Press Release: A European library agenda for the post-Covid 19 age Work in Progress

14 May 2020

 

In April 2020, EBLIDA launched a survey aimed to detect measures, practices and possible services that were initiated during the crisis and could be pursued in one way or another in the post-Covid 19 age.

Following the survey, the report,  “A European Library Agenda for the Post-Covid Age – A Work in Progress”, covers 17 European countries and is based on the responses kindly and promptly forwarded by EBLIDA Members. An array of new library initiatives, ranging from mask production to helping citizens in lockdown, has taken place in public libraries during the crisis. Access to digital resources boomed.

The Report is a work in progress: the EBLIDA community is now invited to provide comments based on their experience during and after the Covid-19 crisis.

Please send your comments to:
Giuseppe Vitiello, EBLIDA Director
Email: g.vitiello@eblida.org

Recommendations for a European library agenda in the post-Covid 19 age will be released at a later stage.

“The Covid-19 crisis will have a long-term financial impact on libraries. They will not revert to a business-as-usual mode once the pandemic is over. Technological advances and the amazing experiences described in this Report may be the light which will help libraries to go through the post-Covid tunnel”, says Ton van Vlimmeren, President EBLIDA.

Giuseppe Vitiello, Director EBLIDA, confirms that “with its long-term focus on new ‘library normals’, this Report will be a discovery for librarians. It aims to separate library activities based on contingent factors – the Covid-19 crisis - which hopefully will not replicate, from library trends that will become permanent in the post-Covid 19 age.”

The Report outlines a European library agenda in the post-Covid age along five new normals:

1.     Exponential social distancing: a well-connected two-meter library;

2.     Technologies are mutating and shaping libraries in new ways;

3.     Uncharted economic territory: review the library budget composition;

4.     Library governance at central and local levels;

5.     Do not forget the climate change opportunity and threat.

 

Download the Report: A European Library Agenda for the post-Covid 19 age

[Open Access publication, licensed as Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) which permits the widest possible dissemination to EBLIDA members and the European library community.]

 

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