LibrarIN’s Stakeholder Panel is an assembly of experts that are passionate about library innovation. Together, they bring a wealth of knowledge in LibrarIN’s research topics, such as digital transformation, social entrepreneurship, innovation networks and living labs. Comprising 35 members from 19 European countries, the Panel reflects the diverse landscape of libraries across Europe, as it includes representatives from national, academic, municipal, and community libraries, as well as policymakers, international library organizations, academia, and civil society.
The Mission of the Stakeholder Panel
The core mission of the Stakeholder Panel is to facilitate knowledge exchange with LibrarIN’s researchers. The Panel serves as a valuable real-world sounding board for LibrarIN’s work, providing insights into the current developments in libraries across Europe. By incorporating practical, experience-driven feedback, the Panel enhances the relevance and sustainability of LibrarIN’s research outcomes and policy recommendations.
Progress So Far
Since its introduction in the spring of 2023, the Stakeholder Panel has held four meetings. An online introductory meeting in September 2023 was followed by a full-day in-person meeting in Amsterdam in October 2023. This spring, the panel convened for two online sessions.
On May 8th, 2024, a lively co-creation session on LibrarIN’s Policy Tracker was conducted, using a Miro board in breakout groups for collaborative brainstorming. The library policy tracker (a.k.a. dashboard) will track the extent to which EU-level recommendations and policies are being applied by selected EU member states/ associated states in their own legislation/policies/strategies. To that end, the tracker will transform the most recent policy documents into trackable operational checklists based on Y/N indicators that are in line with the LibrarIN research area. This workshop introduced the policy indicators for our dashboard, refining and validating the ideas for dimensions and indicators, gathering feedback on the relevance of these dimensions in various contexts, and understanding who will use the dashboard and how it will be applied locally.
The most recent meeting, held on June 3rd, 2024, introduced working groups as a strategy for co-creation. These groups offer panel members and researchers a platform to communicate and collaborate more directly on specific research themes within the LibrarIN project. During this session, breakout groups discussed topics such as Digital Innovation, Social Innovation and Living Labs, library surveys, library policy, and use cases. These discussions brought about a wealth of ideas and inspiration for the working groups on these research themes and that are to be initiated after the summer.
Looking Ahead
We are looking forward to our next full-day meeting in Vienna on November 8th, 2024. This session will combine a Stakeholder Panel meeting with a co-creation session focused on use cases. Stay tuned for more updates on the Stakeholder Panel and its working groups in the coming months!