Dr. Emmanouel Garoufalloumgarou@libd.teithe.gr Department of Library Science and Information Systems, Alexander TEI of Thessaloniki, Greece&Veria Central Public Library

Developments in Greek Public Libraries and the Future Library Project

Presentation Layout

• Public Libraries in Greece• Good Practices• The Future Library Project

Public Libraries in Greece• Two kind of Public Libraries• “Public libraries” as part of the Ministry of

Education• “Municipal libraries” as part of Municipalities

& Local Authorities• Children libraries, Mobile libraries, Community

libraries that are part of local authorities from villages to Counties and Regions

Many times in the same area are serving different kind of ‘public libraries’ without

having any collaboration

Greek Public Libraries in numbers [1]

• 46 Public Libraries as part of the Ministry of Education 29 of them have mobile libraries 9 of them are historical since they serve the public

for more than a century and have rare collections with manuscripts, maps, etc.

“Central Public Historical Library of …” Some from the 17th century, some from 1800-1830

Source: http://www2.e-yliko.gr/htmls/bibliothikes/bibl_EisagDimosies.aspx

Greek Public Libraries in numbers [2]

• 686 municipal and community libraries• There is a number of small libraries, children and

community libraries that are not part of an official inventory

• Total budget [my estimate]: 2007 = appr. 1.500.000 € 2010 = appr. 900.000 € 2013 = appr. 500.000 €

Source: http://archive.minedu.gov.gr/el_ec_page7760.htm

Public Libraries at the Ministry of Education Gateway

http://publiclibs.ypepth.gr/

ABEKT by National Documentation Centre

• A Greek LMS • 1986 till today• Free to all Greek Public

Libraries• Multilingual

bibliographical data• Training courses• 2400 appr. People

trained • 2500 all kind of libraries,

in total, used ABEKT• 670 libraries use the last

two versions– Source: ABEKT, http://www.abekt.gr/node/69

Union Catalog for Public Libraries

• Establish a Greek Union Catalog for Public Libraries• Launch 1999, financed by EC structural funds:

http://argo.ekt.gr/Opac2_4/zConnectELL.html

• Union Catalog for Municipal and School Libraries : http://argo.ekt.gr/Opac2_6/zConnectELL.html

• ..and a blog: http://unioncat.blogspot.gr/

Source: http://www.ekt.gr/products/publib_newsletter/teuxos_01/art3.htm

InfoLibraries: Public Libraries Gateway

• http://www.infolibraries.gr/

• A project of VCPL• the portal for Greek

Public Libraries• Completed by 2004 & it’s

been updated since then• Public, Municipal,

Children, Cultural Organizations

• Also a list with Digital, academic and special libraries

InfoLibrariesthe map of Greek Libraries

By choosing Halkidiki

Digitizing Content from Public Libraries• «Digitization project of the material of Public

Libraries» by the Ministry of Education• Budget: 5.600.000€ • 80% by the European Community Fund and

20% by national resources• Materials from 46 public libraries • Digitized materials: 16.200.000 pages, which

correspond to 41.444 titles of books, newspapers, magazines and manuscripts

• Most of the materials are published before 1920

• Some public libraries establish their own DL, some others with the support from NDC (EKT)

• All content is Free for the Public 1840

National Information System for Research and Technology (NDC)

• Wealth of digitized material• Collections of significant

cultural and educational value• NDC (EKT) is the organization

responsible for the development and technical support of digital libraries presented in its site

• “NDC (EKT) addresses all public Libraries which are interested to provide their content online and with this initiative seals its longstanding collaboration with libraries in Greece”

• Source: http://www.epset.gr/en/Digital-Content/

Public library digital libraries supported by NDC (EKT)

Veria Central Public Library the Medusa DL & the AccessIT Plus Project• Participation in EC projects• Collaboration with cultural

organizations such as the Sismanoglio Megaro of the Cons. Gen. of Greece in Istanbul, a National Folklore Dance Group, a Monastery, etc.

• New skills for librarians• AccessIT and AccessIT Plus

Project

Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationAccess to Learning Award (ATLA)

for2010: Veria Central Public Library, Greece

“Making creative use of information and technology services, Veria offers a range of programs that meet the economic, educational, and cultural needs of more than 180,000 people”

Social Networks and Public Libraries

• Strong presence • The majority of PL have

established a variety of Social Networks

• Librarians with high skills on Social Networks

• Facebook, Blogs, YouTube and Twitter are the most common

• Users tend to

read/participate/follow• Public Libraries of Veria, Levadia

and Serres have established the stronger networks

The Future Library Project

• The Future Library is a non-profit organization

• Established in Veria in 2011

• It spun out of the Veria Central Public Library

• Future Library is open to all public and municipal libraries of Greece

• The Stavros Niarchos Foundation is Future Library’s exclusive donor

• It aims at developing a sustainable network of public and municipal libraries across Greece

• To be linked to the National Library of Greece, when this moves to its new premises

• To reinforce the significance of libraries, as knowledge, creativity, and interaction-promoting institution in people’s minds.

Future Libraryhttp://www.futurelibrary.gr/

Future Library: “Read about our vision. Share our dream. You might want

to follow it”

• Public/ municipal libraries registered:

• 2012: 87 libraries• 2013: 117 libraries*******************• Members:• 2012: 3923 members• 2013: 4767 members

• promotion of creativity, reading and innovation;

• training the future librarian;

• network of children services;

• digital services; and• raising awareness.

• 2012• 87 public and

municipal libraries across Greece

• 5 major projects

2012 projects [1]

• Promotion of creativity, reading and innovation

• 1,450 events in 64 cities• 26,000 participants

(children and parents)• 2,900 hours of creative

workshops• 10,600 books donated

to 68 libraries• 99 librarians trained• 291 volunteers

2012 projects [2]

• network of children services;

• training the future librarian

Renovated (redesigned, refurbished and re-equipped) the children sections of 8 libraries

(997 square meters) based on the idea of “Magic Boxes”

Trained 16 leaders88 hour series of empirical workshopsNew skills developed: leadership,

project management, advocacy and innovation

10 proposals for new library services

2012 projects [3]

• digital services

• raising awareness

• 3923 registered people• 87 public/ municipal libraries• 11 libraries receive access to

premium newspaper content (press Display)

• 2826 blog posts written by the Greek community

• 27419 Facebook users per day

• Un-Conference• 98 creative events wit h5946

participants, workshops, keynote and creative speakers

Source: http://about.futurelibrary.gr/

“Find a job via the library”

• 2013• By one example

[train library staff]• Library supports job

hunting

Greek Public Libraries have achieved to change the way of thinking

about libraries

• Public Libraries in Greece developed considerably the last few years• Fast growth, change the way in which people considered libraries• Libraries as a meeting place• Libraries as innovation centers• Libraries as knowledge centers• Libraries inspire people• Libraries make people more creative• Libraries interact with people• Libraries promote reading, motivate people for “learning for life”• Libraries stimulate people’s minds• ……

What the future holds?• Understaffed

• Financial crisis• Severe Budget Cuts

• Municipalities can’t support libraries• New plan to merge public libraries from the

Ministry of Education• Library closures?

• Annual cost of the entire public library service is getting down, so expect closures to be happen soon?

“Children is the real power of libraries”

Nicolas, 12 years old

A library fan and enthusiastic user

Dr. Emmanouel Garoufalloumgarou@libd.teithe.gr Department of Library Science and Information Systems, Alexander TEI of Thessaloniki, Greece&Veria Central Public Library

Developments in Greek Public Libraries and the Future Library Project