The Community Librarian - the Dutch approach

Over the past years Cubiss has developed the concept of the community librarian along with libraries in the Netherlands. In close cooperation with David Lankes we developed a course for Dutch librarians to be trained as community librarians. About 50 librarians in The Netherlands have taken that course and are working with local communities on many different themes. Here we present a few of the results that came out of this wonderful project. We could not have realized this without the help and support of many librarians and others involved in this project.

Documentaries

Community Library: een zoektocht naar de nieuwe bibliotheek
In een wereld die aan het veranderen is zoekt de bibliotheek naar een nieuwe rol als maatschappelijk-educatieve bibliotheek. Cubiss vroeg aan documentairemaker Joep de Boer om deze zoektocht in beeld te brengen. Het resultaat : twee documentaires. De eerste laat vooral de zoektocht zien. Deel twee is twee jaar later opgenomen. Hier zie je hoe in Brabant, ondanks corona, succesvolle initiatieven zijn ontstaan die passen bij die nieuwe rol en wat dit betekent voor medewerkers.
De documentaires helpen om het verhaal van bibliotheek in transitie te vertellen. Zowel intern, aan de eigen medewerkers. Maar ook extern, aan partners in het maatschappelijk veld en de lokale politiek.

We asked Dutch filmmaker Joep de Boer to produce two documentaires for us. The first documentary was released in 2019 and focuses on the basics of what a community librarian is (or can be) and how they are trained. The second documentary is about the experiences af some Dutch community librarians and how the contribute to their local communities. 

Via YouTube

Community Library: een zoektocht naar de nieuwe bibliotheek

Community Library, with English subtitles

Via Vimeo (For English subtitles, press cc)

 

Roadmap

This Roadmap is a first introduction to the work of the community librarian and serves a collection of tools, insights, methodologies and (limited quantity of available) literature. It’s a day in the life of Sascha, a fictional community librarian, writing about her every day working experiences. Click here for this Roadmap.

 

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Professional profile

This documents the background of the skills and qualifications that define a community librarian. We put this together with practicing community librarians and library managers. Click here for the Professional profile.

If you would like more information, you can contact David Bul.