On Wednesday, 21 February, we will be in Edinburgh with Head4Arts to present Betwyll and TwLetteratura to the library community gathered for EMEARC18.
Social reading @ EMEARC18
How can you build a “smarter” library? This is the main topic of the two days of learning and sharing organized by OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) in Edinburgh on 20-21 February for EMEARC18, the annual meeting of its regional council for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
With Head4Arts we were invited to present the TwLetteratura method and, in particular, the project Adventures in Wonderland that involved diverse reading groups in online and offline social reading activities through the network of Blaenau Gwent libraries in Wales. Between May and October 2017, families, elders with mild dementia, lonely people, economically inactive users and adults learning Welsh read and commented on Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland on the app Betwyll. The groups also took part in workshops where writers, animators and illustrators encouraged creative interpretations of the book. All this, in the effort to encourage reading, improve their well-being and tackling isolation.
The project was also studied by Dr. Ellie Byrne from Cardiff University, within a broader research project on cultural participation, whose summary conclusions will be presented in Edinburgh.
Our speech
Kate Strudwick and Pierluigi Vaccaneo will join the panel on Library automation on Wednesday, 21 February – together with Casper Karreman and Ingmar Vroomen from MuziekWeb (the music library of the Netherlands, holding one of the largest collections in Europe) and John McCullough from OCLC. We will discuss about how libraries can make their resources more accessible and increase the engagement of their users and staff. You can join the conversation using the hashtag #OCLCEMEARC18.
OCLC
OCLC is a library cooperative gathering thousands of members from 122 countries worldwide to make information more useful and accessible. It provides technology services, research and community programs, believing that “what is known must be shared”.