Libraries

The classroom is not the only place where learning occurs. To be successful in today's information society, people need access to individual educational options that suit the diverse learning needs we encounter throughout an entire lifetime.

One place that reflects the diversity of human knowledge exceptionally well is the library. Patrons can find a wide variety of media, along with competent advice at the reference desk. The library is the first place to turn for information, learning, continuing education and entertainment.

How should libraries evolve and function so they can effectively enhance local educational offerings? Where should they position themselves in the universe of global information exchange and regional educational opportunities? Bertelsmann Stiftung projects have been tackling these issues at home and abroad for more than two decades.

Focus areas

Model libraries

In the beginning, there was the Gütersloh pilot library. It wasn't designed to be huge or ornate, but, as Reinhard Mohn expressed it, to have "a high rate of use at a low level of cost." Subsequently, the same model was used for the Biblioteca Can Torró in Alcúdia on the island of Majorca and the Mubarak Public Library in Cairo, as well as libraries in Bochum and Dresden. Customer orientation was the main focus for these institutions as well. Additional model libraries have also been established in Poland, in the cities of Olsztyn and Wroclaw.

Online continuing education programs

For the Bertelsmann Stiftung, investing in people is both a responsibility and part of its overall mission, since it is always people who develop novel approaches, take advantage of the opportunities at hand and, ultimately, make an organization successful. Managers and staff members are the ones who turn a library into a learning center for its patrons. They create value added for the community and for user groups, helping to focus the attention of both citizens and sponsors on the library itself.

Library comparison

Initiating change is not always easy. As local-level service providers, libraries have long faced the challenge of responding to the permanently changing needs of their customers -- a situation often made all the more difficult by limited financial resources. To meet this challenge, they have to effectively communicate their mandate on a number of levels, including within their own organizational structures.

Fundación Bertelsmann Library Program

The Fundación Bertelsmann, a subsidiary of the Bertelsmann Stiftung, has been working on a number of library projects in Spain since 1995.

Libraries	Model libraries Mubarak Public Library Biblioteki dla mlodych klientówGütersloh Public LibraryModel libraries for young people in PolandModel libraries for young people in Spain
Library comparison	Online continuing education programs