Since 1994, Härnösand has been carrying out a most interesting project for the future which is to combine three libraries into one. These are the county, municipality and university libraries which, up until now, have been working as separate institutions. As a result of these four years of intense planning, a new modern building is under construction for the "Sambiblioteket" (Joint Library), and the staff is preparing to move in together in October 1999 before the official inauguration at the start of the year 2000. As this concept of joining libraries of different authorities is quite unusual, we invite requests from anyone interested in learning about our experiences. This process has been documented in some library journals, such as the Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly N° 4 1998. If any of the members of the Network would like a copy of their own we would be pleased to send it to you. You can also read a summary in English on our home page: http://www.sambiblioteket.com/ or www.kultur.harnosand.se/bibliotek/index.html where further information will be continuously published.

Side by side with the planning for our future library, daily work proceeds as usual, including our service to the 27,000 citizens of Härnösand, the students of the Mid-Sweden University College as well as students and pupils of schools and other educational institutions. In our town, there are several local branches of international organizations such as Save the Children, the Red Cross, Amnesty International and similar associations. Their members, like many of the students and teachers in the schools, take a great interest in international issues and it is natural for the library to share their interest in these matters, providing books and information as well as collaborating in the organization of exhibitions and lectures. In this respect, membership of the UNAL Network is a source of inspiration and new ideas for our staff and visitors.

Our Children's and Youth Department is committed to fulfilling UNAL's objectives. With the new library, we hope to do so even more efficiently through the joint resources of larger premises, staff, expertise, data communication, books, periodicals and other media that will then be available. We provide a short summary of some very successful projects reflecting the spirit of the Network which we have carried out in recent years.

Apple Library

The Apple Library, a special collection for handicapped children, was first created in cooperation with the Children's Department, the County Library and Swedish associations for disabled children and with the support of several donors as well as the National Council for Cultural Affairs. It got its name from the big, red, wooden apple, a hollow sculpture into which every child - disabled or not - loves to climb and cuddle up with books or toys specially designed to suit the visitors of this part of the library. Around the apple, there are bookcases with talking books and books in braille for the visually handicapped, videotapes in sign language for children with hearing impairments, easy readers, books in large print and a special choice of picture books as well as nonfiction books about children and handicaps. There are also computers, videos and other technical equipment.

As there is a boarding school in Härnösand for deaf children and teenagers from the whole of northern Sweden, the project has grown to into a meeting-place for young people whether hearing-impaired or not. In the Sign Language Corner, they can gather around the new books, videos or magazines, or can take part in joint events like a course in cartoon art or organizing an exhibition.

In cooperation with schools, the library is implementing a reading promotion project entitled The House of Tales and Knowledge (Sagans och Kunskapens Hus). Children's librarians, authors and teachers of music, drama, art and literature are invited to contribute to programmes made for pre-school groups up to upper secondary classes. The aim is to stimulate their desire for reading through experiencing imaginative and creative activities.

In order to make children and young people aware of the riches of all the cultures of the world, we use the tales, stories, songs and music from many countries, along with those from our own tradition. For instance, a West African creation story The Children of the Fire, with a mythological explanation of the differences of colours, was a success among the 6-8 age group, when performed as a shadow-play in beautiful colours inspired by an East Asian shadow theatre.

The Lapp, an indigenous minority people with an old and very interesting culture, are part of our nation, and of course their stories, myths and music are always a feature of the storytelling sessions. We also have had the privilege of working with guests from other parts of the world like Bolivia and Namibia, who have given us all, children and grown-ups, better knowledge and understanding of their peoples.

In May this year, the photographs of the exhibition Children Read Everywhere, from the joint UNESCO and IFLA project Books For All will be shown at Härnösand Library. We hope to be able to make a contribution to the fund-raising and to an understanding of the necessity of libraries and reading material for children in developing countries.

In our new library, we are also planning for a special section in the Youth Department on the Convention of the Rights of the Child. We intend to collect books, videos, leaflets, Internet links and any material that might be useful in learning about the human rights and conditions of children around the world. We would also be very grateful for some good advice from other libraries with similar collections, so please write and let us exchange ideas!
 

The Slovenian public library network is well developed since all libraries, including branch and mobile, have children's departments with materials for children and adolescents up to the age of 15. In addition, each primary and secondary school has a library.

One of the basic tasks for children's libraries is to promote reading and to make reading possible. We are well aware that these must also be the goals of modern library information centres and that children should be given every opportunity to become aware of literature and to experience its beauty, pleasure and values.

A survey conducted in the country in 1997, revealed that all libraries, with greater or lesser frequency, carried out a regular pattern of activities for children ranging from story hour for the promotion of reading among children between 4 and 10, to book discussions for those over 10 as well as games for the preschoolers to familiarize them with the idea of books as sources of information and entertainment.

The Reading Badge

The Reading Badge movement of Slovenia is of great importance for the promotion of reading. It forms part of the project With Books in the World which aims to modernize and confirm the movement for reading as an interesting leisure time activity among young people. The movement encourages all to "join the miraculous voyage into a world of beauty and knowledge, into a world of authors,... and last but not least, a voyage into our own world of experience, adventure and imagination".

The target groups are children aged 7 to 15 and according to our survey, it reaches approximately 140,000 children. Although chiefly aimed at primary school level, it is also extended to those in the secondary schools and recently has been broadened to include some preschoolers in a special preschool reading badge section. This preschool activity mainly concerns encouraging adults, parents and teachers to read to the children.

The movement is also involved in two other projects. The Cradle of Reading is used to inform parents of the newly born, how reading can favourably influence the mental and physical development of their child in its early years as well as fostering emotional ties. The Grandma and Grandpa project helps to bring together children and the elderly in reading activities. The movement has spread all over the country and to neighbouring countries where there are Slovenian-speaking families.

The Reading Badge movement collaborates with the Slovenian section of IBBY as well as the Slovenian Reading Association in bringing together schools, libraries, authors, publishers, bookshops, children's associations, clubs and experts. The library prepares an annotated list of recommended new and quality books to advise and guide mentors as they help the children to debate what they have read. We have found that reading aloud and talking about books they have read are effective ways to motivate children. Meetings with children's authors also contribute to arousing enthusiasm for literature and are rewarding to all involved.

Staff of the project suggest ideas such as topical books, artists of the season or book quizzes but mentors and children are free to make their own choices. In the same way, staff also promote the project through special material like T-shirts, self-adhesive pictures, leaflets and literary folders which again are noncompulsory for mentors and readers.

The role of the Library in developing a well-balanced society was the subject of a regional UNAL workshop organized in collaboration with the Gambia National Commission for UNESCO and the Gambia Rural UNESCO Club. Addressing participants at the opening ceremony, the National Commission Chairman and Chair for the occasion underscored the importance of regional workshops such as these which provide participants with the opportunity to surmount ethnic, racial, national or cultural barriers. It was also an opportunity to pool intellectual resources in the pursuance of the common good. A pivotal concern of the library in developing a well-balanced society should be devising strategies that highlight the part to be played by libraries in the totality of development endeavours.

In his opening remarks, the workshop coordinator stressed that building partnerships between libraries of Africa and Europe and preparing the African child for excellence in the 21st century was the task of everyone.

The workshop was declared open on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education by the Secondary and Higher Education Director who urged participants to clarify how libraries can be even better furnished and developed to serve humanity and more particularly societies in the developing world.

One interesting feature of the meeting was the presentation of country papers by participants. The Caravan of Literacy in Senegal is actively involved in adult literacy programmes and contributes towards improving the conditions of facilitators, especially in rural areas, through training programmes, holding of fairs and exhibitions on improving library services and the building of Educational Resource Centres in rural areas with libraries, among other projects.

The work of book barns in Senegal was also presented. Initiated in 1996, their objectives are to serve as documentation, information dissemination and provision centres for village libraries, functional literacy classes and the general public; to supply mobile libraries in the form of book boxes; and to serve as reading halls for the public.

In Gambia, the Improve Your Knowledge at the Village Library scheme (IYKVL) was established in two villages in 1995 to fill the social vacuum caused by a shift to increasingly modern lifestyles and a corresponding disappearance of traditional values, by the provision and dissemination of information through cassettes, books, posters, pictures, etc..

After two days of stimulating discussion and much brainstorming, the workshop came up with a number of concrete strategies and recommendations that could facilitate the role of the library in developing a well-balanced society. Some of these are listed below as a guide to other libraries interested in developing activities in their community:

• Libraries should encourage local authors by commissioning them to write simple reading books;
• Library networks in the sub-region should explore the possibility of recording and transcribing local elders;
• Governments should be urged to put more money into cultural research, documentation and preservation;
• Library studies should be made part of teacher training programmes;
• Libraries should encourage functional literacy by not only promoting the writing and publishing of books in our local languages, but also by making posters on health issues, nutritional standards, etc. Translation of poster materials into local languages could be useful;
• Libraries should establish cultural centres and introduce games to generate and retain public interest. Games can be used to simplify otherwise complex subjects such as physics, maths, astronomy, nuclear science, etc.;
• Libraries should endeavour to publish periodical newsletters to attract people to use library facilities;
• Workshops like this one should be a regular feature among library networks in the sub-region and should sometimes be held in rural areas;
• Libraries and library networks should consider setting up income generating projects for funding library centres, particularly for the provision of salaries/remuneration for staff and volunteers.

Presenting one of our newest members

Cameroon

Our library, which recently joined the UNAL Network, is a school library located in Bamena, (Western Cameroon) which has a population of about 40,000 inhabitants and high levels of illiteracy. Combatting illiteracy was the main reason for the creation of the library in what is essentially a rural region and it has become, not only a means of individual self-improvement, but also serves as an important source of information to the students.

The library is housed in the comprehensive secondary school and is used by school children, teaching staff, parents, and for the time being, by the thirteen communes which are served by the school.

As an apolitical, non-denominational and non-ethnic institution, the library has set itself four challenges:

• establishing reading and (later) lending facilities;
• setting up language training courses with literacy programmes for children and adults in addition to the teaching of English;
• organizing cultural events;
• setting up women's clubs for the promotion of literacy programmes and raising consciousness of important issues.

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