Bilingual public libraries glossary (English/french)

• Collections
• Formats
• Genres
• Dewey decimal classes and subjects
• Library terminology

Collections

English	French
Christmas Collection	La collection sur Noël
Encyclopedias	Encyclopédies (f)
English Language Learning	Apprentissage de l’anglais (m)
Fiction	Romans (m)
French Language Learning	Apprentissage du français (m)
Graphic Novels	Bandes dessinées (f)
Language Learning	Apprentissage des langues (m)
Magazines Current, back issues	Périodiques (m) Numéro courant, numéros antérieurs
Multimedia	Multimédia (m)
Museum Passes	Laissez-passer pour musées (m)
Music	Musique (m)
Non Fiction	Documentaires Non-fiction
Picture Books	Albums (m)
Reference	Référence (f)
Reference Magazines	Périodiques de référence (m)
Special Picture Books	Albums spéciaux (m)
Teen Fiction	Romans pour ados (m)

Formats

English	French
Audio Book	Le livres audio
Board Book	Un albums cartonné
Book on CD	Le livre sur CD
DVD with described video	Le DVD avec vidéodescription
DVD	Le DVD
Early Reader	La première lecture
eBook	Le livre numérique
Large Print	Le livre en gros caractères
Lift-the-flap book	Le livre animé
Multilingual	Multilingue
Newspaper	Le journal (les journaux)
Novel	Le roman
Paperback	Le livre de poche
Video Game	Le jeu vidéo (les jeux vidéo)

Genres

English	French
Blues / R&B / Soul (music)	Blues / R&B / Soul (adj)
Celebration  (music)	Célébration (adj)
Chick Lit	La littérature féminine
Children’s Music	La musique pour enfants
Christian Fiction	Romans chrétiens (m)
Christmas  (music)	Noël (adj)
Christmas fiction	Romans de Noël (m)
Classic novels	Romans classiques (m)
Country (music)	Country (adj)
Crime	Le crime Romans policiers (m)
Dance (music)	Danse (adj)
Educational (music)	Éducative (adj)
Exercise (music)	Exercice (adj)
Fantasy	Le fantastique
Film / TV (music)	Film / TV
Folk (music)	Folk
Hip-Hop / Rap (music)	Hip-Hop / Rap
Historical Romance	La romance historique
Horror	Le roman d’horreur
Jazz (music)	Jazz
Lullaby (music)	La berceuse
Musicals (music)	La comédie musicale
Mystery	Le mystère
New Age (music)	Nouvel-âge
Pop / Rock (music)	Pop / Rock
Reggae / Calypso  (music)	Reggae / Calypso
Romance	Intrigues amoureuses
Science Fiction	La science-fiction
Short Story	La nouvelle
Songs (music)	Chansons
Sounds (music)	Sons
Spiritual (music)	Spirituelle
Steampunk	Steampunk
Western	Le western
World (music)	Mondiale

Dewey classes and subjects

 

English	French
Ancient civilization	La civilisation ancienne
Arts and Recreation	Arts et loisirs
Biography	Une biographie
Computer Science, Information and General Works	Informatique, information et généralités
Cooking	La cuisine
Dictionary	Le dictionnaire
Dinosaurs	Le dinosaure
Ecology	Écologie (f)
Environment	Environnement (m)
Fairy Tales	Un conte de fées
Fitness	Le conditionnement physique
Gardening	Le jardinage
Genealogy	La généalogie
Geography	La géographie
Health	La santé
History	Histoire (f)
Hockey	Hockey (m)
Home & Gardens	Maison et jardin
Insects	Insectes (m)
Medicinal plants	Plantes médicinales (f)
Meditation	La méditation
Mythology	La mythologie
Myths & Legends	Mythes (m) et légendes (f)
Natural Sciences and Mathematics	Sciences naturelles et mathématiques (f)
Numeracy Books	Livres sur la numératie
Nursery Rhymes	Comptines (f)
Parenting	L’art d’être parent / Rôle parental
Philosophy, Parapsychology, Occultism, Psychology	Philosophie, parapsychologie, occultisme, psychologie
Plants	Plantes (f)
Religion	La religion
Snow	La neige
Snow Sports	Sports de neige (m)
Social Sciences	Sciences sociales (f)
Space	L’espace (m)
Sports & games	Sports et jeux (m)
Sugar Bush	Érablière (f)
Technology (Applied Sciences)	Technologie (Sciences appliquées)
Travel	Voyages (m)
Vampires	Vampires (m/f)
War	Guerre (f)
Winter sports	Sports d’hiver (m)
World Languages	Langues du monde (f)
World Wars	Guerres mondiales (f)

Terminology

 

English	French
Accessioning (periodicals)	Bulletinage
Anti-theft	Antivol
Assistive technology	Technologies d’aide
Award Winners	Lauréats de prix
Award Winning Authors	Auteurs lauréats
Bestsellers	Ouvrages à succès
Book return	La boîte de retour
Bookclub	Le groupe de lecture (adults) Le club de lecture (kids)
Branches	Succursales
Canadian Authors	Auteurs canadiens
Catalogue	Catalogue
Catalogue search	Interrogation du catalogue (f)
Cataloguing	Catologage
Christmas non-fiction	Ouvrages généraux de Noël
Circulation desk	Comptoir de prêt
Closed captioned	Sous-titré
Collection	Collection
Computers	Ordinateurs
Concept Picture Books	Livres d’images conceptuelles
Craft(s)	Le bricolage
Customer code of conduct	Le code de conduite des clients Conditions d’accès à la bibliothèque
Database	La base de données
Digital/electronic (adj)	Numérique
English conversation group	Le groupe de conversation en anglais
e-reader	Liseuse e-reader
Fingerplay	Le jeux de doigts
Game night	Soirée de jeux
Holds	Demandes
Homebound	Services à domicile
Homework club	Le club de devoirs
Homework help	Aide aux devoirs (f)
ILS (integrated library system)	Logiciel documentaire SIGB (Système intégré de gestion de bibliothèque)
Information desk	Comptoir de renseignments
Intellectual freedom	La liberté intellectuelle
Inter library loan	Prêt entre bibliothèques
Item (bibliographic) record	La notice bibliographique
Lullabies	Berceuses
Main author	Auteur principal
Materials selection policy	Critères de sélection des documents
Meeting room	Salle d réunion Salle de travail en groupe
New	Nouveautés
New Fiction	Nouveautés – Romans
New For Teens	Nouveautés pour ados
New Non-fiction	Nouveautés – Documentaires
Nursery Rhyme	La comptine
Overdue	En retard
Popular Series	Séries populaires
Pre-literacy activity	Une activité de pré-lecture
Pre-literacy skills	Compétences de prélecture (f)
Pre-loaded (e.g. ereader)	Pré-chargé
Reading Buddies	Copains de lecture Lire ensemble
RFID	RFId
RFID tag	La puce RFID Etiquette électronique – etiquette radio – radio tag
Search engine	Le moteur de recherche
Self- checkout	Poste d’emprunt libre-service Automate de prêt
Service desk	Le comptoir de service
Talking books	Service de livres sonores
Teen Advisory Group	Groupe consultatif d’adolescents
Teen drop-in	Heure d’ados (f)
Teen Zone	Zone des ados
Telephone Books	Annuaires téléphoniques
To scan	Numériser
Toddler	Le tout-petit

 

*Note : many of the French terms were found on this excellent glossary of French library terms put together by the Coopération des centres régionaux de formation aux carriers des bibliothèques in France

 

Bilingual list of events and holidays

 

English	French	Date
Chinese New Year	Nouvel An chinois	January or February
Family Literacy Day	Journée de l’alphabétisation familiale	January 27
Canada Reads	Le combat des livres	February
Family Day	Jour de la famille	Second Monday in February
Freedom to Read Week	Semaine de la liberté d’expression	Third week of February
Groundhog Day	Jour de la marmotte	February 2nd
Valentine’s Day	La Saint-Valentin	February 14
International Women’s Day	Journée internationale de la femme	March 8th
St. Patrick’s Day	Fête de la Saint-Patrice	March 17
April Fool’s Day	Poisson d’avril	April 1
Earth Day	Jour de la terre	April 22
Easter	Pâques	Spring – varies
Forest of Reading	Forêt de la lecture	May
Mother’s Day	Fête des mères	Second Sunday in May
TD Canadian Children’s Book Week	La Semaine canadienne TD du livre jeunesse	May
Victoria Day	Fête de la Reine	third Monday in May
Father’s Day	Fête des pères	Third Sunday in June
TD Summer Reading Club	Club de lecture d’été TD	June to August
Canada Day	Fête du Canada	July 1
Back to School	Rentrée scolaire	September
First Day of School	Première journée d’école	September
Franco-Ontarian Day	Jour des Franco-Ontariens et des Franco-Ontariennes	September 25
Fire prevention week	Semaine de la prévention des incendies	Second week of October
Halloween	Halloween	October 31st
Thanksgiving	Action de grâce	Second Monday in October
Hannukah	Hannoucah	December or November
Remembrance Day	Jour du souvenir	November 11th
Christmas	Noël	December 25
Festive Season	Temps des fêtes	December

 

Colours storytime

Books

• Dog’s Colourful Day
• Wow Said the Owl
• Colour Dance
• Perfect Square
• I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More
• Mouse Paint
• The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse
• Lemons Are Not Red
• Perfect Square
• I Love my White Shoes
• Ain’t Gonna Paint No More
• Freight Train
• 

Songs and action rhymes

💃  Action rhymes

•  Two little blackbirds

 ♫ = Song

• If you’re wearing any…
• Bumping up and down in my little red wagon
• Umm, umm went the little green frog

Action rhymes

TWO LITTLE BLACK BIRDS
Two little black birds,
Sitting on a hill.	(Hold up two hands, fingers spread)
One named Jack,	(Flap fingers on one hand)
One named Jill.	(Flap fingers on other hand)
Fly away Jack.	(Flap fingers on first hand and bring behind back)
Fly away Jill.	(Flap fingers on other hand and bring behind back.)
Come back Jack.	(Jack flies back out,)
Come back Jill.	(Jill flies out)
Two little black birds,	(Hold hands out fingers spread)
Back on the hill.
Happy together.
Together still.

♫ If You’re Wearing…

(Tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb)

If you’re wearing red today, red today, red today
If you’re wearing red today, please stand up!

…continue with all the colors that the group is wearing..clap your hands, touch your ears, hop on one leg, tickle your toes, jump up and down, etc.

♫ Bumping up and down in my little red wagon

Bumping up and down in my little red wagon
Bumping up and down in my little red wagon
Bumping up and down in my little red wagon
Won’t you be my darling

One wheel’s off and the axle’s broken
One wheel’s off and the axle’s broken
One wheel’s off and the axle’s broken
Won’t you be my darling

Freddie’s gonna fix it with his hammer
Freddie’s gonna fix it with his hammer
Freddie’s gonna fix it with his hammer
Won’t you be my darling

Bumping up and down in my little red wagon
Bumping up and down in my little red wagon
Bumping up and down in my little red wagon
Won’t you be my darling

One wheel’s off and the axle’s broken
One wheel’s off and the axle’s broken
One wheel’s off and the axle’s broken
Won’t you be my darling

Laura’s gonna fix it with her pliers
Laura’s gonna fix it with her pliers
Laura’s gonna fix it with her pliers
Won’t you be my darling

Bumping up and down in my little red wagon
Bumping up and down in my little red wagon
Bumping up and down in my little red wagon
Won’t you be my darling

♫ Umm Umm went the little green frog one day

UM UM went the little green frog one day
UM UM went the little green frog
UM UM went the little green frog one day
And the frogs went UM UM AR
But we know frogs go *clap* LA DE DAH DE DAH
*clap* LA DE DAH DE DAH
*clap* LA DE DAH DE DAH
We all know frogs go *clap* LA DE DAH DE DAH
They don’t go UM UM AH.

 

Reaching for the Stacks – A Glimpse at Guatemala’s Library Culture

This is a special guest post from a volunteer with Librarians Without Borders.

Wilting from grappling with the new copyright management software package at the academic library where I work, I was delighted to be offered the opportunity to travel to Guatemala with Librarians Without Borders, a not-for-profit organisation which supports sustainable libraries in areas where information poverty is a significant impediment.  

 Scarred by conflict since the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th  century, Guatemala has only recently emerged from civil war and is in the process of re-negotiating its national identity.  Inspired by the gift of an exercise book in his youth, Jorge Chojolan founded the  Miguel Angel Asturias Academy in 1995, in Quetzaltenango (localy referred to as Xela, pronounced “shayla”),Guatemala‘s second largest city.  Asturias subscribes to the principles of Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed“, which foster critical thinking and the interrogation of divisive social norms.

 Poverty is a major obstacle to nurturing a culture of reading for pleasure in Guatemala.  Books in the home are a rarity. Asturias often struggles to service the educational needs of its students, given the limited library resources at hand. It also works to establish reading as recreation and to dispel a conception of the library as merely a homework space. The team of twelve from Librarians Without Borders contributed towards the deconstruction of this perception with a Library Day program catering to students from kindergarten to high school.  Younger children were treated to a puppet show adaptation of The Three Little Pigs which encoded a theme of knowledge as power, and books as the source of knowledge.  Older students played a True/False game, illustrated a comic jam and composed their own poems.  These activities were complemented by the physical layout of the library, which has structured and informal seating (no shoes permitted!) and book displays coinciding with the monthly social-awareness topics. These topics include human rights, discrimination, and ecology, for example.  Asturias has been promoting a respect for library books as a community resource over the last few years, and I felt proud to witness the first check-out as part of a pilot project to allow students to take books home with them.  

Chajul is in the Guatemalan Highlands and part of the indigenous Mayan Ixil (“eesheel”) community.  The women’s traditional woven clothing makes a dramatic tapestry of the steep streets, above which rear the hills from which guerrilla fighters instigated their campaigns over the course of the civil war, during which Chajul suffered severe casualties.  During the war, many parents kept their children at home and so schooling has been gaining currency again over the last two decades.

There is also an adult education program in Chajul, aiming to address the high levels of adult illiteracy (75% of the local population) and managed by volunteer students.  Limitless Horizons Ixil established a community library in Chajul in 2010, which serves 1500 members. Like Asturias, it offers an environment in which homework and study can be undertaken. Local homes are generally not conducive to study, as there is little personal space and incidence of domestic violence is comparatively high. Staff and supporters also wish to embed a culture of recreational reading in addition to advocating literacy as a means to empowerment.  As the staff librarians already offer a program of activities to incubate the desire to read, the children were very receptive to the story-time events planned and lead by the Librarians Without Borders team.  There were a number of knowledge transfer opportunities with the local and visiting librarian staff. Librarians Without Borders participants shared their collective experience with a view to helping the Chajul librarians make decisions about the opportunities and difficulties with which they are confronted.

A masterful ruse by the local team is to tell the children that there are hidden cameras concealed around the library premises to encourage the children to self-regulate their behaviour within the library.  My amusement was curtailed, however, by a chance comment by one of the local librarians in relation to theft: it occurs rarely and when it is detected, the librarians ask the child to explain why he or she stole from the library.  It is sobering to hear that the response is usually “Because I love this book and I have none at home”.  Working in an environment which is so information rich that it has to routinely destroy reading resources due to storage pressures, I am struck by the injustice of a child not having a single book of his or her own. This remains my most abiding memory of Guatemala, and rightly so.

Local studies at Penrith Public Library

Penrith is a small city on the Cumberland Plain, located in the shadows of the stunning Blue Mountains. Down in the plains, roadside signage is a testament to the harsh environment: at frequent intervals drivers are warned of the daily fire danger rating and informed of the nearest flood evacuation route. Both natural disasters are common occurrences, though far better controlled now than they were in the past. Australia is clearly a tough place, and it’s a wonder to me that their early settlers not only survived, but built a thriving community. Perhaps the hardships explain why the locals value their local history as much as they do…

The Research Room

In addition to offering typical public library services—collections, internet access, programs, etc.—the Penrith Public Library also is home to a truly impressive local studies collection. The Research Room contains a comprehensive collection of materials relating to the region’s people and history. “Comprehensive” means separate collections for local history, photographs, family history, government information, and technical documents relating to the environment and urban planning in the area. The library also several special projects which aim to make their newspaper and historical photos available in a national database maintained by the national library. For a small library system serving a population of just 186,937 residents, this amazing effort has been made possible by the perfect storm of a dedicated individual, political support, and government funding. Starting in the 1980s there was a surge in interest in local and family history. In response the state of New South Wales decided to give political and financial support in these areas at their archives and in public libraries. The state still has many dedicated “local history librarian” positions.

The person responsible for the research room is not a local history librarian, but is a member of the local family history society. She is passionate about helping people connect with the past and preserving all possible local history. A few of the projects she leads are:

Support for history students

A chest belonging to a local who served in the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps during WWI

Some local students undertake a history project where they study the biography of a local man or woman who served in the First World War. To support these projects, the staff at the library have created profiles for each known local who was part of the war effort, complete with copies of service records, medals, newspaper articles, and, where relevant, a picture of their grave from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The next phase of the project will be to make the contents available online where links can take the students from the written summary directly to the source information.

Digitizing The Nepean Times

The archives of the Nepean Times gets pride of place in the Research Room

When it was clear that the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program would not get around to digitizing Penrith’s local paper for many years, the library decided to fund the project itself. Once all eighty years of the paper had been scanned, the files were made available on Trove, the National Library of Australia online resource portal. Not satisfied with this progress, the library has organized volunteers to read through the digitized versions line by line to correct the text created by OCR (character recognition) software.

Local photo history

One more project relying on volunteer hours is the photo archives. The library is digitizing historical photos as the budget permits, while volunteers catalogue them according to an in-house system. The pictures are currently available in binders in the library and on the council website in a section called Penrith in Pictures. They will eventually also be available on Trove, which provides a more advanced database and a far larger audience than a small public library system could supply.

A picture of the Old Council Chambers from the Penrith in Pictures database

The new Penrith Civic Centre

UNESCO World Heritage Centre Library

The World Heritage Centre in Paris, France

Of all the libraries I visited during my travels, UNESCO ranks up there as one of my favourites. See, I heard a lot about UN agencies during my undergraduate degree in International Development, which made my visit to UNESCO something of a pilgrimage. I suppose it might be a bit like an English major visiting the birthplace of Jane Austen or a biology grad stopping by Sir Alexander Flemming’s lab.

Before I start discussing my library visit, I want to explain a little about the organization itself. Many of you will have heard of UNESCO in the context of its World Heritage Site program, which includes marvels such as L’Anse aux Meadows, the Statue of Liberty, and the Taj Mahal. However, UNESCO does so much more than this. As the United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization, UNESCO is supposed to contribute to:

the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information.

All in a day’s work, right? This exceptionally broad mandate includes quite a few projects which fall into the LIS domain. Parallel to the better-known World Heritage Sites, the Memory of the World Register aims to aid in the preservation and dissemination of the world’s documentary heritage. Another project, titled “Information for All,” exists to “create equitable societies through better access to information.”

In the past UNESCO has been even more active in supporting global librarianship and was instrumental in the development of IFLA. If you are intrigued by this history, Professor Peter Lor, former DG of IFLA, has written a thorough history of UNESCO and libraries.

Library

UESCO world headquarters are located in the swanky 7^th Arrondissement in Paris, which is also home to the Eiffel Tower, the Musée d’Orsay, and more beautiful Haussmannian buildings than you can shake a stick at. The library is found a few steps inside the main entrance in a purpose built space lined with bookshelves and lit principally by the sunlight streaming in the large windows. Incredibly in this post 9/11 world, anyone with a valid passport can enter the UNESCO headquarters to use the library (although that may soon change). On the day of my visit the reading room was populated by students, visiting researchers, and retirees, in addition to UNESCO staff.

The reading room

The atmosphere in the reading room was that of any research centered library, though the posters and artwork remind visitors that the focus is the developing world. Behind the scenes, however, one of the major differences between being a UN library compared with another type is the uncertainty around funding. While budget stability is a perennial challenge for most libraries, it is particularly felt by UN special agencies because their funding is dependent on international relations. Currently UNESCO is facing a 22% budget cut because the US withdrew their funding after Palestine was made a voting member. As the organization struggles to preserve programs, the cuts passed on to the library will certainly be greater than 22%. In the library, that means no collections budget, a merger between the library and archives into a new department called “Information Services” and staff redundancies are a distinct possibility. Due to the legendarily slow speed of UNESCO decision waiting, the library will be kept in limbo a while longer before the budget shortfall effects trickle down through the organizational hierarchy.

The facility

Only the most popular works are stored in the shelves in the reading room. The remaining 95% of the collection are found in the second basement.

As I mentioned, the library space was purpose-built to serve as an information centre. The location of the reading room on the ground level is deceptive; a staircase in the centre of the room leads to the archives one floor below and from there to the storage facilities in the second basement. The storage facility holds the archives in huge compact shelving and the vast majority of the library collection on plain grey shelves. A challenge for staff is that their collection of nearly 150,000 works is so large and specialized that the DDC call numbers are very difficult to use.

Day-to-day tasks at the library include online reference support, answering questions by email, and assisting walk-in users of the library and archives. In the past the library staff were also called upon to support UNESCO programs involving libraries in other parts of the world. However, this role has been eroded to the point where present day staff are limited to traditional functions within the UN library system.

The future

The UNESCO library faces some substantial challenges moving forwards. First, of course, are the massive budget cuts which are now falling on the entire headquarters.

Second, the library is suffering from declining usage. Librarian Petra van den Born reports that new UNESCO staff are often unaware of the library services or believe that their Googling abilities are sufficient for their research needs. With funding reductions, it is difficult for library staff to plan training sessions, establish outreach or introduce social media based techniques to increase their visibility.

Finally, senior management at UNESCO has begun to question the value of the information services, particularly the physical print collection. As the library’s role has shrunk within the organization and as managers are younger and less likely to have used a library in the past, it will be a challenge for the Information Services staff to demonstrate their relevance and value.

Visit the UNESCO library homepage here

^{My sincere thanks to reference librarian Petra van den Born for showing me the library and sharing her experiences.
Top photo credit: Jirome Bon http://www.flickr.com/photos/girolame/}

Scriptorial d’Avranches

Mont-Saint Michel village and historical site

The Avranches Scriptorial, also known as the Manuscripts Museum of Mont Saint Michel, is the only museum in France dedicated to medieval manuscripts. I stumbled upon it quite by accident while exploring the town of Avranches, but I strongly encourage other bibliophiles making a trip to Normandy to include the Scriptorial. The displays are beautifully designed and the upper level contains a wealth of information and artifacts related to the creation of books in the Middle Ages.

History

Nothing of the original scriptorium remains but the room itself.

The museum has grown up around a collection of manuscripts taken from Mont-Saint Michel. For those of you who haven’t heard of the Mont, it is a 1000 year old UNESCO world heritage site located on an island between Normandy and Brittany. Founded as an Abby in the 8th century, it remained an important religious site until the French Revolution, when it was gutted and then turned into a prison for political prisoners (fun fact- the former Scriptorium was converted into a cell block during the prison years). During the religious period the Abby’s active scriptorium was the birthplace for numerous manuscripts, all copied by hand and illuminated using colourful dyes and precious metals.

The Museum

The displays fill a long, thin two story building. The first floor explains the history of the Mont, with emphasis on the development of the scriptorium and the library. Cute cartoons help liven up the history section, and the text is interspersed with historical pictures and objects. The second floor delves into the world of the medieval manuscript, with information on the tools, processes, scripts, illuminations, and the individuals who spent years labouring to recreate texts. The end section explains the types of works (religious, philosophical, classical, etc.) which would have been in the abbey and which are currently held by the museum. While all the written information is presented in French, a multilingual audioguide is available from the main desk (unfortunately, the guide only translates a part of the written information).

Entertaining cartoons illustrate the history of the Abbey

The final section is the grandly named Treasure Room, which displays a rotating selection from the nearly 200 manuscripts held by the museum. In the treasure room, each volume is opened to a page and some have audioguide numbers which allow you to hear more about the history and content of the work. Although I have seen many pictures of illuminations and manuscripts, it was a very different experience to see them in person; the colours were more vibrant, the gilt illuminations shone, and the texture of the pages were visible, even in low light through the protective case.

The last room before the exit was, of course, the giftshop. I normally wouldn’t mention the souvenir store, but I was excited to  discover that they carry a truly unique selection of items in both English and French which relate to the museums content. If you’re interested in caligraphy, writing tools, inks, word games, puzzels, book making or manuscripts, or word-inspired bags and clothing, leave yourself some time (and space in your budget!).

Vleuten Public Library

I felt fortunate to be able to visit Vleuten Public Library this September because it was very nearly closed last year. It was only saved by strong community support and a willingness to compromise on the part of the public and the library system.

Some context

Historically an independent village, Vleuten became a suburb of the city of Utrecht in 2001.  Although the former village maintained its own library for about a decade, their branch was recently put on the municipal chopping-block with the understanding that local residents would be able to use the newer and much larger branch in a neighbouring suburb.  However, the local decision makers soon discovered that they had underestimated community support. When the dust settled, the library was spared from closure BUT would no longer operate as a regular branch. What changed?

The compromise

Under the new system…

• The branch was moved from its own designated building to a new, smaller space within the local municipal service centre
• Its staff was cut to one part-timer
• It lost 40% of its collection
• It was forced to stop offering periodicals and public computer access
• The opening hours were substantially extended

The library was able to extend its opening hours despite the other cuts because it moved to a new model of library management. The new system relies heavily on volunteers and technology to perform tasks which have traditionally required a trained staff member.

The library now occupies this corner of the local Wijkservicecentrum

At the time of my visit the volunteer was an out-of-work library technician with experience in special libraries. She explained that volunteers perform many key duties in the library, such as shelving, answering questions from the public, and offering assistance with self checkout. The part-time paid library staff member works three afternoons per week. Only she is able to issue new cards, pull holds from the shelves and offer programs.

While it was wonderful to hear about the community’s response to the library closure, I find myself unable to see the town’s solution in a solely positive light. It was particularly difficult to hear from a job seeker that this experimental model is being watched by municipal authorities who hope to make similar changes in other locales. Although the dedication of the Vleuten library volunteers is stirring, I can’t help but agree with the New Zealand Library and Information Association’s Statement on Voluntary Workers
– the best quality of library services is achieved through the use of paid and trained staff.

Amsterdam Public Library main branch children’s section

The Amsterdam main branch is the largest public library in Europe, occupying a beautiful ten story building next to the central train station. Officially opened in July 2007, it offers several innovations, including a radio station and children’s section which uses a unique designed-by-kids classification system.

The children’s section is one story below the main entrance, but the ceiling is nearly three stories tall as it opens through the periodical section and the main floor. The open construction gives a feeling of space and makes it easy to find from the main entrance. What surprised me about this design is how little noise traveled up from the children’s section into the adult areas.

Classification

Overhead view of shelving in the children’s area

The open-concept layout showcases the unique design of the bookshelves. The shelves are all partial circles with the book spines facing inwards. While the shelves have the added benefit of creating an inviting, private reading area, this distinctive layout was chosen for more than the aesthetics; the semi-circles each represents a subject area in the the Library of 100 Talents classification system.

The system

The 100 Talents system, unique to the Netherlands, is based on the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy which views children as “beautiful, powerful, competent, creative, curious, and full of potential and ambitious desires.”¹ Drawing on this idea of the child as a rational and capable actor within the library setting, the Dutch library association invited children to help create a unique classification system and to design an ideal library. The resulting system is used to classify materials for young adults and for children aged 7 and above. The subject areas are broad, with abstract titles such as “Me in the World”, “Adventure”, “Going Outside” and “Dreams.” These large categories are then subdivided into smaller topics. For example, a subdivision of “Me in the World” is “Me and You,” which covers topics like religion, sociology, and the human body.

Shelf organization

In each sub-section the books are ordered in the same way: first the non-fiction by SISO (Dutch equivalent of DDC) number, followed by fiction in alphabetical order, and finally all other formats including audiobooks, DVDs, and magazines.
The proximity of fiction and non-fiction works is designed to encourage children to discover more about topics that interest them, without requiring them to search in the catalogue and to look in several different physical locations. According to a Youth Librarian working in the department, children are easily able to use the system while adults, more accustomed to separate fiction and non-fiction sections, do not pick it up as quickly.

It seems to me that the main strength of this system is that it groups all materials on the same topic together while still using traditional notation (DDC and authors last name) for shelf organization. This greatly reduces the need for updates, as only new DDC numbers need to be added to the schedules, rather than every individual item. In addition, using traditional notation should allow users to easily switch between the 100 Talents organization and the traditional organization in other libraries. I was unable to find any further English language information on this topic, but it would certainly be an interesting study to see how easily children accustomed to the 100 Talents organization are able to find materials in a traditional library.

Final thoughts

The centre bookshelf has a rooftop reading nook!

Overhead view of shelving in the children’s area

Clever shelf labels in the comic book section

“Me in the word” includes boks about sports, religion, sociology and the human body, among other topics. Vertical shelf labels are typical in Dutch public libraries.

The storytime area employs the same colour scheme as the rest of the library

As you might have noticed in the image gallery above, the colour scheme in the children’s section is quite adult when compared to the primary-colour inspired designs popular in North American children’s spaces. In fact, the colours in the children’s area (red and white with natural wood) are exactly the same as is used in the rest of the library, although some kid-centered decorative accents have been added.
Finally, I think it’s important to mention that the Amsterdam central branch is beautiful and massive library, covering 28,000 m². Within the library there is a theatre that seats 250, a radio station, conference rooms, exhibition space, a music department, study pods, and a truly excellent rooftop café which provides a sweeping view of the city. If you ever visit Amsterdam, it’s well worth a visit- and is easy to find since it is a ten story buildilng next to the central train station.

1. Hewett, V.M. (2001). Examining the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(2), 95-100.

I would like to thank Ms. Skotarczak, Youth Librarian at the Amsterdam OBA, for her help in explaining the classification system.

The DOK Library Concept Centre (Delft, Netherlands)

Studiereis Nederland 20121213-15_DSC_4 (c) copyright 2011 VVBAD under Creative Commons Attribution license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Guest Blog Post by Christine F. Smith

From the beautiful spiral staircase of the Handelingenkamer Parliamentary library to the literal Book Mountain in Spijkenisse to the train station library in Haarlem, The Netherlands are an architectural haven for librarians and library-lovers alike. One library of particular architectural interest is the DOK Library Concept Centre (or “DOK”) in Delft. Built in the late 2000s the DOK is a veritable playground for the senses.

In 2008, blog “The Shifted Librarian” called the DOK the “Most Modern Library in the World” and Information Today did a cover piece on the DOK’s innovations. The following year, the library was highlighted in Architecture Week, and Library Journal named its creators Movers and Shakers in 2009. Indeed, Museum of the Future holds that even years after all of this recognition the library “still made a tremendous impression.”

 

So what is it that made the DOK so interesting in the library world? For starters, the Library Concept Centre came from a merger of art, music and traditional print libraries, each of which hold their own spot in the physical space, collections and programming. Library members can check out a book, a CD or a work of art while visiting the DOK. Beyond that, visitors can notice unique architectural qualities, from the red romance room to the children’s comic book space.

 
I had the pleasure of visiting the DOK in May of 2013, and while the DOK space is now a few years old, the DOKLAB — a workshop housed inside of the DOK– continues to embrace change and generate innovative library initiatives for the DOK and other libraries around the world. One of their most recent creations that was demoed for us during our visit was the Bookbuster, “a multitouch application to promote reading among primary school children”. And while the DOK, like all institutions had its shortcomings, it was great to see that they still continued to move towards innovation.

 

Christine F. Smith, MLIS, has a passion for supporting communities and connecting people with information. With previous experience in public, academic and special libraries, she currently holds a school librarian position in Quebec, Canada and is an active member of her provincial, national and international library associations. She can be found on Twitter @bibliosmith.