A Future for Libraries? Perhaps, if…

Future Library Unconference Athens-Greece

9 – 10 December, 2013

Maija Berndtson

Ex Library Director (Helsinki City Library 1987-2013)

Georg Flegel (1566-1638): Stilleben – with apples ”The traditional library”

Pieter Brugel the Elder: The Fall of the Rebel Angels,

c.1562 ”The Internet Library”

Benoit Mandelbrot: Fractals ”The People´s Library”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_GBwuYuOOs

”Fantasy is more

important than

knowledge”.

”Logic will take you from A to B

but imagination takes you

anywhere”.

Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

Library

WHAT ARE LIBRARIES FOR?

Culture all arts, continuity Democracy information, versatility Development lifelong learning Integration social cohesion, equality Exploration research Serendipity discovery, innovation

,2

THE STRENGTH OF

THE LIBRARY

Customer is the “doer”

Creative milieu for everyone

Face to face personal guidance

CHANGES IN THE LIBRARY

OPERATIONS

The physical form

of the library collections

loses its meaning

More diverse clientele

The concept of the learning,

working and leisure time

environment expands

The growing significance of

collaboration and interaction

The clients’ need

for independent

activities increases

The growing importance of

supporting social and digital equality

Locality and physical encounters

are still important

Library

services

diversify

Hybrid media

Metadata

Open

data

refinery

New knowledge

creation Cloud computing

Exhibition and

knowledge center

Open learning

National

digital

library

Electronic books

Classical

literature,

music,

movies

Meeting forum

Challenge

New building architecture

for digital universe

Helsinki Central Library Project, Feasibility Study 2010

by Klaus Oesch

eLibrary http://www.helmet.fi/en-US/eLibrary/eLibrary_news

• Borrow e-books (e.g. Overdrive e-books in English

• Read magazines anytime, anywhere (e.g.

Ebsco)

• Music library (e.g. Naxos)

• IndieFlix movie service

• HelMet-pocket library

Pocket Library in Helsinki Metropolitan Area https://github.com/helsinki-city-library/pocketlibrary

• Pocket Library is a new kind of a service for library patrons. It runs on modern iPhone and Android smartphones.

• The service expands the traditional notion of checking out materials, making it possible for library users to check out books and other items directly from other users anywhere. The latest is that the mobile is library card, too.

• To be more generally useful as a library users personal information assistant, it also has the ability to manage the users' loans and explore the library catalog.

Laptop doctor

The Laptop doctor helps customers one-on-one with updates, security issues, and installation of programs

Modern equipment, free work and business

negotiation place

Skype calls, scanners, headsets, printing,

WLAN-N wireless, web cams for loan, chargers

Urban Office Meeting Point open for all

Helsinki City Library – moving around

Digitize your LPs and cassettes at Vinyl Bar!

• At the new Vinyl Bar you can listen to LPs and audio cassettes, but also convert them to a digital format.

• The conversion of LPs and cassettes are specifically to CD-format, requiring a CDR / CDRW disc. It functions on a self-serve basis.

3D-printing at Meetingpoint http://www.helmet.fi/en-

US/Libraries_and_services/Meetingpointlasipalatsi/Whats_going_on/3Dprinting_at_Meetingpoint(22405)

• With our 3D-printer you are able to print your own 3D-models or free models from the internet. Free and ready-to-use models can be found for example from www.thingiverse.com The main purpose of Meetingpoint's printer is to experiment and to get familiar with the new technology.

The library as facilitator

The library provides its customers with space, equipment, and know-how as needed. The customers describe what types

of events, materials, and guidance they need.

The library and its customers develop activities and events together.

Cross-European survey to measure

users’ perceptions of the benefits of ICT in public libraries

Final report

March 2013 Susannah Quick, Gillian Prior, Ben Toombs, Luke Taylor and Rosanna Currenti

The purpose of the research was to understand the impact that public libraries in the EU have on users’ lives. http://www.minedu.fi/export/sites/default/OPM/Kirjastot/kansainvaelinen_ja_eu-yhteistyoe/Liitteet/Final_Report_-_Cross-European_Library_Impact.pdf

% of adults who have used a public library in the last 12 months/last month

The site of the new central library in Helsinki,www.keskustakirjasto.fi

The winner of the architectural competition of Helsinki Central Library, by ALA Architects,

Käännös

The New Central Library in Helsinki - Facts

• A hub of knowledge, skills and stories

• 5,000 - 6000 visitors a day

• 1.5 – 2.0 million visitors a year

• 200 000 items (books etc) to borrow

• Events and guidance

• 10,000 m² of the library of the future

• Open public space, free for all

• Open 24/7 – part of it

• Every day something new

• Construction cost over 90 million Euros

• Finished 2017-2018; 2017 The Centennial of Finland´s independence

New aspects in and for the planning process

- This is not a new main library with the administration and the book magazine – it is ”a people´s palace”

- User-oriented service design

- Not one style all over the building

- Ubiquitous building: from audiovisual to sensomotoric media culture

- All senses

- Knowledge, emotion and fantasy

- Special attention to the acoustics and the ecology

The hottiest topic - the Sauna

• Helsinki citizens already expect the new central library to have a sauna for their own and tourists’ delight

A Future for Libraries? Yes, if…

• we look at people´s lives and at the society, not at our services

• we are people-oriented: from collection and transactions to relations and communication

• our service code is: Not ”to people”, yes ”for people”, more ”with customers”, and even ”by customers”

• we create personified services

• we make library a living place with different activities and thus emphasize the role of library as public space and creative milieu

• we move from offering access to information to knowledge creating and innovation

• we learn to cooperate and work with different partners

we

library an enricher

is

ideas of

where by sharing

knowledge, skills

and stories a new

and thoughts,

together create

civic society.

The

Vision of the

Helsinki City Library

For me libraries are raw diamonds which need to be refined that their value can be seen!

Thank you! maija.berndtson@elisanet.fi