WELCOME to Vesthimmerland Public Libraries

Library

Aalestrup Library

FACTS AND NUMBERS

2014 statistics

Løgstør Library

Farsø LibraryAars Library

• Four Libraries• Five book cafés• 37.400 inhabitans• Expenses: 45 euro pr inhabitant• 94.500 materials• 233.700 visits• 301.000 lendings (incl. 54.350 digital)• 137 events• 15,4 full time employees• Opening hours:

Self service: Every day 7-22 Staffed: Monday-Thursday: 10-17

Friday: 13-17

ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES

Project 1: The active Library Project 2+3: Interior

Project 4: Marketing

Project 5: New users

Project 7: School collaboration

Project 6: Outside the box

Project 8: New relations to childrenProject 9: Organization

Project 10: The four Houses

Project 11: IT

Project 12: Materials

Our organization is based on projects and passions. We have 12 projects, with three to four members in each, which handles different kinds of focus areas.

As a spaghetti plate, the projects and it members overlaps from time to time when activities and competences are needed.

At Vesthimmerland Public Libraries the employees come with different forms of academic backgrounds and passions. When the new organization was coming to form, each employee chose which project he/she feels passionate about. As time goes, project members shifts and new projects evolve and others close down.

Transforming the Organization (2013-2014)From collection to connection is a common phrase. But how do you start and how do you get there?

We are often met with the prediction “There are no use for libraries in the future - we’ll have Google and e-books”. This made us think: “Who are we? What do we want? What do we have to offer if all books are digitalized?” With that in mind we all realized that we had to do something drastic – none of us thought our collection-based service was strong enough to survive.

We made a bottom-up process where all employees were involved in generating ideas with inspiration from the Danish Model Program.*

- Better use of employees’ skills - Happier and prouder employees- User involvement and more activities for and with our patrons- Shift in focus: from collection to connection- More attention from the outside world- Four development projects funded by the Danish Agency of Culture

As a part of the process, our method has been tested in other libraries with good results and recognition from libraries all over Denmark.

The project is funded by the Danish Agency for Culture: 29.550 euro

* Link to homepage of the Danish Agency for CultureLink to article about the Danish Model Program

Thus we deconstructed our old organization and build up a new one. 1½ years in, the transformation shows many effects:

Result: over 300 new and innovative ideas. The many ideas made it very obviously. Our organization was centered around our collection and not able to handle the kind of active library we wanted. We found out that daily operations were so timeconsu- ming leaving no time for us to develop and prepare the library for the future.

Hack Your Library (2015)Due to the organizational change, we have developed new activities as we have systematically worked with user needs. None the less, our experience is that patrons cannot obtain the new opportunities to the full without new interior concepts. Hack your Library is our way of making that happen on a limited budget. The project is unique because we add a case stu-dy to the Danish Model Program* that shows how the five focus areas can be implemented on a low budget based on the principles:

- Furniture-hacking - Recycling - Anti-institutionalized- Walls, floors, doors and the like do not change - Everything new is mobile

With a one room library comes challenges. We need to find new solutions to make room for both the possibility to make a traditional library, room for study, makerspace and welcome area.

In the rebuilding process we have openly invited our patrons to follow the progressions on Facebook and at a on-site card box construction, where pictures, timeline and process appear. In addition, we have let our patrons contribute with their wishes and thoughts of the current and future library. Green and red posters have been decorated our library in the early stage of the process.

The project period is limited to Aars Library as a start. Next we will implement the new solutions to our three other libraries.

The project is funded by the Danish Agency for Culture: 43.360 euro

* Link to homepage of the Danish Agency for CultureLink to article about the Danish Model Program

Pop Up Experimentarium (2014-2015)How can we support the new educational reform in public schools? As new demands evolve in schooling, so does the role of libraries.

Pop Up Experimentarium is a mobile IT laboratory with focus on digital literacy. It’s situated at the school and allows students to develop skills to use, discover, create and reflect on actions in the digital universe.

We have made an effort to make an unusual scenography to make our visit stand out from an ordinary schoolday. The pupils get dressed in white laboratory coats and shifts between standing, sitting and laying positions at different stations of learning environ-ment as the tasks move forward. We use the settings and gamezones as a motivation for the students to learn and remember.

Pop Up Experimentarium takes approximately 4-5 hours including breaks. The day takes place around three zones:

- Center: To start tasks and make evaluations- Gamezones: Fun competitive games, relevant to the theme- Laboratories: Tasks which is solved with the help of ipads

Our two themes are source criticism and ethics & social media.

The project is funded by the Danish Agency for Culture: 46.300 euro

Based on the flipped classroom method, we have developed a different type of library orientation in an educational context. As librarians we don’t take on the role as teacher, but as a facilitator. The pupils get information and instructions through video, relevant tasks and gamezones.

We use ipads and Youtube as the main learningtool. The videos make it possible for the teacher and pupils to prepare and use afterwards.