Globetrotting librarians gear up for e-book age

PHIL REID/The Dominion Post

FUTURE PROOFING: Erik Boekesteijn, left, and Jaap van de Geer have been in Wellington talking about social networking and how it can be used to keep libraries relevant.

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Dutch "library innovators" Erik Boekesteijn and Jaap van de Geer are on a quest to ensure libraries survive the digital revolution – and pick up a few technology tricks along the way.

The pair were in Wellington last week visiting the National, central and Karori libraries, and held a seminar for librarians in the city.

They began travelling the world four years ago in the tradition of Irish shanachies or storytellers – sharing and collecting stories about best practice in libraries, particularly in technology, in return for food and lodging.

"We were worried about the future of libraries with all the new changes, such as e-books," Mr Boekesteijn says. "We wanted to know what libraries around the world thought about it all."

Libraries are catching on to the potential of social media tools and new ways to engage patrons, and some are using Twitter and Facebook to communicate, letting students send tweets or messages asking for help with their homework.

But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Mr van de Geer says their own library in Delft in Holland, DOK – where they work nine months of the year – is a pioneer in adopting new tools and technology to bring historic information to life and create new stories.

A multi-touch application at DOK lets patrons place their library cards on a screen, which reads their zip code and shows them pictures of their street and area from the local photo archives, and patrons visiting exhibitions can create and contribute their own stories on the topic in text, audio and video.

Although digital content will proliferate, bricks and mortar libraries will remain invaluable as venues for meeting and sharing ideas, the pair say.

Mr Boekesteijn says DOK could team up with Hyves – a hugely popular Dutch social networking site – to link its patrons' Hyves profiles to the library's profiles so DOK could connect patrons with common interests and encourage them to meet in the library. Mr van de Geer says libraries need to prepare themselves for the e-reading revolution.

"We don't believe in handing out e-reader devices ... but I think we have to be ready in two years when everybody has that iPad or the Kindle and you have to, as a library, be able to provide content for them. That will be a difficult task."

Mr Boekesteijn says they have been impressed by New Zealand's libraries – particularly New Plymouth's Puke Ariki, which includes a museum and has embraced digital story-telling – but internet access in local libraries seems too restricted.

"Some libraries don't show YouTube or video or don't allow Facebook. My advice would be to be more open about it and give more freedom."

Libraries need to break the mould in communicating with communities, and sometimes this means breaking the rules too, he says. "You don't have to stop if someone tells you there's no money and no time. Get over it and find a way to ask for forgiveness rather than permission – do as much as you can."

Their tour has taken them to about 10 countries, including Jamaica, Canada, France and Australia. Mr van de Geer says that when they are not visiting libraries the pair have been enjoying the world's cuisine. "It's as easy as offering us a nice Colorado steak and we'll visit your library."

- © Fairfax NZ News