Dr. Emmanouel Garoufallou Department of Library Science and Information Systems, Alexander TEI of Thessaloniki, Greece & Veria Central Public Library Developments in Greek Public Libraries and the Future Library Project

Presentation Layout Public Libraries in Greece Good Practices The Future Library Project

Public Libraries in Greece Two kind of Public Libraries “Public libraries” as part of the Ministry of Education “Municipal libraries” as part of Municipalities & Local Authorities Children libraries, Mobile libraries, Community libraries that are part of local authorities from villages to Counties and Regions Many times in the same area are serving different kind of ‘public libraries’ without having any collaboration

Greek Public Libraries in numbers [1] 46 Public Libraries as part of the Ministry of Education  29 of them have mobile libraries  9 of them are historical since they serve the public for more than a century and have rare collections with manuscripts, maps, etc.  “Central Public Historical Library of …”  Some from the 17 th century, some from Source:

Greek Public Libraries in numbers [2] 686 municipal and community libraries There is a number of small libraries, children and community libraries that are not part of an official inventory Total budget [my estimate]: 2007 = appr € 2010 = appr € 2013 = appr € Source:

Public Libraries at the Ministry of Education Gateway

ABEKT by National Documentation Centre A Greek LMS 1986 till today Free to all Greek Public Libraries Multilingual bibliographical data Training courses 2400 appr. People trained 2500 all kind of libraries, in total, used ABEKT 670 libraries use the last two versions – Source: ABEKT,

Union Catalog for Public Libraries Establish a Greek Union Catalog for Public Libraries Launch 1999, financed by EC structural funds: Union Catalog for Municipal and School Libraries : a blog: Source:

InfoLibraries: Public Libraries Gateway A project of VCPL the portal for Greek Public Libraries Completed by 2004 & it’s been updated since then Public, Municipal, Children, Cultural Organizations Also a list with Digital, academic and special libraries

InfoLibraries the map of Greek Libraries By choosing Halkidiki

Digitizing Content from Public Libraries «Digitization project of the material of Public Libraries» by the Ministry of Education Budget: € 80% by the European Community Fund and 20% by national resources Materials from 46 public libraries Digitized materials: pages, which correspond to titles of books, newspapers, magazines and manuscripts Most of the materials are published before 1920 Some public libraries establish their own DL, some others with the support from NDC (EKT) All content is Free for the Public 1840

National Information System for Research and Technology (NDC) Wealth of digitized material Collections of significant cultural and educational value NDC (EKT) is the organization responsible for the development and technical support of digital libraries presented in its site “NDC (EKT) addresses all public Libraries which are interested to provide their content online and with this initiative seals its longstanding collaboration with libraries in Greece” Source: Content/ Content/

Public library digital libraries supported by NDC (EKT)

Veria Central Public Library the Medusa DL & the AccessIT Plus Project Participation in EC projects Collaboration with cultural organizations such as the Sismanoglio Megaro of the Cons. Gen. of Greece in Istanbul, a National Folklore Dance Group, a Monastery, etc. New skills for librarians AccessIT and AccessIT Plus Project

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Access to Learning Award (ATLA) for 2010: Veria Central Public Library, Greece “Making creative use of information and technology services, Veria offers a range of programs that meet the economic, educational, and cultural needs of more than 180,000 people”

Social Networks and Public Libraries Strong presence The majority of PL have established a variety of Social Networks Librarians with high skills on Social Networks Facebook, Blogs, YouTube and Twitter are the most common Users tend to read/ participate / follow Public Libraries of Veria, Levadia and Serres have established the stronger networks

The Future Library Project The Future Library is a non-profit organization Established in Veria in 2011 It spun out of the Veria Central Public Library Future Library is open to all public and municipal libraries of Greece The Stavros Niarchos Foundation is Future Library’s exclusive donor It aims at developing a sustainable network of public and municipal libraries across Greece To be linked to the National Library of Greece, when this moves to its new premises To reinforce the significance of libraries, as knowledge, creativity, and interaction- promoting institution in people’s minds.

Future Library

Future Library: “Read about our vision. Share our dream. You might want to follow it” Public/ municipal libraries registered: 2012: 87 libraries 2013: 117 libraries ******************* Members: 2012: 3923 members 2013: 4767 members

promotion of creativity, reading and innovation; training the future librarian; network of children services; digital services; and raising awareness public and municipal libraries across Greece 5 major projects

2012 projects [1] Promotion of creativity, reading and innovation 1,450 events in 64 cities 26,000 participants (children and parents) 2,900 hours of creative workshops 10,600 books donated to 68 libraries 99 librarians trained 291 volunteers

2012 projects [2] network of children services; training the future librarian Renovated (redesigned, refurbished and re-equipped) the children sections of 8 libraries (997 square meters) based on the idea of “Magic Boxes” Trained 16 leaders 88 hour series of empirical workshops New skills developed: leadership, project management, advocacy and innovation 10 proposals for new library services

2012 projects [3] digital services raising awareness 3923 registered people 87 public/ municipal libraries 11 libraries receive access to premium newspaper content (press Display) 2826 blog posts written by the Greek community Facebook users per day Un-Conference 98 creative events wit h5946 participants, workshops, keynote and creative speakers Source:

“Find a job via the library” 2013 By one example [train library staff] Library supports job hunting

Greek Public Libraries have achieved to change the way of thinking about libraries Public Libraries in Greece developed considerably the last few years Fast growth, change the way in which people considered libraries Libraries as a meeting place Libraries as innovation centers Libraries as knowledge centers Libraries inspire people Libraries make people more creative Libraries interact with people Libraries promote reading, motivate people for “learning for life” Libraries stimulate people’s minds ……

What the future holds? Understaffed Financial crisis Severe Budget Cuts Municipalities can’t support libraries New plan to merge public libraries from the Ministry of Education Library closures? Annual cost of the entire public library service is getting down, so expect closures to be happen soon?

“Children is the real power of libraries” Nicolas, 12 years old A library fan and enthusiastic user

Dr. Emmanouel Garoufallou Department of Library Science and Information Systems, Alexander TEI of Thessaloniki, Greece & Veria Central Public Library Developments in Greek Public Libraries and the Future Library Project