The Norwegian School Library Programme is a four-year (2009-2013) national programme which aims to strengthen school libraries as an educational tool. The goal is to make active use of the school libraries in reading education and development of information literacy. The University of Agder (UiA) implements the programme on assignment from the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training.

• School libraries a must!

There was much celebration when requirements for school libraries for all children and young people were incorporated into the Swedish Education Act in the summer of 2011.All pupils were now entitled to a school library directly connected’ to their own school.

• Working together is the key to success

Vaasa city library has been making longterm educational investments for many years. In 2010, the library was awarded the title of Library Developer of the Year. The award was presented by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, and one of the reasons mentioned in the citation was the creation of new types of collaboration between schools and libraries.

With a dynamic approach we can reach at least some of the non-readers and fortify the boys’ love of reading. It is often said that the more young boys use digital media the less they read novels. Moreover, recent reports show that the majority of weak readers in the Nordic countries are boys. This raises the question: What can we do to bring boys’ reading skills up to the level of the girls? Is it a question of minimizing the time spent on computers, or should we develop alternative methods?

• The digital future for dysfunctional readers

It is estimated that more than half a million Danes are experiencing considerable reading difficulties. What will happen to these people when it becomes obligatory to communicate digitally with the public authorities? Danish libraries have launched a cross-disciplinary learning project concerning digital citizenship for dysfunctional readers.

• Library users’ experience in focus

The Swedish National Library and Libris, together with Inuse (the usability consultant), the Stockholm City Library and Chalmers University Library, have produced a map of library users’ motives and need for digital library services. The map is intended to provide a picture of what would be of most benefit to develop both nationally and locally, so that we can give users the right support through the right channels regardless of where they are locally, nationally, and internationally. The basic data will form the foundation in prioritizing and designing the library services of the future.

How to educate the information specialists of tomorrow

The unit of Information Studies at Åbo Akademi University is looking into subjects as social web, user education and information literacy, library resource management, and informetrics.

• Competencies for innovative libraries
  

Developing a creative library sector that can cope with change requires competence in change management and innovation. in Norway Hordaland County Library has established the study programme Change management, innovation and knowledge management for the county’s library staff.

• Too few male librarians or lack of diversity?

Why are women in majority in the library education, and does it really matter? Is the librarian profession plagued by neophobia (fear of change). Read and find out!

Europeana 1914-1918 Collection Days.

A fascinating story about The Teachers book, a personal account from the dark years of 1918-1914. But also an example of a Danish project aiming to collect memories that otherwise might fade away.

• The National Librarys digital newspaper service
  

Norway is digitizing vast amounts of newspapers, making them available through in libraries.

• Not the technical issues, but thinking differently

Digitizing and making cultural heritage available is a young and difficult business – but the issue has started to mature says expert in Sweden.

In the footsteps of a learning organization 

Pälvi Lepoluoto gives a good example on working with a learning libray organization. How to evaluate and develop the skills of the library staff, based on
experiences from the Library of Tornio in northern Finland.

• Public libraries as learning spaces

More people study, using e-learning, and more people study in a higher age. This creates new demands for public libraries having to serve “new” groups of students. Alastair Creelman Coordinator of Distance Learning gives us the latest trends in the area

• Homework Online benefits both pupils and homework helpers

The Danish offer of homework help on the net, Homework Online, is targeted older children and young people in residential areas with many socially vulnerable inhabitants – including pupils with an ethnic background other than Danish.

• The delicate balance of loans and sales
  At the beginning of 2011 the online retailer, Amazon, announced that its sale of e-book titles for the first time had surpassed the sale of paperback titles. The company also proclaimed that its e-book reader, Kindle, is the best selling product in the history of the company. After more than ten years with predictions of the imminent breakthrough of e-books it is now safe to say that the e-book is no longer just a niche product but is being accepted by the general public.
• A way to create context E-books at Swedish libraries Interview with Inga Lundén
  In connection with the National Library ofSweden’s (Kungliga biblioteket) e-book assessment, the SPLQ chairman of the Swedish Library Association (Svensk biblioteksförening) met Inga Lundén, who is also head of the Stockholm public library, in order to hear what her vision is regarding public libraries and e-books.
• E-books are coming – what will change?
  The FinELib consortium of the National Libraryof Finland has negotiated an agreement with Ellibs Ltd, which will enable Finnish public libraries to purchase e-books from the company’s selection offered to libraries. This gives all public libraries the opportunity to offer electronic books to their patrons.
• The e-boom – when is it coming?
  When is the e-book boom coming to Sweden,and how does it affect the ability of libraries to make e-books available? That is the question that the National Library of Sweden’s (Kungliga biblioteket) e-book investigation set out to answer when it started its work in the spring of 2011. The question, however, is not so easy to answer. In some areas, the boom has already started, but, in others, it might never happen. The subject of e-books and libraries is multifaceted and difficult to define.