Collaborative Projects among 6 Nordic and Baltic Countries

By Lo Claesson

My library, Vaggeryd Public Library is collaborating in a network project with some libraries from six Nordic and Baltic countries. We have got funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers to meet three times in different countries. This time we were in Denmark, in Herning. The purpose with the project is networking, getting to know librarians from our neighbor countries and doing mini-projects together, which we for example can use for exhibitions.

People from the network meeting in Herning, Denmark outside Herning Public Library.

We visited Herning and Ikast-Brande Public Libraries and Dokk1 in Aarhus. We were divided into four groups and our task were to interview visitors in the libraries about what they were doing there, their interests, what they liked about the library and what they possibly lacked in the library. Based on the interviews, we would find topics for small joint projects.

Then each library should host at least three other participants to the project and each library must participate in six projects. So we decided to participate in the following projects:

1. Know thy neighbor
Find 3 people in your community who, in some way, represent diversity. Take a photo and make a short interview.

2. Food stories
Choose fragment from fiction that present the food culture of your own country. Write down few thoughts that the text brings to mind. Choose a way to present the fiction fragment and your thoughts visually. Present the work via Skype.

3. Behind the book cover
As it often happens, books after being translated into other languages gain covers that diverge from the original. Why so? – is it really related to the specific perceptions of different nationalities? Choose a book of your choice and find two more covers of the same book, which has been translated into other languages.

4. Ordinary Houses
Take some photos of old and new houses in your locality. Compare different types of houses in your countries.

5. Green Library
Sharing photos and ideas concerning Green Library activities.

6. Nordic Literature –
The aim is to increase awareness of literature from participating countries by recommending a translated author/book in a filmed recommendation.

We share our photos and ideas in a Facebook group. Then we can make some digital or analogue exhibitions in our libraries if we want. Maybe our small projects can inspire other libraries in some way!
In February we will all meet in Finland and find out some other collaboration ideas.