STEP BY STEP
The User Focused Library
The Vaski network joins together both small and large libraries.
Petäsmäki Library, Raisio
Step by Step – The User Focused Library The project ‘Library for the User’ aims at making libraries more attractive and building interactive services. The project is being implemented in Vaski libraries, a consortium consisting of 17 municipalities and 44 libraries in Southwest Finland. The Vaski network is coordinated by Turku City Library, the main library of which is the most visited library in Finland. All libraries benefit from shared special knowledge. However, the biggest winner is the customer, who can use the same library card in all Vaski libraries and who has all the shared collections and services at his or her disposal. New services are developed and tried out in joint workgroups. Get familiar with the ten enthusiastic groups, and their goals and practices.
Turku Main Library
Lending services Vaski libraries have common usage rules and payments. The aim is to ensure that all libraries provide customers with high-quality services that comply with the shared practices.
VaskIT The VaskIT group is involved in the development, maintenance and support of the library system. A showcase of its efforts was the expansion of the Vaski collaboration in 2012, which introduced a new library system, changed the storage format and combined the customer registers of the libraries. The massive project was a success, and the group members now serve as support people in their own libraries.
Logistics The customers of the expanded Vaski network have shared access to a collection of more than two million items. About 15,000 items per month travel between the 44 libraries in the network. Customers can select the library where they would like to pick up the reserved item. Loaned items can also be returned to any Vaski library. The joint logistics arrangement accelerates item circulation. The Vaski logistics group ensures that the forwarded items reach their destinations quickly and reliably.
Collections A library is characterised by its collection. It mirrors the special characteristics of the customer-base and operating environment as well as the library’s view of its role in the community. No two collections are exactly alike. What is special about each collection, and what do all of them have in common? The collection group searches for a vision of the aims and future of the collection-related work of the Vaski libraries. The first shared collection of the Vaski libraries, the e-book collection, was established in 2011. The Vaski libraries aim to offer their customers a grandstand view of the development of electronic material.
Cataloguing
In conjunction with the renewal of the system, the format was changed from FINMARC to MARC21. The cataloguing group prepared this changeover and is currently drafting a proposal on how the Vaski libraries will handle cataloguing in the future. The aim is to centralise cataloguing and thus free up staff resources for other tasks. An interactive wiki has been established for the cataloguers to discuss operating practices. In terms of search words, for example, practices have already been standardised.
Vaski for children and young people The group for children and young people has pulled out all the stops! It has already created and implemented numerous successful events, workshops and campaigns. The multicultural “Reading around the world” campaign held in the summer of 2011 expanded to become the “Read and exercise” campaign this summer. The “Tarinatornado” (Story Tornado) material seminar for children and young people will be arranged in the spring of 2013. The seminar will introduce new library material for children and young people. Authors, researchers and library workers from Finland and around the world will be invited to appear at the event. Children receive a pass from the library, to which a sticker is added for every book they read and every time they engage in healthy exercise. Those who return the pass at the end of the summer holiday take part in a draw for a variety of prizes. Cartoons are already used in diverse ways in library work directed at children and young people. The use of cartoons to support teaching is currently being tested in the “Kupliiko?” (Bubbles?) project.
In the early stages of the collaboration, a unique visual scheme was created for Vaski. The regional bird of Southwest Finland, the jackdaw, was selected for the logo, and the colourful elements associated with the logo appear in all relevant publications and products.
Marketing The marketing group plans the joint marketing and communications for the Vaski libraries. The Vaski brand has been established through brochures, advertisements, customer and media bulletins, newspaper and online articles and social media. In the autumn of 2012, the Vaski libraries will have an impressive stand at the Turku International Book Fair. The collaboration with the book fair is reciprocal: the themes of the fair are highlighted in the libraries before the fair, and the libraries are presented in the fair publications and seminars.
Online communications The online communications group contemplates the image the library has in social media and how content for the interactive web pages of the Vaski libraries will be created. The group tests which social media tools are best suited to libraries. At the group’s suggestion, the photo service Flickr and the video service Vimeo have already been introduced. They are used to share library stories and content on Facebook and in blogs. In the summer of 2012, the group organised an open cartoon competition entitled “Hyllyjen välissä hiljaa” (Quiet between the shelves). The participants drew cartoons on the rules of conduct in libraries. Illustrations were also commissioned from established cartoon artists.
The renewed online library serves as a gateway to blogs publishing recommendations and covering current topics.
Events The modern library is a lot more than just a place for borrowing and returning material. It is also a place for making discoveries, experiencing new ideas and taking part in events. Events are planned and organised together, and concepts that can be recycled between libraries are created. Turku was the European Capital of Culture in 2011. Along with Turku City Library, many Vaski libraries were involved in producing content for the momentous year. The largest projects included the multicultural series of events “Culture out loud” and the reading campaign “Under the Reading Lamp”, which boldly explored new working practices.
Staff For the library staff, Vaski is a professional community that encourages reform and reinvention. The purpose of inter-library staff collaboration is to develop expertise and increase occupational well-being. Employees are also provided with the opportunity for temporary work at another Vaski library. In this way, expertise and good practices employed in work communities spread across municipal borders.
Thousands of introductory and other events are held in Vaski libraries each year.
kirjastot | biblioteken | libraries PYHÄRANTA
LAITILA UUSIKAUPUNKI
MYNÄMÄKI VEHMAA
NOUSIAINEN
KUSTAVI
TAIVASSALO
MASKU
RUSKO
LIETO RAISIO NAANTALI
PAIMIO
TURKU KAARINA
SAUVO
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