Session

Come and learn how to promote and support democracy in your own library. No prior experience with participatory methods or democracy work is required. Walk through a range of design methods and try one out when you’re back home. Share your experiments virtually after NEXT Library with fellow attendees if you like; or perhaps just add to your personal skill set of a Library Democracy Ninja and never tell anyone.

Maximum capacity: 32 people

Hosts

Marjo Hietikko, Laura Hekkala-Vatula & Lepe Parviainen

Marjo Hietikko is a project planner at Tampere City Library. She is leading a 2022-23 democracy project, modestly titled The Stronghold of Democracy. History is the first, middle and last love of hers. Library and information science comes a close second and especially teaching media literacy and source evaluation. Museums, art history, archaeology, nature and people who understand your freaky interests are all you need to be nourished.

Laura Hekkala-Vatula is a head of department at Jyväskylä City Library. She really believes that libraries could be the best places in the world for everyone, but she knows that we librarians have a lot to do so that everybody feels welcome in libraries. She is a softie and there are times when she can’t listen to music because emotions hit too hard.

Lepe Parviainen is a planning officer at Tampere City Library and co-author of a library service development handbook. She converted from user experience research and product design to library service development. She loves co-creation, tinkering with data and experimentation. She likes to unwind with some David Lynch followed by a long run in a dark forest.