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Staff-Less Libraries
Innovative Staff Design
Carl Gustav Johannsen
Royal School of Library and Information Science
University of Copenhagen
Denmark
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List of Figures
Figure 1.1 Literature on Open Libraries 2016 unit: articles—N = 62. Library and
Information Science Abstracts (LISA), August 16, 2016. 3
Figure 2.1 Open public libraries—Denmark 2009–2016. 53
Picture 3.1 Open library elements. 72
Figure 4.1 Langeland 2013–2016—visitors broken down by gender N = 111,905. 120
Figure 4.2 Visitors by age—Langeland and Jægersborg. 121
Figure 4.3 Visitors per year 2000–2015 Langeland and Jægersborg. 122
Figure 4.4 Logins (unstaffed) and visit (staffed) 2010–2015 in six Danish open
libraries percentages. 131
Figure 4.5 Dybbøl library 2013–2015 logins and loans during unstaffed hours. 134
List of Tables
Table 1.1 LISA Records About Self-Service Libraries 4
Table 1.2 LISTA Records About Self-Service Libraries 5
Table 2.1 Open Libraries in Seven Countries 50
Table 2.2 Staffed and Unstaffed Opening Hours per Week in 76 Open Public
Libraries in 2011 in Denmark—Unit: Hours per Week 53
Table 2.3 Staffed and Unstaffed Weekly Opening Hours (2015), Sweden 61
Table 4.1 Cordura Open Libraries and Logins in Denmark, Norway and
Sweden 2014–2015 123
Table 4.2 Open Library Users, Denmark 2011 Age, n = 49.000 Open
Library Visits 125
Table 4.3 Staff-Less Libraries, Denmark, Visits per Hours During Unstaffed
and Staffed Opening Hours, 2011, N = 34 130
Table 4.4 Staff-Less Libraries, Denmark, Loans per Hour and Total, During
Unstaffed and Staffed Opening Hours, 2010/2011—Top 10, N = 10 133
Table 4.5 Staff-Less Libraries, Denmark, Logins per Unstaffed Hour and Balance
Between Staffed and Unstaffed Opening Hours, 2011 − N = 10 135
Table 4.6 Staff-Less Libraries, Denmark, Loans per Hour and Balance Between
Staffed and Unstaffed Opening Hours, 2011, N = 7 136
Table 4.7 Staff-Less Libraries, Denmark, Yearly Number of Loans
(in Thousands)—Before and After Establishment of an Open Library,
Libraries With Growth, Top 10, Only Libraries With More Than 2%
Yearly Growth 137
Table 4.8 Staff-Less Libraries, Denmark, Yearly Number of Loans (in Thousands),
Before and After Establishment of an Open Library, Top 6 Libraries With
Decreasing Number of Loans 138
List of Boxes
Box 1.1 Staff-Less Libraries on the Island, Bornholm, Denmark: A Case 12
Box 1.2 Purposes of Offering Open Library—Gladsaxe Libraries
(Denmark)—Case 14
Box 1.3 Giving Libraries Back to the Users—Hareskov Library
(Denmark)—Case 20
Box 2.1 Gjern 2004—The World’s First Open Library—Case 52
Box 3.1 An Ongoing Research Project on Open Libraries 81
Box 3.2 The City of Vantaa and Its Libraries (Finland)—Case 85
Box 3.3 Spydeberg Public Library (Norway)—Case 86
Box 3.4 Cross-Party Support in Peterborough, UK—Case 106
Box 4.1 Open Libraries in the City of Copenhagen—Case 115
Box 4.2 Library on the Doorstep, Lyngby-Taarbæk Case (Denmark) Case 117
Box 4.3 Gladsaxe Libraries (Denmark)—Case 133
Box 4.4 Typical Worries Before Installing an Open Library, Gladsaxe
Libraries (Denmark), Case 139
Box 4.5 No Major Issues in Peterborough (United Kingdom)—Case 140
Box 4.6 Sønderborg Libraries (Denmark)—Case 142
Acknowledgments
This book is very much a product of the stimulating and open intellectual environ-
ment of the Royal School of Library and Information Science at the University of
Copenhagen where I have been privileged to work for many years. Among my many
remarkable colleagues who have contributed, directly or indirectly, with inspiration
or comments, I will especially thank Dorte Skot-Hansen, Vice-Director, Hans Dam
Christensen, Henrik Jochumsen, Lennart Bjørneborn, Nan Dahlkild, Nanna Kann-
Rasmussen, and my Swedish, Ph.D., student, Lisa Engström. The staff of the univer-
sity library and especially Karen Margrethe Ørnstrup and Lisbeth Rasmussen have
also delivered valuable inputs and guidance.
I would also like to thank members of my national network of library profession-
als and researchers for their valuable contributions: professor Gunnar Lind Haase
Svendsen, Hellen Niegaard, Jens Thorhauge, and Jonna Holmgaard Larsen and
special thanks for contributions to Carsten Nicolaisen, Sønderborg, Finn Petersen,
Copenhagen, Gitte Fisker, Aalborg, Hanne M. Sørensen, Sønderborg, Jon Madsen,
Bornholm, Kirsten Boelt, Aalborg, Martin Lundsgaard-Leth, Ikast-Brande, Mogens
Larsen, Silkeborg, and Pia Henriette Friis, Kolding.
Besides, a number of professionals and researchers from different countries have
contributed: Andreas Vårheim, Norway, Ane Landøy, Norway, Annelie Krell, Sweden,
Cecilia Ranemo, Sweden, Claudia Knauer, Germany, Ibi Engsby, Norway, Kristiina
Kontainen, Finland, Kristina Elding, Sweden, Leikny Haga Indergaard, Norway, Lisa
Roberts, Peterborough, UK, Marit-Gro Berge, Norway, Mikko Vainio, Finland, Sven
Arne Tinnesand, Norway, and Svanhild Aabø, Norway.
I would also like to thank leaders and staff from the two, recently merged, library
software companies Bibliotheca and Cordura for their invaluable inputs, data, and
contributions: Anja Høyer Bæk, Aarhus, Lau Rasmussen, Aarhus, Richard Stewart,
UK, and Sven Mønsted Hilm, Copenhagen.
For continuing interest in the project and valuable support, I would like to thank the
publisher, Elsevier, and especially George Knott, Poulouse Joseph and Tessa de Roo.
Book projects cannot be completed without sacrifices on the home front. Here I
would like to thank the following people for their patience and support: my grand-
child, Clara, my son Anders who recently has moved to Cambridge, my daughter
Rikke, and my girlfriend Gitte.
Østerbro, Copenhagen, Denmark
October 2016
Introduction 1
Purpose
The purpose of this book is to present and illuminate both the challenges and the bene-
fits associated with a quite new type of public library: the staff-less or the open library
or the unstaffed library. The terms “staff-less” and “open” will be used synonymously
from now on.
The first open library was opened in Denmark in 2004 and since 2010, the staff-less
model has spread in Denmark and to the other Nordic countries and to other coun-
tries in Europe, such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. At the same time,
the model has also emerged in several Far Eastern countries such as China, Japan,
Singapore, and Taiwan.
Staff-less libraries are found both among academic and public libraries. However,
there are many differences on how they work, their opening hours, and the like; also
the contexts associated with the two library types are quite different. Therefore, this
book will, primarily, focus on the staff-less public libraries. However, when interest-
ing parallels can be drawn, relevant academic library experiences will be referred to
also. For example, because the interest for late-night access to the library seems to be
quite different among academic and public library users (Lawrence & Weber, 2012),
the causes of such remarkable differences will be dealt with.
Since about 2004 the open library type has evolved in many countries, especially,
in the Nordic countries in Europe. Experiences with unstaffed public library services
from many countries will be dealt with. However, the book, in particular, will focus on
the following seven selected countries:
• Denmark
• Finland
• Norway
• Sweden
• Germany
• United Kingdom
• United States
These countries have, however, not been chosen because they were the only coun-
tries where the open library concept has been tested. Asian countries such as China,
Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan have already been mentioned as early adopters of
the necessary radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in public libraries.
Therefore, it has been a combination of languages available for the author and coun-
tries with relevant experiences that has determined the selection. For example, the
Dutch experiences have been omitted because of language difficulties.
Although many users, local politicians, national library authorities, and library lead-
ers and staff members have welcomed the open libraries, resistance and critique have
Staff-Less Libraries. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-101923-8.00001-0
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 Staff-Less Libraries
also been submitted by professionals, certain associations, and even by some users. This
important aspect is clearly mirrored in the subtitle of this book: Navigating the Innovative
Staffing Design, where I hope that the facts and reasons presented during the following
pages will contribute to constructive dialogs in the libraries and wherever else the open
library issue is discussed to facilitate the navigation toward innovative staffing designs.
Definitions
The definition of the term also demands attention, whereas the risk of misunderstand-
ings is at hand. As far as possible, the specific term used in the country in question
will also be used in the book. In Sweden and in Norway, for example, the term “more
opened” instead of “staff-less” or “open” is frequently used. Also in Denmark, staff-
less libraries are more often referred to as “open libraries” than as “staff-less” or
“unstaffed” libraries. Such preferences have something to do with the negative conno-
tations associated with terms such as “unstaffed” and “staff-less.”
Because, however, all the applied terms “staff-less,” “open,” “more-opened,”
and “unstaffed” library, immediately, could appear somewhat misleading, a further,
more elaborated, definition seems to be necessary. Below, however, the four terms,
will, more or less, be used synonymously. As it will emerge from the next chapter or
Chapter 2, a fifth term, “self-service,” however, will be avoided or handled with care
because it indicates a somewhat different status compared to the terms “open,” “more-
opened,” “staff-less,” and “unstaffed.” Also, in the business world, for example, most
“self-service” super markets are not “staff-less” at all.
What Is an Open Library?
What is an open or more-opened or staff-less or unstaffed library? Is it, for example, the
same as a self-service library? It is certainly not the same. But why is it not the same?
Because the latter question is more complex than immediately thought, it cannot be
answered fully by a straight “yes” or “no.” To consider the question about choosing a
proper terminology, I will start the discussion by using a small bibliographic exercise
to show the character of the existing ambiguities and the complexities of the issue.
Open Libraries in Bibliographic Databases
In online databases, especially the ones prepared by professional librarians, you usually
expect to find well-defined and precisely controlled keywords concerning the important
concepts. Let us take a look at such a professional database and consider if that is also
valid for the conceptual framework around terms such as “staff-less” or “open” libraries.
Library and Information Science Abstracts
If you make an online search in Library and Information Science Abstract (LISA),
one of the main databases of the library profession, you would get 65 hits if your
Introduction 3
(cid:1005)(cid:1010)
(cid:1005)(cid:1008)
(cid:24)(cid:28)(cid:69)(cid:68)(cid:4)(cid:90)(cid:60)
(cid:1005)(cid:1006)
(cid:104)(cid:94)(cid:4)
(cid:1005)(cid:1004)
(cid:69)(cid:28)(cid:100)(cid:44)(cid:28)(cid:90)(cid:62)(cid:4)(cid:69)(cid:24)(cid:94)
(cid:1012)
(cid:104)(cid:60)
(cid:1010)
(cid:39)(cid:28)(cid:90)(cid:68)(cid:4)(cid:69)(cid:122)
(cid:1008) (cid:100)(cid:4)(cid:47)(cid:116)(cid:4)(cid:69)
(cid:1006) (cid:75)(cid:100)(cid:44)(cid:28)(cid:90)(cid:94)
(cid:1004)
(cid:94)(cid:28)(cid:62)(cid:38)(cid:882)(cid:94)(cid:28)(cid:90)(cid:115)(cid:47)(cid:18)(cid:28) (cid:75)(cid:87)(cid:28)(cid:69)(cid:3)(cid:62)(cid:47)(cid:17)(cid:90)(cid:4)(cid:90)(cid:122)(cid:856)
Figure 1.1 Literature on Open Libraries 2016 unit: articles—N = 62.
Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA), August 16, 2016.
search was made on August 16, 2016. My point here, however, is that most of those
65 records, actually, do not deal with the same topic as this book. The database search
was made by applying the available two controlled search terms:
• “self service” AND “public libraries.”
The controlled term, “self service,” has been used by LISA since, at least, the
beginning of the 1980s.
Apart from three obviously irrelevant hits, the remaining 62 records deal with pub-
lic library experiences in 17 different countries in Europe, Asia, and America as shown
in Fig. 1.1. The decision whether an article was about self-serviced or about staff-less
practices was mostly based on the title or the abstract.
We will now take a closer look at some of the retrieved records. An article such
as, for example, Pamela Smith’s “Self-Check: A Lesson in Mistaken Assumptions”
(2008) about self-check machines in libraries in New Hampshire is considered to be
nonrelevant because, based on the abstract, it is clear that the libraries in question are
staffed. Indeed, automated self-delivery and self-checkout of library materials were
already started in the 1990s when clerical functions associated with delivery and loan
began to be automated. Many articles from different countries on automated delivery
or checkout system where the “self-service” keyword has been applied are mentioned
in Table 1.1:
Apparently, articles published before 2004, when the first modern open library
appeared, are nonrelevant in the present open library context. The relevance of the
post-2004 titles here is determined based on the abstracts.
Borderline Cases
A more problematic open library relevance occurs in texts such as Pamela Karl’s
article (2011) on the collaboration between Boopsie, Inc., and Cuyahoga County
