Tag Archives: Denmark

Meet the candidates: Jakob Guillois Lærkes

Jakob Guillois Lærkes
Director of Gladsaxe Libraries
DENMARK

I am Director of Gladsaxe Libraries, Denmark, and former Director of Orestad Library and Blågården Library. My main interests are design of library spaces and service, change management and, in general, development of future libraries.

My main goal is to raise awareness of the important role and task of the public libraries in making a difference in people’s lives. With the working group and as part of the jury of the IFLA/Systematic Public Library of the Year Award, I have dedicated time and energy in revitalising this important award. A work of advocacy that contributes to creating the political and strategic platform required to make change.

I am vice-chair of the Danish National Library Association and a regular speaker at international conferences, including several IFLA WLIC and pre-conferences. I will also continue working for making WLIC the central most interesting conference for library professionals by implementing IFLAs new global vision.

As Director of Orestad Library, I was in charge of designing a modern library which offers self service and caters for both the nearby school, high school and the local community. As Director of Blågården Library, I took the lead in developing a library targeted at young people and their specific needs. In Gladsaxe, I am now dedicated to the task of converting a main library, four branch libraries and a commercial movietheater into cultural hubs for the local community.

From 2011-2013 I joined the International Network of Emerging Library Innovators (INELI) – a network of library professionals formed by the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, with focus on public libraries in the 21st century.

International cooperation and the mutual exchange of ideas and knowledge is a key component of the work in IFLA. I firmly believe that the greatest changes are made by professionals working together and having a stronger voice.

For more information about voting for members of the Public Libraries Standing Committee take the time to read our post

 

 

Nordic News

 

 

 

 

Here comes blog number 2 from Sweden or shall I say from Scandinavia (Norway, Denmark and Sweden ). One advantage of speaking Swedish and live in Scandinavia is that you can understand and read Norwegian and Danish if you really want to do it. Of course the Swedish talking people in Finland also can do that. The Nordic countries includes also Finland, Iceland and Faroes Islands and Greenland and Åland .

It´s a long tradition between the Nordic Countries and their libraries to co-operate.

My friend Peter Alsbjer works as a Regional Library Director in Örebro county but is also a blogger. In his blogs (mostly in Swedish) you can follow impulse from the libraries around the world. I choose to present Peter Alsbjer as a guest blogger today.

Please read and enjoy

Anette Mjöberg
ibrary Director
Hässleholms Public Library
Sweden

 

Meanwhile in Scandinavia: Winter 2016   

 

Here are some recent postings and news connected to Scandinavian libraries etc.:

Denmark:

Finland:

 

Links and blogs (in English):

 

Evaluating Public Libraries

IFLA_Ljiljana-Sabljak

 

 

 

 

The main theme of the 10th Croatian Conference on public libraries, held in September/October 2015, was Evaluation of public library activities. Sessions differed, from those focusing on the measuring of public library performance and libraries’ impact on the community to the development of a standard quality assurance system for library services. Croatian librarians also had an opportunity to attend a lecture by Lotte Hviid Dhyrbye and August Becker on The Economic impact of public libraries in Denmark in November.
It is beyond any doubt that public libraries play an important role in contemporary society, but in order to maintain their social position stable it is necessary that they keep conducting systematic surveys, collect data on library performance and the impact that they have on both individuals and communities and regularly present all the results of such monitoring procedures to policy- and decision-makers, who, based on their insight into all these statistics and indicators, may make sure that libraries are provided with sufficient financial resources.
Do you know of any other studies on the impact of public libraries? How do public libraries in your country measure their impact and do they present their results to wider public? Can you see any changes afterwards?

Does your library deserve six stars?

 

Helsingor Library, Denmark

Helsingor Library, Denmark

Is yours a six star library? To find out we’d like to introduce you to a new public library evaluation tool, LRE Library Ranking Europe.

This project is being undertaken by retired Librarians Maija  and Mats Berndston who argue that ‘in order to measure the quality and the standard of a public library from a citizen and customer perspective a common tool that could be used as a guideline for future improvement and development is needed. This should be based on the concrete services that the measured library offers.’

The areas considered are:

  • Information About The Library
  • Site, Visibility And Access
  • Service And Supply
  • Premises
  • Choice Of Collection
  • Freedom Of Expression And Of Choice

Already 27 libraries have been assessed using mystery shopping principles. The project instigators welcome feedback so do check out their site.