The Vejle Libraries Stepping Stones into the Digital World Tampere, Finland, February 2007 Lillan Grützmeier and Lilli Mortensen

Vejle - Denmark

Denmark Population: 5.4 mill. A majority og the population has access to the Internet from their homes ICT offers a lot of possibilities within the public service system, e.g. electronic- based self-service and net librarian (E- government)

The educational system in Denmark Primary and Lower Secondary School Upper Secondary School High Education Other Adult Education VUC, AVU, Folk High Schools

Internet Café

Public internet access point Danish library law: libraries should make available information on society/local community and provide access to local residents Internet is available in all danish public libraries (free) Hotspot in many libraries (free) Places/rooms for teaching ICT in many libraries

The Vejle Libraries inhabitants in Vejle municipality (5 municipalities put together from ) Staff: 100 in the Vejle Libraries Vejle Library, 4 district libraries and a book bus Central library for the southern part of Denmark (material supply, advice, cources) Financed by the municipality and government

Courses and projects From basic courses on the use of ICT and Internet to focus the trainings on net- based self-services Training of library personnel in The Digital Citizen’s Service The Vejle Libraries work together with the Community Centres and will also function as a Public Internet Access Point

Migrant projects The Librarian on Foot The Book Bus Project The Town in balance The Culture Carrier Appreciative Inquiry ABCD (Asset Based Community Development)

Target groups in this project Migrants (in Vejle mainly Arab and Turkish speaking) Young Migrants Senior Citizens (and other socially disadvanteged groups) Staff in libraries and Community centres

Netservices Vejle Library together with other danish libraries FINFO – a portal for etnic minorities about the danish society ( The libraries’ Juraport – a portal with common law questions on the internet and in books ( Biblioteksvagten – your online librarian with the answers to all your questions ( Remote access to databases

Stepping Stones into the Digital World There are many ways og guiding adults and teaching them digital literacy… …and this was what we had chosen to share with you today… Lillan and Lilli Lillan and Lilli