The best Norwegian library video

Arkivert i:Norway, UBB, University Library of Bergen, video

One small step for a librarian, one giant leap for the library

Today I sent the resignation letter to our current ILS-vendor. The point of NO return has passed:-)

It promted another round of “OMG why am I doing this?”  It is in many ways a leap of faith. We are the first library in Norway to switch to Koha, the translation is still not completely done  and who knows what bugs and surprises we will get when we go live sometime in October.  This would of course be true independent of the system we switch to, commercial or open source. The important thing for me, who initiated the whole thing, is that with Koha we are looking forward, we will get more features than our current ILS can deliver or develop in the forseeable future, and we introduce the concept of open source into the norwegian library systems marketplace.

Norwegian libraries need to embrace open source for many reasons. The formal reason; that the government now requires public institutions to consider open source when choosing software, the financial reason; that open source means you can test and try out systems without initial costs and that the implementation cost is way smaller than any other system on the norwegian library system marketplace, and finally the ideological reason: open source embodies many of the same values that libraries are funded on, sharing, equality, access and community.

To further the understanding of open source in the norwegian library community we have initiated the unconference Free and Open Libraries in Bergen 12.-13. november 2009. (Conference wiki – Norwegian only). The key-note speaker will be Nicole C. Engard from LibLime in the USA, and we will have Nicolas Morin from BibLibre in France and of course our own Magnus Enger from Libriotech who both will contribute. Even though Koha is a major theme for this conference we will try to cover as many aspects of free and open software as possible.  The key-note speaker for day two will be Bjørn Venn from FriProg, the norwegian centre for free software.We will have a Open Software 101 session for those who want to learn the basics, we will let people discuss everything from programming to ideology and try to make the point of how important and useful open source is to libraries.

Arkivert i:Norway, Conferences, Koha, ILS, conference

Librarians wish-list

The Kindle - not the perfect reading device, but the access model should be studied by librarians everywhere.

T-shirt and Hoodie from TopatoCo.com

Just to show that librarians might be different than you first might believe.

My favorite web-comic also has a great store for good librarian gifts. My current favorite is the Bibliovore t-shirt, but I also have a thing for the “library schooled” t-shirt and the Library hoodie.

The Fip video recorder. Perfect for filming shorts for YouTube and library webcasts.

What are your own favorites?

Arkivert i:Library 2.0, Norway, gifts, librarians

Save the Bookboat!

The executive of the Hordaland county will propose the cancellation of the world oldest bookboat “Epos” before the county assembly on december 9th.

Epos has sailed for 50 years on the west coast of Norway and visited literally hundreds of small communities, often without road connection in the fjords or out on the islands along the coast. The bookboat carries about 3.500 books and also offers live entertainment for childrens at most stops.

The bookboat is a unique experience if you are a librarian. You live on the boat with other librarians, the crew and the artists or authors who provide the entertainment on board for up to three weeks at a time. You sail in the most beautiful landscape in the world and meet people and see places that you would never ever meet otherwise. A fantastic life and I will never forget my five years with three trips per year. (I should mention that I hold the record for most seasick librarian on the bookboat so far).

Now the bookboat is again threatened. Politicians from the right party, the progress party and the christian popular party (sounds like a third world republic when I write the party names in english), want to cancel the bookboat to save 480,000 norwegian kroner (about 80,000 US$) and thereby raze one of the few cultural activities and public services that these small places around the coast recieves.

There is a petition to sign for all who wants to keep the bookboat floating and delivering library services. The petition is in norwegian, if you only read english and want to support the struggle please leave a comment here on the blog:-) All support is appreciated.

Arkivert i:Library 1.0, Norway

The culture of Nice

Michael Stephens wrote about the “culture of no” and how it stops innovation and development. Today at a seminar for librarians I was in a foul mood and sat observing my fellow librarians as they discussed the future of libraries and librarians.   The one thing that jarred my nerves the whole day was the prevalent culture of nice. Everybody was nice, libraries are nice, they don´t want to make too much fuss, don´t want to upset the boat etc. I was frigging mad when I left and felt a great need to vent my feelings lest they ruin the rest of my day. I´m in a mood where I´m about to give up on librarians. At least the norwegian version. They are so averse to conflict and so hesitant about development that I despair of any real development and a chance for the libraries in the 21st century. Right now libraries have all the characteristics of the Dodo. Fat, complacent and resisting change even when it comes in the form of a club to the head.

Right now I believe that few libraries will survive the next seven years. (thank Dawkins I´m usually mistaken when I predict the future).  The libraries that adapt and change with the times and their users will fare well and have a bright future. The rest, well its a organization eat organization world out there, and most will dissapear in a cloud of Google.

I am dissapointed in my fellow librarians who totally ignores their professional duty to actually explore and understand the information universe their users live in. Business as usual is not a good way to handle kids who can find the information they need elsewhere and free wi-fi is no longer a selling point.

I´m getting depressed thinking about the way most librarians reject any idea that challenges the status quo and demands professional development. Just the discussion on Library 2.0 in Norway is enough to make me want to change business. What the H**L is wrong with librarians that make them discuss the frigging NAME and  how a “majority” prefer to perfect Library 1.0 before moving on (after they take retirement) to 2.0. GET REAL!

I´m dissapointed and depressed and sad. Better get home to the kids.

Arkivert i:Hype or Hope?, Librarian 2.0, Library 2.0, Norway, Users

Secret conference?

I have been busy these last three months trying to get the conference “Digital og Sosial 2.0″ – Digital and social 2.0 – in Bergen, Norway. It will be a two day conference where librarians will meet and discuss Library 2.0 in a norwegian setting and from the norwegian perspective. The conference blog for those of you who read norwegian.

Arkivert i:Conferences, Librarian 2.0, Library 2.0, Norway

A foolish thing

I have decided to write a book, about Library 2.0, in Norwegian. This will be my No. 1 foolish thing of 2006. I know that it is foolish, but since I have had more fun and learnt more from the foolish stuff I have attempted in my life than all my sensible activities combined, this does not scare me much.

The background for this foolishness is something like this:

1. I feel there is a need for a book about Library 2.0, mainly to reach all the librarians who don´t read blogs, know what RSS is and who do not encounter the Web 2.0 in their everyday lives. All these librarians are not opposed to the Library 2.0 ideas, but they have not encountered the concept of Library 2.0 in a format that they are familiar with, and made relevant to their everyday working life. They need a chance to digest these ideas and make up their own mind with a minimum of knowledge about the background of Library 2.0.

2. My employer have given me R&D time to write this book! 50% of april and 10% of the rest of the year.

3. I want to attempt to write a book. I have taken part in the editing and writing of chapters in a book earlier. The norwegian Handbook in children´s library work (2003) where I wrote a chapter about Generation N. (From the book Growing up digital). It was great fun, really frustrating and a wonderful experience when the whole thing was done and published.
4. I want to write a book in the Library 2.0 spirit. I will write the book itself in Norwegian, but most of what I think and explore will appear in this blog in "Beta-format". There will therefore be ample opportunity for anybody who wants to comment, contribute or critizise to do so in this blog. I have high hopes for this book to be a collective endeavour and will share the credit with everybody who contributes.

5. I want to try out the web 2.0 tools and how they will contribute to writing this book. I will write most of the book in Writely, use del.icio.us for my bookmarks, use Library Thing to have an overview of the books I use, and so on.

6. I just had this great title I wanted to use! Library 2.0 – Hope or Hype?

Arkivert i:Blogging, Books, Library 2.0, Norway

The state of Library 2.0 in Norway today

I just wanted to set a baseline for what I think is the state of Library 2.0 i Norway today. These are my thoughts and impressions. Please feel free to comment on anything you thing is missing, wrong or just plain stupid:-)
There are several interesting phenomena which should interest other Library 2.0 people. First and foremost there is the Norwegian Digital Library (Norsk Digitalt Bibliotek (NDB)), an office for digital library development at the central authority on archives, libraries and museums (ABM-utvikling) in Norway. Probably one of the boldest initiatives in recent norwegian library history. The program has severaly interesting projects going, among them the National Common Library Card. A project that is really Library 2.0, both in concept and execution. I really hope we can fill this card with a lot of exciting possibilities in the near future. The main problem for the NDB is the lack of funding from the central government. The program was promised several million norwegian kroner (about 1 million US$) to implement national digital library solutions and as seed money for local and regional projects. This has not happend so far, and the Archives, libraries and museums authority has used funds from its ordinary bugdet to fund the few projects that have seen the light of day so far. We remain hopeful for the new red/green government and the budget for 2007, but have been dissapointed for the last five years, so there is an expectation of dissapointment nested in the hope.

One library system vendor, Biblioteksystemer, has been quick off the mark when it comes to utilizing new web 2.0 develompments within its system Bibliofil. RSS feeds of several different categories and the use of AJAX to improve searchability is just two of the latest developments in a system that has constantly been in the forefront of new tricks. They openly support open source software and uses it in their system where appropriate. Hopefully a new dialogue between the four main library system vendors in Norway will lead to a better understanding of web 2.0 and what it can offer in increased capabilities for library systems in the future for all systems. The main challenge is of course to get the librarians who use the systems to demand the right capabilities for their system and their users. No little challenge there.

The Norwegian Library Association (Norsk Bibliotekforening (NBF)) has long been a fairly conservative institution in the Norwegian digital library landscape. Last year something happend though, and now it is in the forefront, with the establishment of a blog with RSS and some innovative uses of a wiki. NBF has long been a frontline fighter in freedom of expression and copyright debates here in Norway and internationally. There has been NBF representatives at the WTO and WIPO negiotiations and in the recent revision of the norwegian copyright act, NBF was very active and gained som important infuence on parts of the law that are vital to libraries and electronic publishing.

There is another development that I find extremely encouraging and altough it is small, I think it is a sign of something larger. For years the regional library authorities in Norway has published small newsletters on paper, recently electronically, with news and information for libraries within a region. Recently one of the best of these, Vestær’n went blog, and has not looked back since. I think that the new format fits the old newsletter like a glove and it looks as if more regional library authorities will follow the lead. This will again lead to a great spread of blog reading among librarians, and hopefully a greater adoption of this format by norwegian libraries. I remain hopeful!

With this baseline in mind I will try to write about Library 2.0 in a Scandinavian perspective and hopefully contribute to the development of the Library 2.0 concept with this viewpoint.

Arkivert i:Library 2.0, Norway, Scandinavia

Blogging in english

I have discovered over the last two months that blogging in Norwegian limits the number of readers and feedback, and participation in the general discussion on the subject that is on the top of my mind right now, Library 2.0. I have therefore decided to try blogging on this subject in english to see if I can participate and become a part of the Library 2.0 universe that seems to grow daily.

There are two main reasons for this, one is an interview I did with Michael Stephens for my podcast Bibliotek 2.0, in english, and I recieved moore feedback and responses on this podcast and the post on the podcast blog that on anything else I have written or podcast so far. This proved to me that there is a greater discussion that the one going on in Norway and the Scandinavian countries, and that it would be fun to participate in that discussion.

The second reason is the discussion recently on norwegian library e-mail lists on publishing in english or norwegian. I was a bit taken back by the provincialism and hostility from a lot of norwegian librarians to the thought of publishing in english and realized that this lack of acceptance of english as a professional language is one of the things that hold back norwegian librarianship. I rather want to be a part of the solution, not the problem. Therefore I have started publishing in english. Both for my norwegian fellow librarians, but also for a world-wide audience.

And lastly, sorry for all the mistakes in spelling and grammar in advance. I hope to have a lot of fun with this blog, so correct Queen’s english is not my top priority.

P.S. I’m not going to stop writing my norwegian library blog or stop podcasting in norwegian.

Arkivert i:Blogging, Language, Norway, Podcast, Scandinavia