Especially in Scandinavia, but also elsewhere in Europe, we use public money, taxpayers’ money, to run the library. It’s not risky business. If we “go bankrupt”, we will not lose our own money.

The question is: how does this affect the way we produce the library services? If the library were a private - perhaps a startup - company and we’d had to run the business according to that, we would act differently. We would also use the resources differently. What kind of action plans we would make? What kind of work team would we build? How to organize the leadership? Etc.

Format and involvement:

In this interactive session the participants will take a role of the entrepreneur. The task is to make a business plan to the library.

1. The participants go to small groups
2. All the needed material is provided – library buildings, money to run the library business and of course the staff!
3. 30 minutes to do the plan
4. Participants present their company – choosing their own method
5. Evaluation and discussion: what happened to the way we think – did we become more entrepreneur-like

The goal is that this session encourages the unexpected.

We hope that entrepreneur-like thinking turns our brains to other position.

Note: The idea is not to put price tag to our services.

Organizers
Katri Vänttinen, Library Director, Helsinki City Library, Finland

Laura Norris, Head Librarian, Helsinki City Library, Finland

Lotta Muurinen, Service Manager, Helsinki City Library, Finland

Date
Thursday, 13 September, 1:30 pm

Location
Campus, Room G