Heft 02/2012 >> Summary
More Learning Space for the Generation
Internet / Ideas and Experiences in Remodeling the University Library
in Duisburg-Essen (Albert Bilo, Anke Petschenka, Ulrike Scholle) Despite intensive use of academic information services and literature through the Internet, the rooms of university libraries are in high demand. A number of library-related and didactic explanations can be found for this phenomenon, and they also form the basis for the need-oriented remodeling of library rooms, as can be seen in the very positive experiences at the university library in Duisburg-Essen. For years the decline of libraries has been conjured up by reference to the increasing number of e-journals and e-books. Just a glance, however, at the booming book market, at reading habits and library user statistics regularly shows that this is not so. Both positions give rise to the question as to why users should or would want to visit the physical library in this age of virtual services. Libraries have always been a place for study, a setting with a special atmosphere and supporting learning resources. This is evidenced in the steadily rising numbers of users and lending statistics. There is growing demand for textbooks even when a parallel electronic edition is available. The library is an appropriate place for working with excerpts, note cards, volumes of commentary, secondary literature and laptops. The user finds the right ambience, occasionally runs into friends, and feels part of a social community which is learning and researching until deep into the night. And if questions or problems arise, personalized assistance is available. The Duisburg-Essen university library – as one of many academic libraries – has taken advantage of several opportunities to modernize its facilities. It has created a light-flooded, flexible learning space on the Duisburg campus and merged two departmental libraries into a new facility on the Essen Campus. Library Learning Space – A Concept for the Library of the Future? / A Study Group in North Rhine-Westfalia Looks at Non-Formal Learning and Develops a New Section: The »Q-thek« (Petra Büning) (pp. 138–141) When Germany’s state of North Rhine-Westfalia announced a project titled »Library Learning Space – Between Dream and Reality« public libraries had already been working systematically in educational partnerships with kindergartens and schools for eight years. But the concept of a »Library Learning Space« for learning outside of school settings had not been given any attention. Individual learners are not a homogenous target group. Each brings his or her own specific requirements and expectations to the library. This was the reason for the state’s Cultural Ministry to induce an investigation into the non-formal learning processes in public libraries. Drawing upon a group of eight libraries, one year of the project was devoted to studying and reflecting what the library-as-learning-space was all about. The libraries first conducted an actual state analysis. At the same time library users were questioned online and in various focus group sessions about their ideas for the library. At the end of this process the general framework in which libraries need to envisage their work in the future had become very clear: a library’s media collection will only represent a limited selection of freely accessible information; for quickly needed information the user will no longer visit the library, but rather use the Internet; digital media will increasingly replace analog media, even though print media may continue to exist; users will organize their own collections of information and create their own classification systems (whereby it is not clear how information from the library is to be integrated therein); there is a growing need for individualized space within public space; users expect a high-quality environment, including modern technology. A Model Library for Children and Youth / An Initiative of the Goethe-Institut in Chennai, India / German Library Experts as Consultants (Marilen Daum) (pp. 156–159) With the help of the Goethe-Institut, Germany’s world-wide cultural agency, a model library for children and youth was created in Chennai, India (capital of Tamil Nadu; population of 4.7 million; formerly known as Madras) and officially opened in November 2011. The young visitors will find two floors with inviting, light-filled rooms and attractive library furnishings made in Germany. The variety of media found in this model library, the Hippocampus Library for Children, is a novelty for the Indian reader. It holds an excellent collection of 12,000 volumes of English-language children’s and young adult books from around the world. Only in recent years have two India-based children’s publishing companies, Tulika and Tara Books, begun to produce high-quality books for the national market. Located in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the library also holds a small collection of children’s books written in Tamil. The partnership between the Goethe-Institut and the Hippocampus Children’s Company was established in Fall 2010 with an agreement to create a public facility where children and young people could have access to knowledge, learn together and enjoy a multitude of reading experiences in their leisure time in an inviting atmosphere. The project is part of an initiative for excellence sponsored by the Goethe-Institut and scheduled to continue for at least three years. Many reading promotion projects in India are initiated within the civil society, but they usually focus on rural areas with no educational infrastructure. Translated by Martha Baker
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