Odense Central Library functioned as coordinator and 30 public libraries as pivotal point for a large ‘online citizen campaign’. The campaign was carried out over a period of three months in the autumn of 2006. The aim of the campaign was to inform the citizens, within the borders of the central library area and the municipalities of the former Fyns Amt, about the many public digital self-service options available on the Internet.

The campaign strived to reach citizens
who were not used to seek information,
who did not have an Internet
access at home and who did not know
of, nor were accustomed to, the public
services on the Internet. The public
libraries were an obvious shortcut to
the public web services, and a place
where each citizen could receive
guidance and advice on how to use
these services.

Netborgerkampagnen, or in English –
the Online Citizen Campaign – was
conducted in cooperation with two
large regional players in the field of
information: The regional news portal
www.fyn.dk, run by the national TV
station TV2, and Informationssamfund
Fyn. Informationssamfund Fyn is a
network of municipal, regional and
business and research interest parties,
which all promote information technology
and the development of information
structures on the island of Funen.

Why a library campaign?

The point of departure was to focus on
the libraries as one of the central places
where municipalities and other public
institutions could get in touch with as
many citizens as possible. At the same
time, the libraries are still perceived as
‘neutral ground’ – a place where one
can use the public services safely and at
no cost with a relative amount of anonymity,
and without being a ‘client’.

The overall perspective was achieved by
two actions: Placing the libraries as a
part of the collected municipal service
with a natural focus on the libraries
role as a communicator, and as a part
of the national library strategy. A strategy
which strives to make the library a
central cooperator in the digitisation of
the Danish information and knowledge
society.

On Funen the Online Citizen Campaign
presented a complete selection of
the most important public self-service
possibilities: E-box, Digital Signature,
The Collective PIN Code and the libraries’
web guide and bibliotek.dk. All of
these are digital services and forms
which for the most part are gathered at
the national portal: borger.dk.

Furthermore, a presentation of the
most popular self-service possibilities
within the field of ‘Job and Education’,
‘Pension and Health’ and ‘Home and
Relocation’ was included in the library
campaign. It was possible to download
demos with instructions for all services
directly from the campaign site.

The Online Citizen Campaign in the
Funen libraries consisted of a presentation
module, placed as an icon on the
screens of the public PCs during the
campaign period. Simultaneously, a
flash animation was available on the
front page of all the library homepages.
Via the flash animation it was possible
for the PC users to activate the animation
and receive a presentation of the
most popular public self-service options
– directly from the Internet. As
an extra service, the PC user had access
to a guide on how to use the different
self-service options.

The library staff was, and still is, ready
to guide and assist the citizens in how
to use the different options, and if
needed, to refer to the different institutions
for further information. To enable
the staff to fully undertake the
task, thorough information and courses
were provided prior to the campaign.

Marketing

Marketing was of great importance.
The campaign had to be visible in the
public sphere in order to reach the citizens
who did not use the library on a
regular basis. The marketing strategy
consisted of posters, postcards, book
marks and eye-catching advertisements
in buses. Furthermore, the campaign
was marketed through flash animations
on big screens and on the electronic
info points, located at central places in
Odense.

Besides the central message about the
different digital possibilities, the campaign
functioned as an indirect marketing
campaign for the libraries.
Through the campaign it was possible
to place the library in an untraditional
and visible context, and to create a different
access point to the library and
the many competencies the library can
offer. It functioned as a counterpart to
the notion of the library as merely a
‘lending department’ – a notion which
many citizens subscribe to.

The campaign was organized at a local
level as a follow-up, within the library
area, on the big national campaign:
‘Public services – use them on the web’.
The national campaign was presented
in Denmark in the autumn of 2005,
organized by the national digital task
force.

It is important to follow up on a campaign
like the Online Citizen Campaign
to maintain a strong and continued
effect. Presently, the planning of a
larger national seminar is taking place
– a seminar for all leaders, employees
and politicians in the region who are
involved in online citizen services in
the new large municipalities. These
actions take place in order to secure the
systematic process of promoting the
online services in relation to the citizens,
everywhere. A process which is
supported by political statements.
In the autumn of 2007 Danish libraries
are promoting a campaign on the many
free e-resources which are available
to the public in the libraries.

Kent Skov Andreasen
Chief librarian
Head of Communications and PR
Odense Central Library

E-mail: ksan@odense.dk