Professional visitors from a number of libraries and organisations in Australia and Japan as well as several European countries came to visit Citizens’ Services and Libraries in 2012. We especially received many Swedish colleagues. Employees from Citizens’ Services and Libraries are in demand as speakers at international meetings and conferences in e.g. USA, New Zealand as well as a number of European and Scandinavian countries. Especially the collaboration with The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Nordic Network of Nordic Public Libraries and IFLA entails a number of activities.
ALE (Academy of Library Experience) was established in 2012 where five library developers from Australia, Vienna, Berlin and Poland visited Aarhus. The visits took place in connection with a pilot test of a new concept for international innovation.
The purpose is to generate possibilities for Aarhus Public Libraries to gain more new and different ideas and competences for our innovation work, enabling us to offer better services for the citizens of Aarhus. Continuous updating of network and partnerships, locally as well as internationally, is also part of the purpose and the project will of course involve the participants in the Dokk1 process.
Network of Nordic Public Libraries held a camp in Oslo in September. Project experiences were presented at the IFLA satellite meeting in Klaipeda in August.