LibrarIN joined the LIBER Winter Event 2024, which took place at the University of Maribor in northern Slovenia on 26-27 November 2024. The Winter Event, designed with and for the core LIBER network, is a space for research library practitioners to connect and gain new inspiration for a range of topics and serves as a stimulating forum for the presentation and discussion of work undertaken by LIBER Libraries across Europe.
Engaging Library Practitioners with LibrarIN’s Second Policy Brief
Libraries, including research libraries, have evolved from providing information to users to complex service systems. In this process, libraries have embarked on an innovation journey. Social innovation in libraries are increasingly important trends, but literature is not very helpful to novices looking for the basics and best practices. Aiming to bridge this gap, LibrarIN presents its second policy brief “Boosting and evaluating collaborative innovations in libraries: managerial guidelines and policy implications”.
The LibrarIN workshop “Revolutionising Research Library Services with Collaboration, Social Engagement, and Living Labs — The LibrarIN Guide to Innovation” was carefully designed to engage the LIBER community in discussing the evidence-based guidelines and their policy implications, while ensuring that this important network of library practitioners could provide valuable insights to validate the brief.
Specifically, the workshop took a closer look at the concept of living labs to throw light on the different ways in which libraries can create value for and with their users with an example from the LIBER community of the Digital Humanities Lab of the University of Utrecht.
Speakers at the workshop included Marta Anducas and Marieke Willems from The Lisbon Council, Olivier Hersperger from LIBER and Arja Firet from the Digital Humanities Workspace at the University of Utrecht.
Boosting and evaluating collaborative innovations in research libraries
The workshop was attended by 30+ research library practitioners, from 10 different countries. Attendees represented a variety of roles in libraries, ranging from the head of the library to digital humanities librarian, e-resources manager and international relations.
An overwhelming 88% of the attendees had collaborated with their community to develop new library services. The challenges faced in the process ranged from resources and skills to culture change and senior management buy-in.
Participants were positive about the LibrarIN phased approach for effective collaboration for innovation presented (see figure below), while pushing for more examples from the field.
Couldn’t join the LibrarIN workshop at the LIBER Winter Event 2024? You can find the slides used here.
Stay tuned for the second LibrarIN Policy Brief “Boosting and evaluating collaborative innovations in libraries: managerial guidelines and policy implications”.