Intro for Library Camp17.-18.11.2008 in Helsinki

Maija Berndtson

Library Director

Helsinki City Library

Helsinki City Library's mission statement

• Helsinki City Library provides a basic civic service available to everyone. As a part of the worldwide network of libraries, we offer unrestricted access to sources of culture and information.

• As part of local community and on an interactive basis we develop the library services needed by our clients in order to be active members of society and enjoy life.

Vision 2010

The boundless library –

a source of enlightenment

andinspiration

throughout your life.

Library 10 New concept for a library The Library 10 unit was awarded the first prize in the Quality Innovation of the Year competition. In the category for

public communities two awards were given out. As one of the reasons for their decision the jury stated that the library has recognised the changes the world has gone through and has met the challenges posed by the change with extremely modern methods, which have yielded excellent results.

Meetingpoint@lasipalatsiThe service includes experts from different fields providing

guidance to those seeking information on the use of Internet-based electronic

services, mobile services and digital TV.

Meetingpoint@lasipalatsi isalso a venue where hardware

manufacturers and service providers put their services on display. It’s an

opportunity to meet customer groups and get direct feedback of

their services.

Meetingpoint@lasipalatsiThe service includes experts from different fields providing

guidance to those seeking information on the use of Internet-based electronic

services, mobile services and digital TV.

Meetingpoint@lasipalatsi isalso a venue where hardware

manufacturers and service providers put their services on display. It’s an

opportunity to meet customer groups and get direct feedback of

their services.

Library network in Helsinki

• 36 Libraries – all expect Library 10 are ”local libraries”

• Historically unique and architecturally beautiful library buildings: Rikhardinkatu, Kallio, Töölö, Pasila,Vallila,Arabianranta, Viikki,Vuosaari

• All library buildings are small: 200 m2 – 3 500 m2 for public spaces

Keywords in planning the new

central library• Innovative – the future is the sum

of the creativity in use today• Concrete – the project is alive

already today, practice and tests (for example Meetingpoint@lasipalatsi, rethinking the brand concept, projects with partners)

• Communicative – we tell, ask and listen: web, discussions, conferences

• Participating – we take part and we do it together

The functions of third places

open for everyone – not a club

uniting the neighbourhood– an inclusive place– social equality

a “mixer” – assimilation – a leveller – expand the possibilities

a “neutral ground” – people may come and go as they want

a staging area

provide “public characters” – human personality and individuality

brings youth and adults together

serve elderly as well

give the possibility to visit daily – the regulars – a low profile, easy to come - continuity

neither personal advantage nor civic duty

provide “fun” – but the entertainment is provided by the people themselves – the mood is playful

locally situated

political and intellectual fora – conversation is the main activity

may serve as offices – open off hours

not necessarilyfine but cosy and comfortable

Jyske, the Danish Experience Bankhttp://www.experientia.com/blog/jyske-the-danish-experiencebank/

“Jyske Difference” ["Jyske Forskelle"], slogan is “Jyske is the

bank that makes a difference.”

Jyske Bank is a bank, a store, and a modern library. Jyske Bank is the

place where customers become smarter, inspired, and experience a

straightforward atmosphere

Lessons to be learnedThere is a need for new kind of urban public space both in city

centres and communities in neighbourhoods

Libraries are not alone to trying to fill that need – but they are strong because they are the

most visited cultural institutionsIn comparison with others

libraries have the benefit to be free and secure, non-profit,

non-commercial public spaces, often also aesthetic

Lessons to be learnedLibraries have to get rid of the

image being just “temples of books”, we need space for

people not for the collection

Actually we have a new program every day or vice

versa: you cannot use during one visit all what library has to

offer

Libraries have to be accepted as third places not as static

places where nothing happens

What should we doInstead of collection or

“taking care of the library” we have to put our

customers first – a change in our own attitude

We have to ask what our customers expect – but we

have also to surprise by offering something they

never could expect, we give them “added value of library

services”

What should we doWe have to look at our premises from

the point of view of customer from the moment she/he enters to the library – it

means we have to create a new concept of the interior

The flexibility of the interior has been a mantra already long time – make it to

work in reality and add another mantra, namely “void” (it means empty space,

the state of nonexistence, nothingness )

Create exiting landscape within the library – silent rooms, group work

rooms, studios

What should we doMake library living – more

programme, discussions, happenings and new trends to the fore in style

“new season – new collection”

Do not think that you can do everything yourself – search partners

and experts in other fields

Smart places in smart citiesSmart places will collect and spit out

information and they will attend, anticipate and respond to our daily

needs in a vast variety of new ways. The distinction between building and

computer interface will effectively disappear.

Electronic intelligence , embedded everywhere, creates the necessary

interfaces between producers and consumers, and allows us to rethink

the ways that even the most mundane utilities are organized and run.

We will characterize cities of the twenty-first-century as systems of interlinked,interacting, silicon- and

software- saturated smart, attentive, and responsive places. (Mitchell)

Central Library - The Heart of Metropolis,

The Heart of Helsinki

Long live the library!• Mikko Leisti’s review report, appointed by The City of Helsinki Mayor

Jussi Pajunen, ”Central Library – The Heart of Helsinki, The Heart of Metropolis” was published 12.3.2008

• Based on- 150 Interviews and group discussions with representatives from different branches, fields and areas- Researches and source books- Strategies on national and local level- Study tours in Finland, Stockholm, Sendai, Seattle, Amsterdam and Rotterdam

The Heart of Metropolis - review• Proposes 25 000 m2 Central Library in Helsinki comprising

12 000 m2 of space for library services, 8000 m2 for variety of events and other programming and 5000 m2 for commersial activities

• Three potential locations: the Lasipalatsi building, the Post House, the Töölönlahti area

• A joint, national project between the Finnish state, the City of Helsinki and other cities in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area

Three potential locations for the new central library

Töölönlahti area in the future

Parts of the centrallibrary already exists

• IT- and music libraryLibrary 10

• Meetingpoint@lasipalatsi; a meeting point with different partners, both from private and public sector

• Some parts of the main library will move into the new central library

• Central library is not a new main library

Common vision for the Helsinki Metropolitan

Area

• The Helsinki Metropolitan Area is a dynamic world-class centre for business and innovation. Its high-quality services, arts and science, creativity and adaptability promote the prosperity of its citizens and bring benefits to all of Finland. The Metropolitan Area is being developed as a unified region close to nature where it is good to live, learn, work and do business.

Importance of Libraries

• Libraries as an opportunity

- Libraries as the cornerstones of our success

- Attractive and dynamic Finland

- A look into the future

- Building skills

- Libraries are for everyone

The Heart of Metropolis

• The library of the future

• A new library concept for a hub of ”knowledge, skills and stories”

• Content: resources, encounters and communication

The new central library,

by yardstick• Total area 25 000 m2• Libray: 12 000 m2• Meeting point 8 000 m2

- Exhibiton spaces, Suomi-experience, biography, studysauna, sauna, studio, auditorium, cinema, wintergarden, meeting rooms, free speaker’s corner, brainstorm, play room, family space, space for young people

• Commercial premises: 5 000 m2-Restaurants, cafés, shops, market, gallery-Visitors 1,5 mil., in other words approximately 4000-5000 daily

Place for people – not for

magazine

• The library space is meant for people, not for books/ media

• Collection approximately 200 000 (the stock stays in Pasila) – Seattle 1 million

• 1,5 million visitors is being calculated – Library 10580 000, Rikhardinkatu library 580 000

More information• Review was published on the web both in

English and in Swedish

• Take a look at www.lib.hel.fi , - - > Organisation - - > Central library, to find some more information about the Central Library!

Snöhetta ”Wisdom”

• "Are librarians and architects too conservative? Should they / we break out of old molds and renew their / our thinking?"

Snøhetta Architects, designers of Bibliotheca Alexandrina – and Oslo Opera House

The Future…

• The threat for the future

- perfectionism

• The possibility for the future

- boundless (without boarders)

The Customer Point of View…

• Unhappy people watch TV, happy people read/socialize

• A new study by sociologists at the University of Maryland concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as very happy spend more time reading and socializing. The study appears in the December

issue of the journal Social Indicators Research. http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/unhappy-people-watch-tv-happy-people-readsocialize-17794.html

• The challenge for libraries thus is: how to make people to read/socialize