"Citizens libraries - libraries for citisens: needs and expectations"

That was the title of Axiell's first Nordic Symposium, which took place the 6th and 7th of September 2007 in Turku in Finland.

The individual Nordic countries are currently discussing the challenges facing libraries today, e.g. Web 2.0, new search engines, digital resources, more and more drive-in patrons who only use the digital library fleetingly and a reduction in the number of loans. In this climate, Axiell considers it interesting to contemplate the issue of the future role of the library from the user’s point of view.

Therefore Axiell took the initiative to this first Nordic Symposum for the biggest public libraries in Denmark, Sweden and Finland, where library managers could participate and share points of views with colleagues and listen to presentations, which would address the topic from two different angles:

• customer satisfaction, the aim being to meet the needs of their customers in new and different ways, and
• what do customers (and possible future customers’) expect and require of the library of the future? 

By adopting the customer’s perspective of library activities, we are able to focus differently on the library’s facilities and services. This is an important aspect of the discussion about the future role of the library.