Going Global

My Bronx-Born mother is irrationally proud of New York City. The first time she visited me in Los Angeles five years ago, she couldn't refrain from the non-stop rankings-on everything from bagels to baseball. When I showed her Los Angeles's beautifully restored and renovated Central Library, she allowed that yes, it was nice, 'but it's certainly not the New York Public Library. Now that's a real library.'

I won't say my mother's voice echoed in my head in 2001, as I zoomed along the freeway with 15 colleagues from around the world during a tour of Singapore's National Library. But if I had any smug idea that no public library outside the United States would be 'a real library,' as Mom put it, seeing Singapore's system nipped it quickly. Like my mom, most American library professionals have made the wrongheaded assumption that 'public libraries' is really just code for 'real libraries = American libraries.'

The occasion for my visit to Singapore was to participate in the Bertelsmann Foundation's public library project, a many-faceted effort that offers U.S. librarians unparalleled exposure to international innovation in librarianship.

As we visited each new library, we were all struck by their popularity. Librarians in Singapore have been truly innovative in their focus on 'self-service.' They use radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging for both materials and patrons. Each item contains a microchip that records information. Similarly, library cards have microchips loaded with patron information. To check out materials, patrons just walk though self-checking stations that quickly link data from the two chips. Other activities, from paying fines to signing up for computers, are also stream-lined, freeing staff for other functions.

The employees of the National Library Board of Singapore told us that users responded enthusiastically to self-service. RFID tagging dramatically reduced the amount of time people had spent, just a few years ago, queuing up to return and check out books. My Scandinavian and U.S. colleagues remarked that, although the self-service was terrific, they could never expect their library users to carry debit cards and pay for services, such as reservations, that have always been free. Colleagues from other parts of the world where membership fees for public libraries are standard found the self-service atmosphere itself outside of the norm.

We each knew we had to take heed of the parts of the system that could work for our own libraries. After all, Singapore's system-which comes from a governmental model that is far more authoritarian and top-down than we in the States might wish-could not really be transferred one-for-one to a place like Los Angeles Public Library. Still, many of America's, and indeed Europe's, big cities are on accelerated tracks toward a kind of global culture that is very much in flux. We have yet to establish shared ideals for the new public library. The Bertelsmann Foundation network is helping forge a new vision.

Isolation and insulation, whether the result of intention or neglect, are no longer in the best interests of public library development. All too often in the States we are too proud to take the risks involved with being open to other ways of doing things. However, this narrow view of librarianship is not solely of our own making. For many of us, travel to libraries outside our own country (and sometimes even within it) is not encouraged or financially supported. In fact, such travel is often looked at as a 'boondoggle' by the bureaucratic and political entities that oversee public libraries.

The International Network of Public Libraries (INPL) is one antidote. The 15 members of INPL are selected because they are considered successful leaders and innovative practitioners, they have influence in their own national library scene, and they agree to participate in disseminating the results of the network's studies. Each member enlists for three cycles, approximately 18 months each, and then rotates off to make room for new members. The cycles include time for research, writing papers based on that research, or implementing one of the previously published research reports. Most of the work is done collaboratively, with members from various countries, language backgrounds, and cultures working together.

Transferring new ideas and model solutions among nations calls for sensitivity to the culture of the 'receiving' library. By working collaboratively across countries, even across continents, the ideas generated by network members through their own practices and research will help all public librarians focus on new ideas and implement them at home.

From every network meeting and with every publication, I have taken away new ideas to think about, share with staff and colleagues, and, perhaps, borrow and/or adapt. Among the most exciting are new technology ideas from Scandinavia and targeted libraries for Generation X from Germany and Singapore.

Rolf Hapel, director of the Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker, the public library system in Aarhus, Denmark, has built a dynamic array of technology-based resources on a very sophisticated web site (www.aakb.dk). Through this electronic doorway, his system offers the e-zine Bog'art, which covers library news, and a content-rich database of information about Danish authors. Hapel has also been involved in collaborative projects within Denmark and in various European networks devoted to library development, such as PubliCA, a network initiated by the European Union.

Still, Hapel felt he needed to get a more global overview of cutting-edge library development. 'Although resources in general have been somewhat decreasing over the past 20 years, the Danish libraries are still among the wealthiest worldwide,' he says. 'But my concern has been growing over the years that we have a tendency to be self-sufficient and introverted in our library development.'

He reached out to the network and ended up giving the rest of us a lot of ideas. Hapel's work on using 'push' technology to produce the e-zine and other subscription services is based on the idea of the library as a 'publisher' of information. It is the natural, evolutionary step, from paper to electronic format, in helping library users know about the library. This new medium for outreach allows libraries to promote services in new ways, and it promises to encourage the development of more personalized services through mobile telephony (telecommunications technology).

Some libraries are already using short message systems (SMS) technology to alert users that books are ready to be picked up or are overdue. The constant connectivity to the Internet afforded by mobile telephony will allow libraries like Aarhus to deliver information about programs, events, books, and authors to their users wherever they may be.

Another technology-based project is the 'Information Gas Station' (iGS) in Helsinki, Finland. Created with money from a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Access to Learning Award, the iGS is a mobile information service point where users can access help from a library staff member. The iGS is onsite but also accessible via mobile phone text messaging, by land line phones, by e-mail, and by fax. While iGS has no books and most of the answers to users' questions are found via the web, staff also use the print resources of the Helsinki Public Library (HPL) whenever necessary. Maija Berndtson, director of HPL, who is forward-thinking when it comes to 'funky ideas on managing tomorrow's library,' says iGS is a creative example of the concept of a 'hybrid library.'

Some networkers focus on the physical library instead. Arend Fleming of the Dresden Public Library in Germany had to figure out how to serve young technology-hungry clientele. He created 'median@age' in an industrial building in a busy shopping district of the city. His library has a bright, inviting, and open 'high-tech' look and is filled with people in their late teens and early 20s using computers and the latest in new media. The National Library Board of Singapore has a similar project, the brainchild of the director, Chris Chia. 'Library@Orchard' is a beautiful, hip space designed to attract people in their 20s. Set in a high-end shopping mall on Singapore's Orchard Road, the collection features books on travel, fashion, computers, music, and art. A chic coffee shop that doubles as a programming space is part of the fun.

Network members have found many ways to integrate what they learn when they get back home. Sue Sutherland, library director of Christchurch City Libraries in New Zealand, was an original member of the network, joining when she was a 'very new' library director. 'I've learned new skills and had a chance to experience different cultures-so important when you are located half a world away from most people!,' she says. 'My library has benefited from the new ideas gleaned from around the world, the opportunity to benchmark against the best in the world and the personal contacts that have enabled colleagues and staff to gain ideas from network member libraries.'

In Toronto, City Librarian Josephine Bryant has just completed the arduous and unprecedented task of amalgamating multiple library systems into the 'new' Toronto Public Library. Her work for the network has concentrated on competencies for public library staff and leaders.

At the same time, the network provides a sort of collective mind for all librarians to source. Trevor Knight, executive head of Library, Heritage and Registration Services for the London Borough of Sutton, is also an original member of the network. His research for the project included publications on fundraising and libraries learning from other types of organizations including businesses. At his first meeting, Knight remembers thinking, 'Why am I here? Why am I sticking a Union Jack in a map of the world?' Six years later, still actively involved as a consulting member, Knight has his answers. 'The network has developed into a training forum, an ideas exchange, a leader in implementing practical solutions in libraries throughout the world. It is a respected 'think tank' that can be accessed by librarians, wherever and whoever they are,' he comments.

George Kerr, formerly of the West Lothian Public Library in Scotland, has spoken at libraries and conferences worldwide on his widely published research into customer loyalty. He has also used his network research as a springboard to develop a new service. 'As the next logical steps from my findings, I was able to persuade our library management system supplier epixtech to work with me on a Scottish government-funded project to produce a leading-edge marketing tool-our new personalized e-mail book services. Our recent e-survey of recipients of the service indicates that it has been successful beyond my wildest expectations.'

The impact of the network has been as strongly felt in the United States. Robert Cannon, director of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (PLCMC), NC, was one of the original networkers. His assessment of his participation can be characterized in one word-change. 'I was amazed that libraries worldwide had the same problems and worries and, often, the same commitments to the Internet and new media. Most importantly, they have the willingness to make the changes that need to be made. As a result of what I learned, [PLCMC] pursued more media acquisitions other than books, displayed our materials differently, got into much more programming, and added much more technology.' But he thinks more can be done, adding that U.S. public libraries 'must become more aggressive.'

One of the Bertelsmann Foundation's new projects is an expansion of its 'bibweb.' This Internet training for library staff is a course to help German public librarians learn about future-oriented library management issues. The foundation is interested in implementing the bibweb format in other countries as well. In addition, the foundation is working on public library development in Germany, Spain, and Poland; supporting a public library in Egypt; and fostering opportunities for German public librarians to spend up to a month studying best practices in international libraries. All this is in keeping with the focus on fostering collaboration among libraries and library leaders all over the world.

While the Bertelsmann network has a limited membership and only 15 participants at any one time, it is not at all difficult to use its research to learn from colleagues from all over the world. Whether it's bagels, traffic, or libraries, we must look beyond our local boundaries to see what new ideas have been tried, what old ideas have been improved upon, and what shared visions for future services librarians can build together.