Das Lern- und Sprachzentrum (The Learning and Language Center)

Self-learning (or autoformation as the French call it) appears to be much more popular in German and French public libraries than in American public libraries.With its recently opened Lern- und Sprach Centrum (Learning and Language Center), the Hamburg library has adopted the Information Commons idea from English and American universities and applied it, including e-learning and chat rooms, to the public library setting.

The library obtains its online courses from Bipmedia, a German/Austrian firm that provides online training to SAP, BMW and other companies. The library asked Bipmedia, which had never worked with libraries, if it could be on its platform, but Bipmedia offered to create a platform for the library to host instead. The library now offers 102 courses in IT, language, economics and other subjects and it has contracted with Bipmedia to sell this service to other libraries. The IT staff promoted the service at the recent Frankfurter Büchmesse, the world's largest book trade fair, where Leipzig and Frankfurt signed on.

The Hamburg library’s eMedia offer includes eBooks, eAudios, eVideos and eMusic, and ePaper (newspapers, journals and magazines), which it obtains from DiViBib GmbH, Wiesbaden, Germany. DiViBib buys the media from the publishers. The Hamburg library and 105 other German libraries, including Bremen, Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich and the Association of Public Libraries in Berlin buy licenses to use the media from the publisher. See http://www.onleihe.net

The ePaper incudes Der Speigel, the German news magazine; four national daily newspapers and Manager Magazin and Wirtschafts Woche, two business magazines. Under terms of its contract, the libraries can eloan Der Spiegel to only one customer at a time only. When I used the temporary Hamburg library card I was given (good for 30 days) to download the 156-page four-color most recent edition of Manager Magazin in pdf format, I was told my loan period was one day, three hours and 13 minutes. For Wirtschafts Woche my loan period was one day three hours and nine minutes.When I requested Der Spiegel, I was put on a waiting list. I received an email a few days later telling me that magazine was available for me to download.

Customers access the Learning and Language Center by clicking the eLEARNING link on the library’s home page. They access the library’s eMedia offering by clicking the emedien link on the home page.


The library’s website tells customers that with the new eLearning platform, Bücherhallen Hamburg is the first German library to give customers this new online offering. It tells them they can enter the world of online learning round the clock by choosing from more than 100 courses, including language, management and computer courses as well as courses to help them pass their European Computer Driver’s License exam. With the new eMedia service, the website says, the Bücherhallen Hamburg together with Stadtbibliotheken in München (Munich),Würzburg und Köln (Cologne) enter a new virtual world where it is possible for customers to choose the eMedia they want and need from a large pool. All they have to do to access this world of eLearning and eMedia is enter their library card number and PIN. The loan period for most eMedia is one week during which they can read or work with it whenever they want, or put it on a USB stick and take it with them to their weekend house. At the end of the week the loan expires and the items is longer be available to them.



Customers learn on the library’s website that to use the eLearning platform or the eMedia they need Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Windows Media Player 9 or higher; Adobe Reader 7.0 or higher; Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher; and Firefox 1.5.0 or higher. They are advised that they will be able to make only limited use of the eMedia with Mac or Linux operating system. It gives a list of MP3 players compatible with the system, and a list of compatible eBook readers, which currently includes only the Sony eBook Reader. (The Kindle is not yet available in Europe; but even if it were, it would not be listed because eBooks for the Kindle have to be purchased from Amazon.) The website also has tutorials customers can follow to learn how to use the eLearning platform and eMedia.

The eMedia offer includes more than 1,000 eBooks, eAudios, eVideos and 4,000 music titles. It can also be search by theme:

Children (207 titles): Adventure and Discovery, Detective and True Crime, Earth and Universe, Fantasy, Friendship & Family, For our Children, History, Religion & Folklore; Horror, Body & Health; Songs & Poetry; Fairytales, Sports, Games & Fun; Animals & Nature, Other;

Young Adult (241titles): Adventure and Excitement; Family, Friendship & Love; Fantasy & Science Fiction; Free Time & Sport; Horror & Mystery; Body & Health; Fairytales; Real Life; Travel, Lands & Cultures; Novels & Experiences; Animals & Nature; Other;

School & Learning (1702 titles): Reference; Work and Study Techniques; Career Choice and Application; Professions; Test Preparation; Other.

Nonfiction & Advice (9621 titles): Education & Study; Beauty & Wellness; Occupation & Career; Computer & Internet; Parenting; Esotericism & Astrology; History, Peoples & Lands; Society; Health; Home & Religion; Hobby & Lifestyle; Information & Documentation; Art, Culture & Media; Music; Practical Advice; Nature and the Cosmos; Pedagogy & Psychology; Politics; Law; Travel & Adventure; Religion & Philosophy; Sport & Fitness; Languages; Environment & Environmental Protection; Consumerism & Finance; Economy & Business; Science & Technology

Fiction & Entertainment (1153 titles): Biography & Memoir; Drama; Essays; True Crime & Thrillers; Verse; Fairytales; Oral Tradition & Humor; Novels & Experience; Science Fiction & Fantasy.

Music (4632 titles): Genre and Epoch.

Reflections

In conversations about libraries in France I often heard the word patrimoin (patrimony), a word with several meanings, one of which is cultural heritage. How frequently the word is used indicates how libraries are viewed in France. More than American libraries, they're seen as protectors, defenders and extenders of the country’s cultural heritage. Their role is to educate, elucidate, elevate.

The emphasis in libraries in the U.S. seems sometimes to be more on entertainment than information. It is important for American libraries to remember that they are essentially cultural institutions and that they have a loftier mission than merely to entertain.

Some conversations turned to discussions about what it means for France to be a republic, what it means to be a citizen of the republic, and what kind of services libraries should provide French citizens.

Citizenship in France, according to the director of the Montreuil library, is viewed as separate and apart from any other status or condition, such as race and religion, and it is from this point of view that the French government has attempted to help immigrants, especially those from France’s overseas departments who are already citizens, to assimilate into French life. In many cases these attempts have not worked, especially among immigrants groups who come from cultures where life is not compartmentalized and where the conditions of a person’s being, including citizenship, race and religion, are not distinct.

In France the need to help immigrants assimilate is becoming more urgent. Until recently most immigrants came from France’s overseas departments and former colonies, but today they come from many more countries around the world. As the debate about immigrants and immigration continues in France and elsewhere in Europe, French librarians are asking themselves what role they and their libraries should play and what programs and services for immigrants they should provide.

French as well as German libraries provide programs about immigration either to contribute to a cultural shift; i.e., help citizens accept immigrants and help immigrants adapt to French or German life, or to meet the immediate, everyday, practical needs of immigrant groups. French and German libraries would like to offer more of these programs, but face obstacles that are very different from those faced by their American counterparts.

After the Second World War, Western European countries set up elaborate social support systems that, in addition to medical care, meet many of the social needs of their citizens. Since their creation, the agencies that provide these services have become institutionalized and entrenched. In their presentations and conversations about programs for immigrants and the unemployed, French and German librarians often mentioned the turf battles they have to fight with these agencies. Despite the help they provide, the Western European social support systems can also be a hindrance.

As there is an upside and a downside to the Western European model, there is an upside and a downside to the United States model. The U.S. has no universal health care, for example; and millions of its citizens are uninsured. But many of the services that are provided by government in Western Europe are provided by private social service agencies in the U.S. When libraries in the U.S. want to provide services to immigrants, the unemployed or other groups, they have a smaller entrenched bureaucracy and fewer turf battles to fight. Even where battles must be waged, often they are fought against opponents who are more accustomed to partnering with organizations like public libraries and private social services agencies and may even be predisposed to working with them.

Despite the difference in obstacles Western European and U.S. libraries face, the dialog between is instructive and beneficial. Each has ideas and offers programs from which the other can benefit.

Bibliothèque Montreuil

Montreuil is a suburb of approximately 100,000 on the eastern edge of Paris. The city has a very diverse population, including the largest population of Malians outside Mali’s capital city of Bamako. Montreuil’s lower housing prices attract many artists, writers and movie directors who can’t afford or do not want to pay the high cost of housing in Paris. Historically the city has had a communist government, but the green party captured city hall two years ago. The city offers many social services, and encourages dialogue between its disparate groups. These are some of the reasons, according to the vice major, Montreuil escaped the riots that wracked many of Paris’s suburbs in 2005.

The decision to create a municipal library in Montreuil “to give the average citizen access to the domain of ideas and the world of literature “was made on May 7, 1875. The library opened in September 1879. It has occupied its current building since November 1974. The library has a central library and three branches. Three annexes, or branches, were opened in 1964, 1970 and 1971.
Generally it costs nothing to join a municipal library in France, but there is an annual fee for borrowing CDs. In Montreuil, the director has removed this fee. Access to the music collection at Montreuil is free.

The director has introduced to keep the Montreuil municipal library relevant to its customers and the way they live today. The Café Literaire is one example. October is an important month for the introduction of new books in France. To coincide with this event, the library’s recent Café Literaire (literary café) gave customers an opportunity to enjoy coffee and refreshments, talk to the librarians about new books and take a “behind the scenes” look at the library.

Another example of the innovations the director has introduced is a publicity campaign the library ran to tell customers about the services available and to encourage them to suggest or request other services. Using full-page announcements under the headline “Un jour de + (one day more)” in Tous Montreuil (All Montreuil), the free weekly newspaper the city government distributes, the campaign told customers, “the library is this. It is this. It is this. Here you will find…” And then it asks, “And why not ….”