector and one for the university andcollege library sector. The members ofthe project group for public librariesrepresented libraries of different sizes,and both municipal and county libra-ries were included.

The project group wanted to arrive atmeasurable indicators that could revealsomething about the libraries as:

• Institutions in society• Learning resources and learning

arenas• Purveyors of literature and culture• Arenas of cultural diversity.

The intention was to choose indicatorsthat encompass the most importantactivities that can be naturally com-pared, over time and with other libra-ries. Emphasis has been put on findinggood, common indicators, based onunambiguous data. The project grouphas discussed a wide range of indica-tors. Many were rejected when theproject group could not establish thatthe indicators had fulfilled the require-ments that formed the basis for work-ing with indicators: easy access to data,expedient in relation to comparisonsover time and with other libraries, andrelevance to public libraries’ activities,

tasks and goals. Other suggestions wererejected because it was not possible tofind unambiguous or comparable data.The municipalities have varying prac-tices when it comes to organisation andbudget allocation and the libraries arearranged differently in terms of physi-cal location, design, tasks and duties.The indicators that have been chosenare based partly on data already easilyavailable in library statistics or in KO-STRA, and partly on data that requireseparate routines for collection.

The group judged each indicator onthe following criteria:

• What does this indicator tell us?• Is the indicator suitable for making

comparisons with other libraries?• Is the indicator suitable as an

internal management tool?• Which other indicators should it be

seen in relation to?• Is it difficult/easy to get hold of the

data?

15SPLQ:1 2011

Torill RedseErlend Ra

Today KOSTRA operates with 13 indicators for public libraries:

• Net running costs of public library in relation to municipality’s total running costs (percentage.)

• Net running costs of public library per capita (in NOK)

• Loans of all media (physical units) from public library per capita

• Book loans from public library per capita in total

• Children’s literature; number of book loans per capita 0-13 years old

• Adult literature; number of book loans per capita 14 years old and above

• Loans of other media (physical units) in total from public library per capita

• Circulation of children’s books in public library

• Circulation of fiction for adults in public library

• Additions all media (physical units) in public library per 1,000 inhabitants

• Number of visits to public library per capita

• Media and salary expenditure in public library per capita

• Staff positions; number of inhabitants per full time equivalent staff position in public library.

Not just a user, but an important upcoming

source of information for library development

The proposed indicators are in part taken from existing sources, partly ad-justed to suit Norwegian conditions,and in part created by the projectgroup. The project group has tested theindicators in their own libraries fromearly summer 2009. Proposals for indi-cators have been discussed in openblogs and have been circulated forcomments and there have been manycontributions and comments. The pro-posed indicators were revised followinga review of the comments received andare now recommended for use in libra-ries.

The goal is not that all libraries shoulduse all the recommended indicators.The libraries choose indicators basedon their own goals and activities. It isrecommended that fewer indicators beused at a national level.

The indicators are also intended forbenchmarking at national and locallevel. The purpose of benchmarking is

to find areas for improvement in ser-vices and processes by studying bestpractice in the library field. By usingindicators the individual library willalso be able to compare its own resultsover time. The indicators give librariesa broader base for comparison. Whencomparing oneself with others, it isvital that the data used are similar andof high quality. This requires, in manycases, collaboration between partici-pants. One must know the libraries onechooses to be compared with. Conside-ration must be given to special circum-stances, for example institutions in theestablishment phase, internal restruc-turing and/or development of collec-tions or services. One also has to takeinto consideration the municipality’ssize, topography and number of branchlibraries.

Combined school and public libraries,which provide library services as bothpublic libraries and school libraries,have particular challenges in relation to

16 SPLQ:1 2011

Where to go? What to do?

The purpose of benchmarking is to find

areas for improvement in services and

processes by studying best practice in the

library field

compiling statistical data on their ownactivities. In many cases it is difficult todistinguish between school library acti-vities and ordinary public library acti-vities; thus it is hard to make a compa-rison with ordinary public libraries.Combined school and public librariesought therefore to compare themselveswith similar libraries.

Quality requirements and goals are de-fined on the basis of user needs, libraryresources and political guidelines. Thelibraries need statistics, measurementsand surveys to show how well theysucceed, what resources are used fordifferent services and whether the li-braries reach their targets. The materialmust be analysed and presented exter-nally so as to make the libraries visibleand internally so as to actively use thedata as a management tool.

The indicators for public libraries areintended to serve as a useful tool.Hopefully many public libraries willbegin to use and gain experience withthem. It will be important to enablelibraries to share their experiences sothat this basis can be used in thefurther development of this tool.

Torill RedseSenior Adviser

National Library of NorwayTorill.redse@nb.no

Erlend RaSenior Adviser

National Library of NorwayErlend.ra@nb.no

Translated by Akasie språktjeneste AS

17SPLQ:1 2011

The project group arrived at the following recommended indicators,divided into four main groups:

FINANCE• Library’s proportion of the municipal budget

• Cost per opening hour

• Expenditure on media per capita

• Proportion of salary and media expenditure used on purchase of media/access

• Expenditure per downloaded document

• Proportion of expenditure used for purchase/access to electronic resources

USE/VISITS• Visits to the library per capita

• Use of net-based services per capita

• Loans (physical units) per capita

• Number of downloaded/streamed documents per capita

• Proportion of visitors who have non-Norwegian speaker background

• Proportion of borrowers from other municipalities

• Number of participants at events organized by the library, per capita

MEETINGS/SERVICES/PROCESSES• Total opening hours

• Number of full time equivalent staff positions per capita

• Additions (physical media) per 1,000 inhabitants

• Culture Fund media (media financed by the Norwegian Cultural Fund):

proportion of total additions

• Provision of media in languages other than Scandinavian and English

• Circulation figures for non-Scandinavian and non-English media

• Inter-library loans - loans from other libraries in relation to loans to other libraries

• Proportion of library’s loan total which comes from own collection

• Number of information requests per staff member

• Proportion of staff members’ work time allocated to service to the public

• Proportion of staff members’ work time used for regional/national answer services

• Proportion of staff members’ work time used for school related activities

DEVELOPMENT/INNOVATION/MARKETING• Proportion of staff members’ work time used for project work

• Proportion of staff members’ work time used for competence building

• Number of events organized by the library per full time equivalent staff position

• Collaboration measures per full time equivalent staff position

• Number of interactive services

For further reading: ABM-skrift 64: Indikatorer for norske folkebibliotek:http://www.abm-utvikling.no/publisert/abm-skrift/abm-skrift-64Kostra: http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/00/00/20/kostra_en/

DENMARK

Almost 100 % satisfaction and so what?

high, it is an advantage to be able tocompare your satisfaction score withothers with a view to learning fromthose whose score exceeds your own.

The comparison makes it easier toevaluate own results. It can, forexample, be quite difficult to judgewhether one’s library has obtained agood result if 67 % of the users arevery satisfied with the library’s services.But the comparison across librariesmakes it possible to assess the result.

If the same survey is repeated, the li-brary can monitor its own develop-ment and actively bring its influence tobear by deciding on concrete goals for

A new common national tool will helplibraries get more comparable and therebymore efficient satisfaction surveys. Manylibraries are regularly asking the userswhether they are satisfied with their locallibrary. The answer is more or less alwaysyes. But it is difficult to form an opinion ofthe situation on a national scale, becausethe libraries use different methods forexamining the level of satisfaction. Onecannot, therefore, compare satisfactionacross libraries – and has likewise not gota background against which to estimateone’s score of satisfaction: Is 67% verysatisfied users a good result? The new toolis now going to change this.

National user satisfaction surveyIn 2011 all libraries in Denmark aregiven the opportunity to take part in anational benchmarking survey. Thesurvey uses the same questionnaire inall the libraries, it is carried out in thesame week and in the same way. Fromnow on it will be conducted bi-annu-ally. The background is a pilot projectdone in a collaboration between Her-ning Libraries and the Association ofLibrary Directors in 2009. It receivesfinancial support from the DanishAgency for Libraries and Media. Thepilot project resulted in a recommen-dation to use a common solution de-veloped in cooperation with the en-gineering, design and consultancycompany, Ramboll. The solution in-cludes software to carry out surveys, acommon questionnaire as well as con-sultancy assistance for carrying out thesurvey and analysing data. The modelis based on collaboration between the

libraries and Ramboll, which makes ispossible to keep the costs down.

National overview Today we need to focus in a morequalitative way on how the users expe-rience the library’s services. For manyyears the libraries have measured theirsuccess on parameters such as loansand visiting figures, but as focus isbeing directed at the library’s functionas something else and more than just aplace for lending books, it becomesincreasingly necessary to developmeasuring methods which gauge anddocument the users’ perception of thelibrary. The national survey can give usan overview of how the users see thelibrary and how satisfied they are. Andwith sufficient support for the survey itwill be possible to produce a figure forthe overall satisfaction with the coun-try’s libraries. The survey is coordi-nated by Herning Libraries and Ram-boll. Apart from that, all the country’sregional libraries participate in a net-work which provides sparring on va-rious elements in the survey.

A standardised measuring also empha-sizes the legitimacy vis-à-vis the out-side world and politicians, because thelibraries are being measured on a veryobjective scale.

Local advantages – evaluation and developmentThe individual library gets several ad-vantages. The survey makes it possibleto compare with other libraries similarto your own. For the library service,where by tradition satisfaction is very

18 SPLQ:1 2011

work. You can furthermore buy thepossibility for asking local questions, ifyou feel the ordinary questionnairedoes not cover a particular area.

A user satisfaction survey is not enough by itselfAn important point is that a qualitativesurvey like the present one offers adiagnosis, but you have to find the me-dicine yourself. For example, a librarymay realise that only 49 % of its usersare very satisfied with the library’s faci-lities. The library very much wants toimprove on this. But there are manypossible focus areas, and the librarytherefore needs some input on whichfacilities could be improved and how.The library could then appoint a focusgroup or one might even provide anumber of users with a camera andsend them out into the library to docu-ment good and bad aspects of thelibrary etc. etc.

Apart from being an evaluation toolthe satisfaction survey can also providethe breeding ground for further thoughts and deliberations, whichcould be followed up in smaller surveyswithin specific areas, thereby pushingdevelopment and innovation forward.

Sara SvenstrupCommunication Consultant

Herning Librariesbibssv@herning.dk

Translated by Vibeke Cranfield

19SPLQ:1 2011

prioritised areas. The library can, forexample, decide that next time thesurvey is conducted, awareness of anumber of selected digital servicesmust have risen by 30 %. You identifyand select various initiatives that willfurther this knowledge. These are car-ried out in the time between the twosurveys, and the new survey gives youan evaluation of whether you havebeen successful in spreading the know-ledge.

Standardization of the survey methodalso means that the individual librarycan save resources: You do not have tospend time on developing and testing aquestionnaire yourself, and time spent

on planning the survey is drasticallyreduced, because a manual will de-scribe how it is to be done.

The collaboration also means econo-mies of scale, as expenses on the pur-chase of software for the survey (Sur-veyXact) and consultancy support arereduced considerably as opposed to asituation where the libraries wouldhave to purchase both of these indivi-dually.

Flexibility the code wordThe basic element of the model is thatthe libraries and Ramboll work to-gether on the survey. Ramboll are re-sponsible for the technical part, the li-braries collect the responses, and whenit comes to the analysis part the libra-ries can to a greater or lesser extent buyconsultancy support from Ramboll.

The libraries’ conditions vary, both interms of economy and in experience ofanalysing and implementing the resultsof the survey. One of the most impor-tant criteria for the model for the usersurvey has therefore been flexibility.Taking part in the survey had to berelatively cheap. You can participate atthe cost of a mere 4,000 DKK, depen-ding on whether your local authorityhas already got a license to Ramboll’ssystem. At the same time it has to betaken into consideration that somelibraries have got specialists in the field,who are able to analyse data, whileothers have not got this competence ‘inhouse’. The libraries can, therefore,choose to conduct the analysis them-selves or get Ramboll to do most of the

Sara Svenstrup

20 SPLQ:1 2011

Cycling for libraries unconference is atool for this. Veteran cataloguers, well-established librarians, new professio-nals, directors, students, designers,temps and teachers alike will mounttheir bicycles and head for the road.

We, the organizers have nostalgizedabout the origins several times. Origi-nally this was a suggestion for a privatebicycling tour with a couple of col-leagues, Jukka Pennanen and Kai Halt-tunen. But it got out of hands veryquickly indeed, as the idea spread andmore people got excited by the con-cept. It was soon apparent that thiswould be first and foremost a professi-onal event of a deeply internationalnature, for a network of open-mindedcolleagues. By chance several indepen-dent initiatives merged and soonerthan we realized, this Cycling for libra-ries concept was born.

At that time it was summer 2010, andthe annual (76th) IFLA

World Library andInformation Congress(WLIC) was going totake place in Gothen-burg soon. We had alittle group who hadannounced that theywould be bicyclingfrom an IFLA satelliteconference in Boråsto the main IFLAconference inGothenburg. Thisnaturally evolvedinto what would be aconceptual demo ofthe much wider

Cycling for libraries concept and theplanned Copenhagen-Berlin tour inthe summer of 2011. After some brain-storming, we quickly contacted Danishand German libraries and asked if theywould still have some second-handlibrary catalogue cards lying around.Within a few weeks we received severalthousands (thanks to everyone whosent us some), and ma-nipulatedhundreds of these catalogue cards byprinting information on them andlaminating them, turning them into so-called ‘spokecards’.

So, we took our concept with our 800spokecards to IFLA in Gothenburg,and ran out of them! This was a clearsignal to us that we had an interestingconcept at hand.

Already at IFLA in Gothenburg we haddiscussions with colleagues from Ger-many and elsewhere on cooperation inthe arrangements. One major featureis, that the Cycling for libraries groupwill arrive into the massive 100thDeutscher Bibliothekartag jubilee con-ference, which starts on 7th June 2011in Berlin.

In September 2010 Jukka Pennanenand I travelled from Copenhagen toBerlin in a rental car to get an idea ofwhat the bicycling route is like. And wewere truly astonished; the views areabsolutely stunning and the famousBerlin-Copenhagen Radweg is so wellmaintained! Of course we met withsome Danish and German colleagues,and have been organizing things everafter. Needless to say, organizing a ten-day bicycling tour for 100 people, with

FINLAND

Cycling for libraries The first cycling unconference for librarians

On May 28th 2011 a new type of professi-onal event for library professionals begins.Instead of a conference hall or venue, ittakes the form of a bicycling trip from Co-penhagen to Berlin. The event ends in Ber-lin 7th June. Softly rolling through the 650kilometres of beautiful Danish and Germanlandscapes, the international group of 100colleagues will discuss libraries, and libra-rianship itself from a unique point of view:from the saddles of bicycles. Librarians areventuring outside their normal habitat inthe library, out into the world.

To get a better chance of self-evalua-tion and reflection, it is sometimes bestto jump out of the everyday context.Often the best, most meaningful inno-vations and discussions do not happenin steering committee meetings, inroutine work at the circulation desk oreven at a presentation in an audito-rium. Every once in a while somethingcompletely different is needed. The

return back home. This is a uniqueopportunity for employers and em-ployees alike, surely worth the investedtime.

From a Finnish and Nordic point ofview I want to contribute to a strength-ening of the connections to our Ger-man colleagues, connections whichonce were strong but have now unfor-tunately largely diminished. Direct,informal and personal networking inan unfamiliar situation is a goodmethod for underpinning connections,I believe. I also have high expectationsfor the workshops, where the networkof organizers will be importing new,innovative and task-oriented methodsfor working together with our localcolleagues. Other programmes includeinteresting video screenings, presenta-tions, meeting with local politicians,discussions... and barbeque.

To join up and register for the Cyclingfor libraries event, or to get moredetailed information see our website athttp://www.cyclingforlibraries.org andmeet us on Facebook (search for ‘Cy-cling for libraries’), Twitter (hashtag#cyc4lib), Flickr (cyc4lib) or send us anemail (see the webpage for contact).

I warmly welcome you to take up thechallenge and come join the Cyclingfor libraries unconference. Let’s get thewheels rolling!

Mace OjalaProject Designer and Implementer

Turku City Librarymace.ojala@turku.fi

Photo: Jukka Pennanen

21SPLQ:1 2011

Mace Ojala

professional content is more work thanwe anticipated. But it has been fun andI am proud to say that we have anenthusiastic, motivated, internationalnetwork of people making this happen.

Between the time of writing (lateJanuary 2011) and publication of thisarticle (April 2011) a lot has happened.Most notably the registration for theCycling for libraries event has begunon the website (http://www.cyclingfor-libraries.org) and participants havestarted prepping up their physicalfitness (though it must be emphasizedthat Cycling for libraries is a relaxedtour, not a bicycle race).

As mentioned above, the Cycling forlibraries event is not just about bi-cycling. It is primarily a professionalevent, an ‘unconference’. Naturally locallibraries and librarians will be visited,there will be new types of workshopsand other happenings. The discussedthemes include the many connectionsin which libraries are connected to thesociety around them, Open Data, andthe content of librarianship itself. Aproject like this will surely draw atten-tion outside the profession too. TheCycling for libraries unconference is achallenge to gather pro-active, expres-sive and innovative librarianship andexhibit it.

I know there will be trouble and chal-lenges ahead, but I have no doubt thatthe participants will benefit immensely.This will not be just another confe-rence among many, but a memorableexperience and we will be refreshedboth mentally and physically when we

Marc Ojala in Berlin

while the labs.kirjastot.fi is the corre-sponding Finnish version with a per-manent staff of two based at the Hel-sinki City Library. The initial meetingresulted in Kista Idea Camp where col-leagues from Oslo were also present.The Helsinki camp was attended byparticipants from Denmark as well.

As Åke Nygren, one of the activists be-hind the Nordic Labs, a growing net-work of Nordic library labs, noted –the labs are not an official body. Yet.“We are library professionals who arepassionate about library innovation.We share a specific vision of making

this world a better place by means ofan open, collaborative and sustainabletechnological development within theNordic library systems”, Nygren says.

Many of the participants were ponde-ring if the Nordic Labs should remain ameeting of individuals, not organisa-tions. Innovation is harder to makehappen if you are accountable for re-sults. To be able to innovate you needto be allowed to take risks and testdifferent ways of doing things. KittyRönnberg, a first-timer at the campfrom Espoo City Library, believes that“many good ideas could die out if you

FINLAND

22 SPLQ:1 2011

I am not saying that library conferencesare boring or drab as such, but still,whichever way you look at it, the HelsinkiMidwinter Darkness Camp in January wasspecial. The atmosphere at the Nordic get-together of coders, IT-minded and innova-tive library staff was tangibly enthusiasticand electric for the whole of the two-dayunconference.

To be able to create something new, itis important to be quick and nimble.Innovation calls for informality. Therules of management do not apply indevelopment work. Jørn Helge B. Dahlfrom the National Library of Norwaytalked about guerrilla tactics in librarydevelopment: you have to surprise andconvince. The power of example iselementary.

The Camp offered a new way ofmeeting like-minded colleagues in anatmosphere where having fun did notrule out being productive. The mostimportant goal was to learn about whatothers do. Ideas flew around both insocial media and the Suomenlinna SeaFortress meeting rooms where around40 Nordic library developers met for atwo-day gathering.

From Kista Idea Camp to Helsinki Darkness CampIt all started when the staff of labs.kirjastot.fi, Helsinki and Kista Idea Lab,Stockholm met at the IFLA WLICcongress in Gothenburg. The Kista Labis a forum for library innovation andcollaborative learning, run by theStockholm Public Libraries and hostedin the Digital Art Center in the interna-tionally renowned Kista Science City,

Happy campers create innovation

from cooperation Helsinki Midwinter Darkness Camp

Informal, fun, productive = unconferencePäivi Jokitalo

23SPLQ:1 2011

are always obliged to ask permission oraccomplish something concrete. At thesame time it is a paradox, becausewhen you take risks at work, you needto make sure you have the legitimacy ofyour organization and work to backyou up”.

Gamebrarians and video reporters The Helsinki camp sprang into actioneven before it started. Talking shopstarted on the ferry towards Suomen-linna Fortress (and even the previousnight) between campers who origi-nated among others from Mexico City,Espoo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and

Oslo. After a coffee refill everybodywas ready to roll. The facilitators pre-sented the different tracks briefly andparticipants got to choose their groups.As this was an unconference nobodywas bound by their initial choice andregrouping happened during the day.

The staff interested in games and ga-ming at libraries discussed the NordicGaming Day, real time competitionsbetween users in every country, spon-sored charity events and user generatedreviews. Collaboration between theself-named gamebrarians and the videoreporters and editors of e.g. the Finnish

library internet tv, Kirjastokaista couldresult in interviews of the gamers, orvideo recordings at gaming events.“When it comes to games at librariesthere is a lot to be done before gamesare seen as library material and con-tents in their own right and not just athrow-in gimmick”, as Heikki Varjomaafrom Helsinki put it. The group alsotook up the question of the missinglegal deposit practice of preservinggames.

Mobile library in your pocketThe view of mobile library services israpidly changing as smartphones are

prototype of the ‘Peek-a-Book’ applica-tion is under way in Aarhus – youheard it here first!

What next?Right after the camp, the newlyfounded Facebook group had 136members, several sub-groups had beenset up and a web page published. Thegroups are exchanging library videos,discussing games collections and col-lection policies and getting to knoweach other better. The next Nordic Labscamp will be held in Aarhus, Denmark,in connection with the Next Libraryconference. Next autumn, the Nordiclabs will be meeting again at the Nor-dic Camp Stockholm 2011.

As Mace Ojala from Finland put it:“I got the (good) feeling that the Hel-sinki camp was not an unconnectedevent among hundreds of unconnectedevents but a meeting of a fresh andemerging community. It was fun andabsolutely tremendously useful. Weneed more of this.”

Kitty from Espoo concurs with Mace:“It was great. There are not enoughcommon platforms for discussion. Tomeet face to face and do things to-gether is really valuable.”

Päivi JokitaloCoordinator

National Library Network Servicespaivi.jokitalo@helsinki.fi

24 SPLQ:1 2011

becoming more and more common.Some of the campers had been askingthemselves – and their colleagues –why the mobile phone could notfunction as a library card? The librarysystems of today are closely bound tothe physical book collection which makes it difficult to gain visibility inthe social web. “The big changes willhappen outside and beyond theOPACs”, maintain the staff at labs.kirjastot.fi. Mobile phones could beused in authentication of users, sharingyour favourite items on loan withothers in social media, lending booksfurther to a friend by taking a pictureof the book and registering the loan tothe next user without having to refer itto the library. P2P, peer to peer, lendingcould increase library visibility bymaking the collections mobile.

Sometimes things move very fast. Thiswas proven during the Helsinki campwhen one of the ideas discussed startedtaking shape and got funding fromDenmark on the second day. The

25SPLQ:1 2011

DENMARK

Volunteers - what to make of them inScandinavian libraries?It is not only in the US and UK thatlibraries are facing budget cuts, Scandi-navian libraries also have to make dowith insufficient funds in many muni-cipalities. This, and the need to connectmore closely with the users, has lead toa discussion on the role of voluntaryworkers in public libraries, somethingof a novelty in a Scandinavian context.The Danes have been the first to putthe new trend into words. At the Gen-tofte City Library volunteers run aNetCafé and Viborg teenagers worktogether with the staff on arrange-ments and PR for their peers. TheNørre-Snede public library has eightvolunteers working three hours a weekto help keep the small library open tothe public. The same voluntary workersalso function as a valuable focus groupwhen developing the library services.The official view of the Library Associ-ation is clear: voluntary work is neededand welcome, but it should never re-place professional library staff. “A bookcollection run by volunteers is not alibrary.”

Danmarks biblioteker 7/2010

Walk Your Library - a guide to visual marketingAarhus City Library has published anexiting new guide on visual marketingof public libraries: Walk Your Library - a guide to visual marketing. The goalwas to create a resource which wouldhelp in the everyday development oflibrary PR but could also inspire thelibraries to think outside the box. Thetitle of the book is meant to be takenliterally. Walk round your library withthe book in hand and ask yourselfsome basic questions about the designand space utilization: “Do the furnish-ings answer the needs of the users?”“Does the physical space support therole of the library as mediator of con-

tents?” The guide includes lots of prac-tical tips and a useful checklist startingwith first impressions: the parking spa-ce and the facade of the library buil-ding. The guide is produced by StaehrGrafisk in cooperation with a group oflibrarians. http://www.aakb.dk/blog/walk-your-library

Bibliotekspressen 20/2010

Literary web service assumes physical formThe national website on all thingsliterary, Litteratursiden.dk, stepped outIn Real Life gathering big crowds at theCopenhagen Book Fair. The webservice was first started eleven yearsago as a pro-ject and has since becomea permanent fixture in the form of anassociation with public libraries asmembers. The editor-in-chief, LiseVandborg, interviewed authors, thepublic took part in quizzes and listenedto the editorial team’s book talk onstage. Litteratursiden is now also amagazine on books, delivered to allDanish cultural politicians in coopera-tion with the library journal DanmarksBiblioteker.

Danmarks Biblioteker 8/2010

Human Library more than ten years oldLending out Living Books such as refu-gees, ex-gang members, Muslims orhomosexuals started out at the DanishRoskilde rock festival in 2010. Even ifthe Human Library is by no means apublic library monopoly, libraries oftenorganise events where living books canbe borrowed. This makes sense as theHuman Library Organisation states onits web page that the “librarian plays animportant part, both as a facilitator ofloans, and as the one responsible forkeeping the books in check.”http://humanlibrary.org

Bibliotekspressen 19/2010

FINLAND

A man’s best friend – now at a library near youReading-to-a-dog schemes are alreadycommon in USA but haven’t reallycaught on in the Scandinavian coun-tries. This is about to change, though,as the public library in Kaarina, inWestern Finland, is cooperating withthe institute of psychology at TurkuUniversity, offering fifteen eight-to-ten-year-olds the chance to read to traineddogs. It is a proven fact that childrenfeel more relaxed and confident read-ing to a pet than e.g. in front of a classroom or an adult who tend to criticizeor correct any mistakes. Four dogs with their owners from the Cuddly-Bernies Association will listen to inse-cure readers several times during theyear. The project will also result in amaster’s thesis on the effects of theundertaking.

Kirjastolehti 1/2011

Virtual paths well chosenHämeenlinna City Library has openeda new kind of web service which pre-sents interesting cultural spots androutes in the area. The users can alsoproduce their own content on the vir-tual paths at virtuaalipolku.fi. The

ScandinavianShortcuts

service and the universities will takepart in contents production. The newencyclopedia combines three services:the biographical and medical encyclo-pedias and the ‘Big Norwegian Ency-clopedia’. The aim is to integrate thenew service into the digitised media ofthe National Library and to daily up-date the encyclopedia.

Bibliotekaren 12/2010

Teenage critics’ choice book awardNine out of eleven Østfold schools de-cided to be a part of the critics’ choicebook award events starting in Octoberand running until a glamorous prizeceremony taking place in March. 200pupils discussed the shortlisted books,took part in author visits, book talks,breakfast readings and meetings withe.g. a Norwegian rap artist. The regi-onal library of Østfold also organisedtraining on how to teach literature toteenagers. The cooperation betweenlibrary staff and teachers has been oneof the keys to success.

Bibliotekforum 9/2010

PLACE for public librariesPublic libraries - Arenas for Citizenshipis a study of public libraries as commu-nity meeting places in a digital andmulticultural context. The project,funded by the Research Council ofNorway, started four years ago and isnow in its last year. Oslo UniversityCollege, University of Tromsø, andOslo School of Architecture and De-sign are the main partners who basethe case studies on three municipalitieswhere a new main library is beingplanned: Oslo, Norway; Aarhus, Den-mark; and Birmingham, England. Se-veral master’s theses and research arti-cles have already been published as anoutcome of the project. The studycharts the views and attitudes of users,legislators and librarians e.g. on thelibrary’s social role and meaning in thecommunity.

http://www.hio.no/Enheter/Avdeling-for-journalistikk-bibliotek-og-

informasjonsfag/PLACE

historical buildings, sculptures, beauti-ful nature resorts and good ski tracks(and much more) of the Hämeenlinnaregion are presented on Google Mapstemplates which bring the texts, pho-tos, old construction plans as well aslinks to web pages and media filesalive. All web users are welcome to addtheir own experiences in the service.

http://www.virtuaalipolku.fi/

From analogue to digital Do you have ancient c-cassettes stilllying around in a shoe box? How aboutvideotapes? Don’t know how to digitiseyour paper photos? Several Finnishlibraries (and probably libraries else-where in Scandinavia as well) offer ad-vice and equipment for transferringyour analogue media into digital form.The Meeting Point of Helsinki CityLibrary, Hämeenlinna and Lahti CityLibraries as well as Kaarina PublicLibrary have recently started offeringthe service.

Kirjastolehti 1/2011

Not a drop of moaning in JanuaryDropless January is a well-known con-cept in Finland: after the weeks of mul-led wine and Christmas parties many aFinn gives alcohol a wide berth, where-as ‘Teardropless January’ is a notionintroduced this year by a young libra-rian. The idea quickly spread in socialmedia and attracted well over 500followers on Facebook alone. The goalwas to refrain from “complaining orwhining about work or at work duringJanuary”. Whining and moaning canpoison the atmosphere at work whenit’s habitual and not constructive. We’llsee if this will become a regular themedmonth!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=186228514724743&ref=ts

Finnish mobile libraries celebrate 50 years of serviceThe first mobile library was acquiredby the City of Turku in 1961. The half-century milestone will be celebrated inthe same city in the presence of foreign

guests as Turku will be hosting an in-ternational mobile library festival inAugust 2011. As the city is also the Eu-ropean Cultural Capital of 2011, therewill be plenty of events to choose from.

http://www.confedent.fi/mlf2011

NORWAY

Time Library open for early birdsAfter years of waiting, a new librarybuilding opened its doors in Time lastyear. The library staff were hands-on inthe planning stages taking part in de-sign and in the choice of materials andcolours. The non-fiction books are notdivided into children’s and adult mate-rials but organized according to sub-ject. From January 2011 the library hasbeen trying out self-service openinghours between 7 and 10 am when usershave access to the collections, are ableto borrow materials and use the groupworking rooms and study areas.The library café offers breakfast from 7 o’clock.

Bibliotekforum 10/2010

National Encyclopedia emerges from collaborationThe Savings Bank and Fritt Ord Fundswill finance the construction of a newnational web encyclopedia, both with15 million Norwegian crowns over thenext three years. The Non-Fiction Wri-ters and Translators Association alsosupport the project with 1,5 millionswhile the National Library will host the

26 SPLQ:1 2011

SWEDEN

Love Tensta wants to spread hopeHow do you go about changing thereputation and atmosphere of a suburbwith a reputation? Love Tensta is a net-work who wants to spread hope in thecommunity. In their manifesto of hopeLove Tensta proclaims the goal of set-ting up a platform for immigrants,suburban teenagers, the unemployedand other groups who are normallyexcluded from the public debate. Thenetwork sees the public library as animportant gateway to social involve-ment. Cooperation between the youngactivists and the local library has beengood for the community: the area hasbecome safer, the younger kids withimmigrant background see the library

as a cool hangout and the library getshelp in the planning and organising ofevents.

Biblioteksbladet 10/2010

Children’s books common ground forbookstore and public libraryBook Spider is the name of a well-esteemed Stockholm bookstore sellingchildren’s books in Swedish (4000titles!) but also in languages such as Ta-mil, Tagalog and Russian. The owners,both with immigrant backgrounds anda degree in cultural anthropology, havestarted a collaboration with StockholmCity Library. The library buys thebooks and the bookstore owners runreading clubs for children between theages of 10 and 16. Both owners havewide knowledge of children’s literatureand actively look for new contacts,most recently in Ethiopia. This yearmore reading circles will be organisedand a folder with tips for libraries onreading circles will be put together.

Biblioteksbladet 9/2010

Dewey arrives at Swedish public librariesTo change classification systems is noteasy but it is exactly what the publiclibraries in Sweden will have to do inthe near future. This is a natural con-sequence of the National Library’s de-cision from 2008 to change over to theDewey Decimal Classification System.In January 2011 all the records fromthe Royal Library will be cataloguedaccording to Dewey. The training ofstaff and marking up of the shelveswith plain language instead of nume-rical classification signs is something

the public libraries wish could be donecentrally, without each and every libra-ry pondering on the same questions.

http://www.kb.se/bibliotek/dewey/

Is reading fiction a vanishing skill?The public libraries will benefit fromthe results of a new research project onhow young adults read fiction. Theresearchers ask whether the readinghabits of young readers between theages of 16 and 25 have changed as aresult of network use. It has been as-sumed that young people prefer non-fiction and might be on the way to losetheir ability to read fiction. The impor-tance of fiction-reading in terms ofpersonality development and orienta-tion in the social environment is beingstudied. The Universities of Borås andUppsala have been granted a subsidyfor the project by the Swedish ResearchCouncil.http://www.dik.se/www/dik/web.nsf/dx/101217-Nytt-projekt-om-fiktionslas-ning

DIK 9/2010

Keep up with developments in the Nordic public libraries in Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly

Scandinavian Public Library QuarterlyVolume 44, no. 1, 2011SPLQMinistry of Education and CultureP.O.Box 29FI-00023 GovernmentFinland

Legally responsible publisher:Editor-in-chiefBarbro Wigell-Ryynänenbarbro.wigell-ryynanen@minedu.fiMinistry of Education and Culture

Co-editors in Denmark,Norway and SwedenJonna Holmgaard Larsenjhl@bibliotekogmedier.dkDanish Agency for Libraries and MediaTertit Knudsentertit.knudsen@nb.noNational Library of NorwayMats Hanssonmats.hansson@kulturradet.seSwedish Arts Council

Lay-out: Staehr Reklame & MarketingStaehr@staehrgrafisk.dkPrint: C.S.Grafisk A/S

ISSN 0036-5602Electronic ISSN: 1604-4843

Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly(SPLQ) is published by the NordicPublic Library Authorities

Päivi JokitaloCoordinator

National LibraryNetwork Services

paivi.jokitalo@helsinki.fi

www.splq.infoScandinavian Public Library Quarterly