Boys aged 8-13 are the main audience for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s program Barda. Barda is also
a cooperation partner of Sorø Library. The new collabo- ration lets tween boys collect trading cards by reading books. Having read a book, the readers then upload a text, sound or video review on the website. The more books
the boys read, the more trading cards they receive. Having collected all 28 cards, the participants then get a Barda book written specifically for the project. The book will later be made available for the public through purchasing.
The trading cards collected also contain bonus material on Barda. The project runs until March 2012 and will be
continued as a summer-reading initiative where the Danish children’s library website Pallesgavebod.dk is being used
as a platform. The project also acts as a springboard for arrangements at the library around the same themes.


Roskilde Rock’n’roll Library

It is a whole new scene: the RockLibrary at Roskilde,
the home town of the largest North European rock festival, features a backstage area where you can enjoy music magazines and books. There are listening posts and posters with information and tips on music. Before the new Rock Museum opens in Roskilde, the RockLib will also function as a downtown museum satellite. And where there is a backstage area, there is also a scene where bands can
perform. The library director emphasizes the importance of cooperation within the community of which the RockLib is
a good example. To market the new library, a novel approach was called for. Another collaboration was established with Gimle, a local live music venue and instead of sending out a regular press release, the library together with Gimle sent out a flash-mob crew to the pedestrian street of Roskilde. The Rockmob started out as a lone air guitar player on the street and while more people gathered round him, a group of players appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. The woweffect showed the library in a new light,
not just a place for books but also for sound, music, films and different types of arrangements. The mini scene at
the library offers tasters of Gimle’s program of the night. The library also arranges treasure hunts where users look
for concert tickets among the books and other materials and get to meet the performers for a chat.

Danmarks biblioteker 5/2011


FINLAND

Cycling4Libraries spin-off for users

The Kyyti Library System in the region of Kymenlaakso organised a fivemonth cycling campaign as part of
the larger Cycling For Libraries unconference earlier this year.While both staff and users got fit they also got to know the different libraries of the cooperative library system. The kick-off ride of 15 staff members meant
the beginning of a cycling endeavour where library users collected stamps on their cycling passes. Every time a user had ridden their bike to three different libraries in the region or returned a pass full of stamps they entered
a prize draw. The campaign was also a way to market
the newly launched web site: all the additional information and the maps and directions to the different libraries could be found on the web. Kyyti-libraries’ website.

http://www.kyyti.fi/node/tiedotteet/4419


The miracle of the library

When Tampere City Library turned 150, they decided to celebrate the year together with the users all the way.
One  of the biggest efforts of the year was putting up
a play written by the awardwinning former editor-in-chief of the Finnish Library Journal, Ritva Hokka-Ahti, who works at the library. The play was professionally directed with a cast
from the student theatre and the library. The sold-out performances got good reviews. In the words of the library
director, the aim of the celebrations was to have fun and act as a facelift in library marketing. One of the outcomes of the year is the publication My Library where local children tell how they want their library to work and look.

Tampere City Library blog


NORWAY

A week of literature in Drammen

Since 2003, the Drammen Library, Theatre and Cultural Centre together with the local bookshop have organised
a literature festival spread over a whole week. Later on, Buskerud Regional Library, Drammen Cultural Service and Union Scene have joined the organisers. The event takes place week 42 every year with programs for every age
group, literature buffs, poetry lovers, friends of fact and fiction. There are exhibitions, book release parties, theatre, literary guided walks, poetry slams and discussions on
the philosophy of reading. Apart from the library and theatre premises, events take place in pubs and bookshops. If you enjoy the social surroundings of a pub, you can attend a literary quiz or an evening with discussions, readings and presentations in an informal
setting with refreshments.

http://www.litteraturukaidrammen.no/


Multiculture for breakfast

For the second year in a row, adult students with immigrant background gathered for a breakfast meeting at the library. The 65 students represented 20 different nationalities and countries from Egypt to Eritrea to Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Brazil. While some of those present had only been in Norway for a few weeks, all were able to introduce themselves to the others. The library staff then told about the different library services and materials,
presented the playroom with Play stations, the use of PCs and the services for children and families. As the breakfast meeting once again proved to be a success, it is meant to become a regular arrangement in Hokkby village.

Eikernytt, the local web newspaper.


SWEDEN

Librarian in the daily news

The national Swedish newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, Daily News in English, offers a question and answer column
where a librarian solves the readers’ problems. The first of the columns explained from where and how the materials get to the library and what happens when the library ‘gets rid of them’. The column functions as library education as one of the first readers wanted to know how you interpreted the class notations of the library classification
system.

The Swedish Library Association


Earphone dock on loan

Libraries lend all kinds of materials and items from skies and hoolahoops to cake tins and dumbbells. The regional
library of Götaland now lends out a dock for 40 sets of earphones. The dock is meant to be a new kind of mobile scene which makes it possible to share the same listening experience undisturbed by the surroundings, be it music, stories or other sounds, in places where it otherwise wouldn’t be possible. The dock comes complete with pre-packaged contents on different themes. It can give access to new art forms and sound installations; it can be used in connection with author recitals, exhibitions and film screenings. And it is available without charge for a few hours or for a longer period, at the library.

Framsidan.net
- Kultur i Väst Regionbiblioteket