Ilona Kish Public Libraries 2030, Brussels, Belgium

Working together better Ilona KISH EDGE, Edinburgh 2019

Stepping out of our comfort zone New projects Stepping out of our comfort zone In this presentation, I’m going to talk about some experiences we had last year running a libraries project with Google. But I want to use this example to look at what helps and limits libraries in building co-operation projects And also to explore why I think doing collaborative projects, especially across borders is of value to libraries, and not just financially

PL2030 We work to: Create innovative projects with libraries and link them to relevant partners and funders Advocate for the importance of public libraries to EU decision makers Connect libraries with partners to contribute to civil society initiatives. Put public libraries on the agenda by showing how they are providing spaces that can help to solve crucial issues.

Public Libraries 2020

Picture of team 10 partners from the UK and from Ireland 10,000 euros per library Toolkit on digital resources

Libraries Lead With Digital www.publiclibraries2030.eu/libraries-lead-with-digital Add link to toolkit ALA: 500,000 dollars for initial research, original cohort of 30 libraries 1,000,000 dollars micro funds for 250 libraries during Computer Science Education Week

What worked?

What would we do differently? Reminder: be positive, encourage them to go to the toolkit Technical access of libraries Resources/capacity Ways of working – Google vs libraries (culture, language – both need to compromise) Reputation But positive = financing digital skills in libraries, easy and fast to work with, proof point for further (gov) funding

Wider context What do funders want Erasmus+ Cross border collaboration – connection - innovation Libraries are broke(n) What’s missing

Looking to the future Citizen Science Education and digital skills Democracy and participation

Thank you! ilona@pl2030.eu www.publiclibraries2030.eu twitter.com/LibrariesEU facebook.com/LibrariesEU