以人为本的可持续发展：丹麦奥尔胡斯公共图书馆馆长访谈

访谈对象：玛丽·奥斯特加德（Marie Oestergaard），丹麦奥尔胡斯公共图书馆和Dokk1馆长。她从2001年开始图书馆职业生涯，2017年起担任现职，负责Dokk1（主图书馆）和18个分馆的监管工作。2005—2015年，玛丽是Dokk1建设项目的负责人。她也是Next Library这一高度互动型国际会议的共同创始人。她广泛参与了世界各地关于图书馆发展、宣传和领导力的国际对话和合作，是PL2030①董事会主席，ALA商业咨询小组的成员，并在丹麦图书馆馆长协会（Danish Association of Library Directors）和丹麦国家数字图书馆协会（Danish National Association of Digital Library）任职。

本刊：新冠疫情对我们的工作和生活都造成了很大的影响，您和您的图书馆是如何应对疫情的挑战的？您觉得新冠疫情是否催化了公共图书馆在某些方面的转型？

玛丽·奥斯特加德：由于新冠疫情的影响，我们关闭了图书馆，这可能是50多年来奥尔胡斯的公共图书馆首次关闭。关闭图书馆在全球的大部分地区都是一件不经常发生的事。因此，我们几乎没有可以遵循的先例。我们每个人都只能居家办公。幸运的是，丹麦的互联网普及率非常高，所以人们还是可以在家里工作并保持联系。

很快我们就意识到，我们需要尝试为市民提供新形式的服务，那就是在线服务和在线活动。在这方面，不论是市民还是我们的工作人员都没有特别的经验。

在奥尔胡斯，我们多年来一直采用设计思维的方法来开发新服务。我们也将这一方法应用到了应对新冠疫情的挑战中——通过原型设计，测试，与市民在线交流获取反馈，最终开发出适合在线访问的新服务。我们尤其关注我们称之为的“关系图书馆”——通过图书馆的活动和项目，在线上帮助人们建立联系并创建社区，尤其是针对那些以前不习惯在线会面或者学习的人。

这一年来，我们为不同的人群开发了许多新的活动和项目：面向孤独的老年群体的、面向年轻人的、以及面向儿童的创客活动等。我们还将现有的一些线下活动转换成了线上的形式，比如作家工作坊、编织小组、阅读小组等。图书馆重新开放之后，其中的许多项目还将继续推出线上服务，因为我们已经看到，与线下活动相比，线上活动可以接触到不一样的目标人群，建立起不同人群间更广泛的连接。另外一些活动会回归到线下，因为我们认为这些活动在线下的效果会更好。我们会继续同步推动这两种活动形式的开发，包括线上线下融合的形式（我的一个同事称之为“物理数字化”）。我们计划在今年6月举办一个大型的文学节——LiteratureXchange——这一项目就将以线上线下相结合的方式进行，在奥尔胡斯举行线下的对话和研讨活动，外国作家以线上的方式参与其中。

在电子书借阅方面，过去一年的借阅量呈现出了飞跃式的增长。丹麦数字公共图书馆协会是丹麦的国家数字图书馆，由多家图书馆共同运作。这意味着无论你身处何处，都可以访问图书馆的电子书和数字资源。在图书馆关闭期间，电子书的借阅量激增，这一点也不奇怪，但更有趣的现象是，在图书馆重新开放后，电子书的借阅数量仍然保持高位。这些数字告诉我们，越来越多的人在继续借阅实体资源的同时已经开始有了借阅数字资源的习惯。很大程度上，COVID-19 成为了人们更广泛接受电子资源的推动力——这是图书馆多年来一直试图在做的事。因此，我们必须重新考虑我们的资源采购预算，确保购买的电子书可以满足用户的需求。

玛丽·奥斯特加德

本刊：丹麦图书馆和信息科学领域的专家曾经引入了一个由灵感空间、学习空间、聚会空间和表演空间四个不同的重叠“空间”组成的模型（见图1），来描述公共图书馆从以收藏为主的空间向更加活跃的体验和灵感空间以及当地交汇点的转变，特别强调了未来图书馆体验、参与、赋能、创新四个方面的目标，您是怎么理解这一模型的？从现在的观点来看，这一模型仍然适用吗？

图1 丹麦图书情报学家设计的公共图书馆理想模型

玛丽·奥斯特加德：我们相信，四个空间的模型仍然具有重要意义。它既是图书馆物理空间建设和服务的指南，也是思考我们如何为公众组织服务、如何围绕这一模型构建自身以及我们的机构需要具备哪些能力的重要工具。它反映了图书馆的品牌建设、能力发展、空间构建和项目设计。最重要的是，它强调了以市民为中心保持图书馆作为一个活跃空间的重要性——人是图书馆的关键组成部分，我们必须确保创造条件并建立框架来支持这一点。

本刊：Dokk1是一座非常有特点的图书馆，曾经获得国际图联2016年度最佳公共图书馆奖，被誉为是“一座真正的未来图书馆”，您觉得在空间设计上，这种未来性主要体现在哪些方面？开放性和多功能性是它最重要的特点之一吗？

玛丽·奥斯特加德：在Dokk1的空间设计中，最重要的一个方面是空间与人融合的尺度问题。图书馆是我们社会中唯一一个可以跨越性别、年龄、政治或宗教信仰、社会背景以及经济地位的非商业空间，我们希望我们的图书馆可以完美地呈现这一点。或许你可以把它想象成一个古老的乡村广场，只是上面有个屋顶。我们相信图书馆是一个民主的空间，它的空间设计和服务应该能够促进社会公平、拥抱多样性并激发凝聚力。为此，我们需要一个高度多元化的空间来满足不同类型的需求，在这里，你可以一个人独处，或者跟其他人聚在一起——甚至这些人是你不认识的。图书馆必须提供这样的空间，它让我们感到足够安全，可以与那些可能与我们持有不同观点的人会面，让我们勇于探索。

空间设计中的人性化尺度很难言述。但我相信，一旦身处一个环境中，你就能感受到那是什么。图书馆空间必须要让人有呼吸和活动的自由。建筑虽然很大，但不能让处于建筑中的人有渺小的感觉。它不应该只是让人敬畏，而要能给人轻松的感受，让人有愿意进来并且长时间待在这里的冲动。

在设计公共图书馆时，我们的首要任务是确保市民知道图书馆是他们的空间，而不是属于图书馆的空间。因此，空间设计必须让市民感到他们可以栖息于此，可以拥有、触摸和使用其中的一切，而不需要征得允许或者担心违反规定。空间设计必须传达空间的意图，易于调整，以方便人们自己使用。

Dokk1开放式的空间设计，建筑内众多不同类型的空间和环境，以及没有使用规则限制的充分自由，不仅可以让人们感到舒适和安全，也使人们更容易对彼此以及对图书馆内发生的事产生好奇。通过这样的方式，人们会更乐于分享、愿意参加和深度参与，从而成为 Dokk1社区情感的一部分。

本刊：在丹麦图书馆的未来规划中，提到要把数字化发展作为重中之重，并且不断地与时俱进。Dokk1在这方面做了哪些工作？未来的重点将会放在哪些方面？

玛丽·奥斯特加德：在Dokk1中，人永远是第一位的。所有技术的使用都是为了让人们能够更好地访问信息、获得个性化体验以及拥有在技术世界中表达自己和把握方向的能力。我认为可以将Dokk1中的技术应用大致分为三类：效率、表达和探索。

在效率方面，我们正在使用多种技术来改善访问并提供自助服务。通过智能馆藏系统、嵌入式导航系统、基于应用程序的图书馆系统和自动化自助服务解决方案，图书馆的所有业务都实现了数字化和自动化。在不违反个人数据保护规则的前提下，不断完善这些解决方案并利用数据来改善用户体验，将会是我们持续关注的重点。

我们正在进一步开发基于丹麦数字公共图书馆协会的电子书借阅平台。下一步是为儿童创建一个平台，在这个平台上，孩子们可以通过应用程序直接访问和当地图书馆处于同一级别水平的电子书和实体书。数字图书馆和实体图书馆之间的无缝链接将会是未来关注的重点。

不论是现在还是未来，表达的数字化呈现都将是一个强大的发展领域。我们需要通过各种技术提高人们在网络上和物理空间中表达自己的可能性。我们正在开发基于新技术的在线公民身份系统，用户可以在同一平台上以数字和物理的方式参与。我们专注于如何将实体图书馆中的体验以无缝的方式在网络上全面呈现。在Dokk1，市民可以访问建筑物周围的屏幕。如果您在Instagram上#Dokk1，您的帖子或图片就会在屏幕上出现。这是一种让人们分享经验的方式。但我们希望能更进一步，让数字参与也有可能影响社会决策，或者成为一种能够提供更多接触彼此的机会并创建小型兴趣社区的方式。

通过数字开发来支持和鼓励探索也是我们投入大量精力的一个领域。这非常具有实验意义，我们勇于尝试使用新的方法将现有技术应用到图书馆领域中，也愿意深入研究那些我们尚不知道会在图书馆环境中产生哪些相关性的新技术。我们看到了这些技术如何成为连接人和人、连接人和知识以及激发好奇心和改变人们行为的工具。例如，当孩子们进入我们的互动学习区游戏时，他们需要彼此间更高的关注度，并且能够在不用语言交流的情况下一起工作；或者我们可以使用增强现实，激发人们对一些影响了他们生活的特定气候问题的关注。好奇心、实验和探索的冲动可以帮助成人，也可以帮助儿童，以他们自己的方式尝试新的发现和体验，并且学习新的技术。我坚信，作为图书馆，我们必须始终坚持对这些技术的开发试验，推动数字化发展，研究如何将它们嵌入并应用在图书馆中，即使它们最初是为其他目的而开发的。

本刊：虚假信息泛滥是当下社会非常严重的一个问题，我们看到Dokk1最近也有在举办“玻璃屋”展览，针对这一问题，您觉得可行的解决方案是什么？公共图书馆应该或者可以做些什么工作？

玛丽·奥斯特加德：我认为加强人们的媒体素养是图书馆目前最重要的任务之一。在我们的社交和职业生活中，大量使用的各种媒体和数据扮演了重要的角色，这要求现代社会中的我们必须理解和掌握算法、虚假信息、数据、监视等，它们影响了我们的选择和信仰。这不仅仅是一个告诉人们这意味着什么的问题——我们必须确保每个人都有能力做出自己知情的选择。让人们免费平等地获取信息和学习是图书馆的一贯宗旨，在提升公众媒体素养方面，我们也应该秉持同样的原则。在Dokk1，我们已经围绕这个主题工作了三年，我们对员工和市民开展培训，使其成为图书馆学习和辩论项目的一部分。在我们开发的“数据民主”项目中，我们尝试了多种方法，使数据和媒体素养成为儿童和成人图书馆服务和活动的一个组成部分。我们还在尝试将媒体素养融入我们的创客活动中，我们正在Dokk1建立IRIS——一个面向儿童的新媒体学习实验室，在那里他们可以学习并掌握多种不同类型的媒体制作方法，并了解其背后的系统。作为大型STEAM 项目（科学、技术、工程、艺术、数学）的一部分，它创新了一种更好的学习和生产技能培训方法。

本刊：丹麦是一个非常重视教育的国家，为人类贡献了不少著名科学家。在丹麦的教育体系中，公共图书馆承担了怎样的角色？公共图书馆应该怎样保持其作为终身学习社区的功能和社会发展的同步？

玛丽·奥斯特加德：图书馆的作用可能因国家/地区而异，这取决于不同的教育制度。在丹麦，图书馆关注非正式教育，并帮助有共同兴趣的人建立联系，以便他们可以互相学习并相互启发。

我们坚持认为图书馆不属于正规教育体系，而是属于基于学习和发展愿望的终身学习体系。它让每个公民都有机会在他们的生活和他们热爱的领域中成长并保持竞争力。有些人来图书馆是为了学习更多特定的知识，但更多的人需要图书馆在更广泛的层面上以一种更有趣的方式来满足他们对知识的好奇心。一个全国性的例子是，丹麦所有图书馆的馆长共同制定了一项战略协议，重点关注儿童的阅读兴趣。孩子们在学校里学习阅读的技能，但所有的研究都表明，学校教育并不足以让他们爱上阅读或者成为一个具有良好阅读能力的人。这就是需要图书馆介入的地方。我们必须更多地关注如何激发孩子们自己的阅读兴趣——这种兴趣与正式的技能或课程无关，而是着眼于唤醒孩子的好奇心和阅读热情。他们想阅读是因为阅读这件事本身很有趣，而不是其他原因。这完全不等同于把孩子们放在一张摆了书的桌子面前，我们需要一些其他的方法。

儿童和成年人并没有什么不同，在所有的这些领域，图书馆都必须研究如何激发他们的好奇心和渴望去学习并探索更多知识的热情。图书馆需要鼓舞人心。

本刊：Dokk1提供有一系列的公民服务，包括信息和指南、健康保险、护照、驾照、婚礼以及为其他数字资助服务提供帮助等，在为弱势群体和多元人群服务方面，Dokk1还有哪些具体举措？

玛丽·奥斯特加德：我们与负责弱势群体事务的市政部门以及奥尔胡斯和丹麦关注弱势群体工作的专业机构建立了牢固的合作伙伴关系。图书馆是服务每个人的，我们知道某些人群在使用图书馆时会存在障碍，所以我们需要打破这些障碍。困难之一是，直接处理某一类弱势人群的服务问题可能会造成给其打上特定烙印的污名化风险。因此，我们始终坚持与优秀的社会机构合作，他们会指导我们如何更好地处理特殊人群的服务问题，并且确保始终将重点放在内容上。我们致力于服务那些孤独的人群——无论是年轻的还是年老的、具有阅读障碍的还是心理脆弱的。当然，我们还要确保我们的图书馆不论在身体上还是心理上都是亲切的、易于接近的。

无论是对弱势人群还是多元人群的关注，我们都希望确保我们的活动和项目可以反映社会的多样性，因为让各类人群都能够被看到是一件意义重大的事。我们相信图书馆应该是一个你可以去了解各种问题的地方，比如精神疾病、结构性种族主义、性别问题等。在这里，你可能会发现其他人正在为和你一样的问题苦苦挣扎，但更重要的是，这是一个安全和包容的环境，在图书馆你可以做自己，并且遇到和你相似的人。

本刊：丹麦是世界上最具有创造力的国家之一，奥尔胡斯公共图书馆可以说也是一个以创新为己任的公共图书馆，创造了非常灵活开放的“next library”会议形式，鼓励图书馆员的互动和知识共享，不断突破边界并做出改变，以支持下一个世纪的学习。您觉得未来图书馆员最重要的素养是什么？我们又应该以怎样的形式来培育面向未来的、更加灵活的图书馆员，建立公共图书馆的未来领导力量？

玛丽·奥斯特加德：这些年来，我们越来越明显地感受到，在像Dokk1这样的公共图书馆工作，更需要的是全面的工作能力，而不是基于某一特定专业的教育。

当然，要成为图书馆需要的人，员工的多样性也是必不可少的。好奇心、开放性、愿意尝试并且不害怕失败等品质，以及对世界的人文主义的态度，是当今图书馆员必备的素质。

在奥尔胡斯，我们在服务、建筑设计以及新理念的开发方面都大量运用了设计思维。要成为一名出色的设计思维者，需要能够倾听、观察、反思和分析，并且要敢于在不确定是否有效的情况下进行尝试。这些可能是你在与人合作或者探索创新时需要拥有的一些最重要的技能。这也意味着图书馆员需要有勇气和好奇心去做决定，并且去做自己想做的事。这同样需要愿意鼓励这种精神的领导层。它要求组织中突破等级观念，有明确的组织文化，在这种文化中，如果你尝试但是失败了，你的领导还是会支持你。这并不像听起来那么容易。但越来越明显的是，做不到这一点，就不会有创新，我们只会因为害怕失败而停滞不前。

员工是我们对图书馆最重要的投资。作为领导者，我们需要能够提供给他们继续发展潜能的机会，考验他们的能力，帮助他们从周围的世界中获得灵感。我们应该始终欢迎比我们更聪明、更有经验或更灵活的员工，并鼓励他们有勇气挑战他们的界限。领导者同样也需要倾听、反思和分析。

本刊：Dokk1中有非常多的艺术品，为什么考虑将这些艺术品放置在公共图书馆空间中？这些艺术品和公共图书馆服务之间是怎样的关系？

玛丽·奥斯特加德：艺术是Dokk1建筑项目的一部分。在丹麦，公共建筑项目必须将1%的建设资金用于公共艺术。在建造过程中，我们举办了三场国际艺术竞赛，与建筑师一起确定了Dokk1中艺术品的放置位置，在这些地方，艺术可以与图书馆的视觉和建筑更好地结合，形成最佳的用户体验。就像我们对图书馆及其建筑抱有的极高期望一样，我们希望Dokk1的艺术品同样具有非凡的品质，能够引发人们的兴趣。我们宁愿拥有三个优秀的艺术品，也不愿拥有100个无关紧要的东西。

所有的艺术品都被放置在“十字路口”，它们让你停下来思考，那些你先入为主的信念或者是你对周围环境的看法，就像图书馆一样。

本刊：“成为奥尔胡斯可持续发展的标杆”是Dokk1的核心价值观之一，您觉得Dokk1成功地做到了这一点吗？在可持续发展方面，公共图书馆还可以做哪些努力？

玛丽·奥斯特加德：在可持续发展方面，我认为我们怎么努力都不为过。我们的建筑本身完全符合环境和社会可持续发展的严格标准（可参见链接中的文件：https://dokk1.dk/sites/default/files/uploaded_files/dokk1_baeredygtighed_a5_6s_web_0.pdf），但建筑和空间设计还不足以成为可持续发展的标杆。

奥尔胡斯图书馆的四年战略是基于联合国可持续发展目标（SDG）制定的。所有主题和举措都与特定的目标相关联。这一战略已经由市议会通过，这为将可持续发展目标纳入奥尔胡斯市其他领域的战略铺平了道路。

2020 年，我们决定将可持续发展目标列入一项为期两年的发展战略倡议。这意味着我们需要深入研究我们的图书馆应该如何与可持续发展目标相融合，如何实施原型设计、设计思维、用户参与、建立网络和合作伙伴关系。我们已经任命了一个涵盖了19家图书馆的大型工作组来开展这方面的工作，以确保我们可以从更广泛的角度关注可持续发展目标，而不仅仅是气候可持续性。气候可持续性当然是必不可少的组成部分，但社会可持续性、教育、平等、健康、信息获取、创新等都将是图书馆发展新服务和新角色的核心。

我们重点关注了三个方面的内容：①我们机构自身可以做些什么来加强可持续发展目标? ②图书馆如何加强社会各界对可持续发展目标的认识?③我们如何成为一个中心，帮助那些希望通过各种行动加强可持续发展目标的人。

为此，我们专门设置了一些实体空间——其中最重要的两个空间是“在图书馆里种植”和“可持续发展目标实验室”。

“在图书馆里种植”以里斯科夫图书馆分馆的社区花园为中心，特别关注可持续性。社区利用了花园的一部分来种植蔬菜，图书馆围绕这一项目为周围的社区提供便利，包括播种、收获等活动。此外，图书馆还开展其他与可持续发展相关的项目，并支持当地倡议。

“可持续发展目标实验室”是Dokk1中的一个大型物理空间，主要是基于第17个可持续发展目标——建立合作关系。在这里，我们尝试跨知识领域和各个部门建立合作网络和伙伴关系，探讨如何在地方、国家和全球层面加强可持续发展目标。它也是图书馆两年战略计划的试验室，既是一个研讨空间，也是一个工具图书馆，还是一个与其他致力于可持续发展目标的人交流会面的中心。

最后，在图书馆的活动和交流中有策略地应用可持续发展目标。作为关注重点之一，我们强调并加强了针对普通公众以及学校和幼儿园儿童的可持续发展目标相关活动。在交流活动中，我们特别强调那些基于这一框架之下的活动，它们通常由我们的合作伙伴单独或和我们共同开展。

以下为访谈的英文原文：

The People-oriented Sustainable Development:An Interview with the Library Director Aarhus Public Libraries and Dokk1

COVID-19 has been seriously impacting our daily work and life, how are you and your library reacting to the challenges coming with the pandemic? What changes have your library made to continue serving the public during the pandemic?

As we closed down our libraries due to the restrictions in connection to the spread of COVID-19 this was the first time in probably more than 50 years that public libraries had been shut down in Aarhus.Thus, there was no script or recipe to follow. And as for many around the world it seemed so unlikely a thing to happen. Everybody was sent home working –luckily Denmark has a very high internet penetration,so people were able to work and connect from home.

Very quickly we realized that we needed to experiment with new ways of doing services and programming online for the citizens – something that neither citizens nor staff had any particular experience with.

In Aarhus we have worked for many years with design thinking when developing new services,and we put this to use in this case too – prototyping and experimenting, talking online to citizens and developing new types of services and formats that could be accessed online. We focused highly on what we called “the relational library” – to see how we might create programs that would connect people and create communities even when it was online, with citizens that were unaccustomed with meeting or learning online before.

Throughout the year we have developed numerous new types of programming for various target groups:lonely elderly, young adults, maker-activities online for kids etc. as well as transformed existing physical formats into digital ones e.g., writer workshops,knitting groups, reading groups etc.). Many of these programs will continue after the libraries have again re-opened, as we have seen that the digital format can reach different target groups and connect different people than programs in the physical library. Other formats will be transformed back to physical ones, as we see it working better in that arena. And we will continue to develop on both types, as well as combined formats with both a physical and a digital component(I heard a colleague name it “phygital” formats). We are right now planning a big literature festival in June– LiteratureXchange – that will draw upon both in the program to include foreign authors digitally in conversations and workshops that take place physically in Aarhus.

In terms of lending of e-books the past year has seen a massive leap in borrowings. In Denmark we have a national digital library – the Danish Digital Public Library Association- that the libraries run together. This means that no matter where you live you have access to e-books and digital material.Borrowing of e-books has exploded during the times the libraries have been closed down, which is of course not surprising, but what is perhaps more interesting is that they numbers have stayed high even after libraries have re-opened. Basically, now we are looking at numbers telling us that more and more people have begun borrowing digital material as well as continued to borrow physical material. In many ways COVID-19 became the digital push that made people embrace e-books on a much broader scale than before – something that libraries have tried to do for many years. As a consequence, we have to re-think our budget for materials to make sure that the selection of e-books satisfies the need.

Danish LIS-scientists introduced a model to describe the transformation of the public library from a passive collection based space to a more active space for experience and inspiration and a local meeting point. The model consists of four different overlapping ‘spaces’: the inspiration space, the learning space, the meeting space and the performative space (see figure 1). What is your point of view about this model? Is it still applicable in nowadays?

We believe that the four-space model is a relevant as ever. It can be a guide for both the physical spaces as well as services, and it is an important reflection tools on how we organize our services for the citizens as well as how we organize ourselves around it and what competences our organization must have. It reflects on both branding, competences, spaces and programming. Most importantly it highlights the continuous importance of insisting on the library being an active space where the citizens are in the center of everything – people are the key component of libraries,and we must ensure that we create opportunities and framework to support that.

As we know Dokk1 is a very distinctive library, won the IFLA Public Library of the Year Award 2016, and recognized as "a true library of the future". Could you please share with us about how the “future” is expressed through the space design? Are openness and versatility the two most significant characteristics?

One of the most important aspects of the space design in Dokk1 is the open integration of spaces and its human scale. We wanted to create a library that reflects that the library is the only place in our society where you meet across gender, age, political or religious belief, social background or financial means, in a noncommercial space. Perhaps it can be seen a little like the old village square, just with a roof on it. We believe that the library is a democratic space that with its space design as well as the services should promote societal equity, embrace diversity and stimulate cohesion. To do so a high level of space plurality is needed – different spaces that meets different types of needs – where you can come alone or come together – or even be together with someone you don’t know. And it must offer spaces where we meet people with opinions and thoughts that might not resemble our own, in an environment that feels safe enough for us to dare to investigate it.

The human scale in space design is much more difficult to describe. But I believe we all feel it when we meet it – or when we meet the opposite. The space design must make you feel that you have space to breath and move freely, and although a building is large it must not make you feel small. It should not fill you with respectful awe – it should make you at ease and fill you with the urge to engage and inhabit.

When designing public libraries our first and foremost job is to make sure that the citizens know that the library is their space. It is not owned by the library. Therefore, space design must make them feel that they can own, inhabit, touch and use everything without being afraid that they break rules or have to ask permission. The space design must communicate the intentions of the spaces as well as make them easily adjustable for people’s own usage.

The open space design of Dokk1 as well as the many different types of spaces and environments in the building and the absence of rules make people feel comfortable and safe, as well as curious towards each other and what goes on in the building. That way they become more inclined to share, participate and engage and by that become part of the community feeling in Dokk1.

It is noted that the digital development would be the top priority in the plan of the library in Denmark and to be kept up with the times. What has Dokk1 done in this regard? What will be your focus in the future?

In Dokk1 people always come first and all usage of technology is about better access, personalized experiences and the ability to express oneself and navigate in a technological world. I believe it might be possible to roughly categorize technology in Dokk1 in three categories: efficiency, expression, and exploration.

When it comes to efficiency, we are using multiple technologies to improve access and self-service.Through Intelligent material systems, embedded wayfinding, app-based library systems and automatized self-service solutions all transactions in the library are digitalized and automated. It is a constant focus to keep making these solutions better and to use data to improve the experience for the users, without breaking the rules of personal data protection.

In the Danish Digital Public Library Association,we are continuously developing our e-book lending platform further. Next step is to develop a new platform for children that will create a universe where children can access both e-books and physical books through the app directly down to a local library level.The seamless connection between the digital and the physical library will be highly prioritized in the future.

Digital development in terms of expression is a strong development area now and will be in the years to come. We need to improve people’s possibilities of expressing themselves online and in the physical spaces through different kinds of technology. We are developing new methods of online citizenship where user involvement and engagement can be done both digitally and physically within the same platform. And we focus on how things experienced in the physical library can have a before- and afterlife online in a seamless way. In Dokk1 citizens can access the screens around the building. If you #Dokk1 on Instagram, your post or picture pops up on the screens. It is a way of letting people share their experiences. But we want to take this further so that digital involvement may also be possible to influence for instance societal decisions or be a way of reaching out towards each other and create smaller communities of interest.

Using digital development to support and encourage exploration is an area that we are spending a lot of energy on as well. This will and must continue to have an experimental aspect, where we dare try new ways of applying known technologies or dive into new types of technology that we do not yet know the relevance of in a library context. We see how this can be a tool to connect people, to connect people and knowledge as well as stimulate curiosity and change behavior. For instance, when children play at our interactive learning floor, they suddenly need to be more attentive to each other and are able to work together without using verbal language, or when using augmented reality, we can stimulate people’s focus on specific climate issues that they want to address in their own lives. The curiousness, experimentation and urge to explore help both adults and children to play their way into new discoveries and experiences. As well as learning about technology. I strongly believe that we as libraries must make sure to always experiment with these kinds of technology and digital development,to investigate how they can be used and embedded in a library context, even if they were developed for something else originally.

The boom of false information is a very serious phenomenon currently. As we know Dokk1 has recently held the "Glass Room Misinformation Edition", what will be the feasible solution to this issue in your opinion? What should be done or could be done by public libraries?

I believe that to strengthen people’s media literacy is one of the library’s most important tasks at the moment. The massive usage of different media and data as well as the role they play in both our social as well as our professional lives demands that we in our current society must both understand and master the way algorithms, misinformation, data and surveillance influence our choices and our beliefs. It is not only a question of teaching people what it means – we need to make sure that everyone is capable of making their own informed choices. This is exactly what the library has always been about in terms of free and equal access to information and learning and it must be the same approach we have towards media literacy. In Dokk1 we have been working for three years with this theme, training both staff and citizens and making it an integrated part of our learning programs and our debates. In our development project “Data-Democracy”we have experimented with ways to make data- and media literacy an integrated part of library services and programming for both children and adults. We are integrating it in our maker-activities, and we are currently building IRIS - a new media learning lab in Dokk1 for children, where they can learn to master many different types of media productions as well as understanding the systems behind it. It creates better learning as well as teach them production skills as part of a massive STEAM initiative (Science, Technology,Engineering, Art, Mathematics).

Denmark is a country that attaches great importance to education and there are many famous Danish scientists in the worldwide. What role does the public library play in the education system of Denmark? How should the public library promote its function as a lifelong learning community and keep up with social development?

The role of the library may differ from country to country depending on the educational system. But in Denmark it is important that the libraries focus on the informal learning and help connect people in communities of interests so that they may learn and get inspired from each other as well.

For us, it is important to insist that libraries are not part of the formal educational system but is about life-long learning based on the desire to learn and evolve. It is about giving every citizen the opportunity to grow and stay competent in their own life in the areas they desire. Some people will come to the library to learn more about something specific, but most people need the library to feed their curiosity for more knowledge perhaps on a broader level and in a more playful manner. A national example is that in Denmark all library directors came together to create a strategic agreement on focusing on children’s urge to read. Children learn the skills to read in school but all research show that this doesn’t necessarily make them good readers or make them want to read. This is where the library steps in. We must focus on how to stimulate children’s own desire to read – a desire that has nothing to do with formal skills or curriculum but instead focuses on awakening the child’s curiosity and pleasure of reading. Something they want to do because it is fun, not because they have to or to become better. And that demands something completely different than placing the child at a table with a book.

Children and adults are not that different – and in all skill sets and arenas the libraries must work with how to stimulate the curiosity and desire to learn more or to investigate further. As libraries we need to be inspirational.

Dokk1 provides a series of citizens' services,including information and guidance, health insurance, passport, driving license, marriage ceremonies and help with digital self-service amongst others, what specific measures does Dokk1 take in terms of serving vulnerable and diverse groups of people?

We have a strong partnership with both other parts of the municipality that works with vulnerable groups as well as partners around the city and country that have this focus. Libraries are for everyone and we know that there are different barriers in using libraries that we need to break down. One of the difficulties is that in order to address a specific vulnerable group directly you risk stigmatizing the people within it.Therefore, we make sure to partner up with good networks that can direct us towards the groups we want to address and make sure that our focus is always on the content. We work dedicatedly with services dealing with loneliness – both among young adults and elderly, with people with dyslexia, with psychologically vulnerable young people and of course make sure that our libraries are accessible both physically and psychologically.

Both in terms of vulnerable groups and when focusing on diversity we ensure that our programming and events reflects the diversity in society, because representation carries enormous weight. We believe that the library must be a place where you can go and learn about for instance mental illnesses, structural racism or gender issues, and perhaps find others struggling with some of the same issues as yourself.But just as importantly a place where you can come and be yourself no matter who you are in a safe and inclusive environment and where you meet or see others that resemble you.

Denmark is one of the most creative countries in the world, and Dokk1 is also a public library reputed for its innovation. You have created a very flexible and open conference form known as"next library", encouraging librarians’ interaction and knowledge sharing, constantly changing and breaking boundaries to support learning in the next century. What is the most important quality of future librarians in your view? How should we training future-oriented and smarter librarians,and build the future leadership for public libraries?

Through the years it has become increasingly clear that the skills needed to work in public libraries like Dokk1 is more directed at competences than anchored in a specific professional education.

But also, that diversity in staff is essential in order to be who we need to be. Qualities like curiousness,openness, willingness to try and fail as well as a general humanistic approach towards the world are essentials in order to navigate in libraries today.

In Aarhus we have worked heavily with design thinking in development of services, buildings, and new ideas. To be a great design thinker you need to be able to listen, watch, reflect and analyze. And you need to dare try something without knowing whether it will work. These are perhaps some of the most important skills you can have both working with people and working with innovation. It also means that staff needs to dare – to have courage and curiosity to make decisions and do things on their own. This demands leadership that are willing to encourage it. It demands an un-hierarchical form of thinking in an organization and an explicit organizational culture where your leader will support you if you experiment, try and fail.This is not as easy as it sounds. But nevertheless, it is becoming more and more clear that without this there will be no innovation, only stagnation because of the fear of failing.

Our staff is the most important investment that we have in libraries and as leaders we need to be able to continue to give them possibilities to grow their potential, test their abilities and get inspiration from the surrounding world. And we should always embrace having staff that are smarter, more experienced or faster than us and have the courage to challenge their own boundaries. Leadership too is about listening,reflecting and analyzing.

There are loads of artworks in Dokk1, how do you decide to place these artworks in the public space? What is the relationship between these artworks and the public library service?

The art in Dokk1 was part of the building project.In Denmark it is decided that in public building projects 1% of the construction money must be used on public art. During the building process we made three different international competitions for art. together with the architects we pointed out the important places in Dokk1 where art could engage with both library vision and architecture and form an even greater user experience. Like the building and the ambition for the library we wanted the art in Dokk1 to have an extraordinary quality that would attract interest in itself. We would rather have three important pieces than 100 insignificant ones.

All the art pieces are placed in “cross-roads”and they force you to stop and think about your preconceived beliefs or about how you perceive the surroundings. Just like a library does.

As developing to be the "Sustainable icon for Aarhus" is one of Dokk1's core values, do you think Dokk1 has successfully realized this value? In terms of sustainable development, what other efforts could public libraries carry out?

I don’t’ believe that we can ever do enough when it comes to sustainability. But we can keep trying. The building itself has been developed with strong standards for both environmental and social sustainability: https://dokk1.dk/sites/default/files/uploaded_files/dokk1_baeredygtighed_a5_6s_web_0.pdf . But the building and space design is of course not enough to continue to be a sustainable icon.

Our four-year strategy for Libraries in Aarhus is based on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals(SDG). All themes and initiatives are attached to specific goals. The four-year strategy has been passed by the city council and has paved the way for how SDGs must be incorporated into strategies in other arenas in the municipality.

In 2020 we decided to specify the SDGs as a twoyear strategic initiative for development. This means a deep dive into how our libraries should work with the SDGs, prototyping, design thinking, user involvement,networks and partnerships. We have appointed a large working group across the 19 libraries to work on this, to ensure that we focus on the SDGs in a broad perspective and not only on climate sustainability.Climate and sustainability will of course be an essential part, but also social sustainability, education,equality, health, information access, innovation and much more will be central to the development of new services and new roles of the library.

We focus on three aspect: a. What can we do in our own institution to strengthen the SDGs? b.How can the libraries strengthen knowledge in our communities about the SDGs? And c. How can we be a hub for and help others who want to strengthen the SDGs through a diversity of initiatives?

We have dedicated a number of physical spaces for this – the two most significant being Grow Your Library and SDGLab.

Grow Your Library – revolves around a commune garden in Risskov Branch Library with a specialized focus on sustainability. The community borrows pieces of the garden and grow their own vegetables,and the library facilitates a community around it, with events around sowing, harvest etc. The library then, in addition, develops programs around sustainability and support local initiatives.

SDGlab is a large appointed a physical space in Dokk1 to work with SDG number 17 – build partnerships. Here we experiment with network and partners across knowledge arenas and sectors on how to strengthen the SDGs on a local, national, and global level. It also functions as a test space for the library’s two-year strategic initiative and is both a workshop space, a tool library and a hub for meeting others working with the SDGs.

Finally, we work strategically with this in our library programming and our communication. As part of our focus, we have highlighted and strengthened activities that evolves around the SDGs for general citizens as well as for schools and kindergartens. We highlight in our communication which activities are developed within this framework – often with or by partners.

注释：

① PL2030 是一个非营利性欧洲组织，旨在将公共图书馆列入欧盟议程并加强国际合作网络建设。