The distance between a local library and the European Parliament is huge.
All MEPs have a local public library within their constituencies or that they are aware
of or that they valued or that helped them become the people they are today.
So everybody I think understands the value of the public library but as an organisational
body it's very hard to see.
So you are a physical active manifestation of real public librarians coming to meet MEPs.
We are now in Amsterdam.
It's a sunny day here and we are on our way to Brussels where we will end up on the 26th of June.
Now it's 18th of June.
At the moment we are in the middle of our registration procedure here.
Kind of on schedule and we are now at OBA Amsterdam.
This is our main library of Amsterdam, the public library.
So basically this day we are just staying in Amsterdam, cycling around a little bit
and seeing how the Amsterdam famous bike traffic reacts to 100 librarians.
Hello my name is Paul, I'm from Ireland and I work out some projects for the European Commission
on the Education Programme, hence the rather tenuous link to libraries.
And I'm looking forward to spending time with some people who are clearly passionate about what they do.
And it's going to be a great fun and the weather is fantastic.
So congratulations to the organisers for making it happen.
It's the third time but actually the same feeling as the first year.
So excited, exactly the same, much more excited maybe.
Okay this is the first day here in Amsterdam and as you can see it's quite hot here.
So we just started from OBA and came here to the Royal Tropical Institute.
I'm very looking forward to see what's going to happen.
This morning was a little too busy for me.
And as you can see I'm sweating and running all the day and so far so good.
My name is Dine, I come from the Public Library in Gulbeson, Denmark. I'm a librarian at the adult session.
My expectation is to get new ideas to my library, to network with new people and to have a lot of fun.
The best thing is the nice people here with the same professions as I have.
We went through Amsterdam and the traffic here is I don't know how to put it.
People are crazy on bikes and people walking here and the red light is just not a red light.
It's more like a go, go, go, go.
So this evening we are probably having a shower and going to a kickoff party where we have a lot of fun.
Perhaps drink a cold beer or water and talk to the library staff.
There is nowhere else on earth where you have toxic clouds.
We are in Amsterdam at this moment.
It's morning of Wednesday and today we are riding to Cherveningen or to Den Haag,
running down the coast. The weather forecast is supposed to be really hot.
We are doing 86 kilometers today and looking forward to it.
We are going to Haarlem and they will show us a little station library they call it.
But now we are leaving Amsterdam or on our way to Den Haag.
So today we got up in our hotel in Amsterdam and had breakfast and got our luggage together.
And then as a group we all rode out of Amsterdam.
I think they were happy to see us ride out a little bit.
And then we just arrived at the Haarlem station and are looking at the Haarlem station library.
So after this I think we are going to go have some lunch.
We are going to ride to a beach which I am really excited about because no beach is at home for me.
So it's like a holiday today.
And yeah, we will have some lunch there and then I think we will go see more libraries.
I am from Stockholm, Sweden. I work for the Stockholm Public Library system.
I am a project manager for social media and citizen dialogue.
At the moment I am busy working with a project called Out of the Bubble into locations,
into suburbs of Stockholm where we are doing some deeper work with social media
and to connect with locals.
I think what I like the most apart from the fact that this is about cycling and I love cycling
is that it's an informal way of meeting colleagues and new friends.
It gives you an opportunity to discuss items that you like or that you preoccupy you back home
but in a new setting that is sort of in a way freer and more open to use.
The whole thing of maintaining a conversation on the go is something that I find really intriguing.
We have just arrived to Dutch Parliament and we will have a workshopping thing with local parliaments here
and some library VIPs, local and global library people here.
So we are at Den Haag. This is like the library capital of the world.
So a lot of big organizations have their main offices here if I play that.
We are meeting them now and now, here we go.
We are in the former chamber of the parliament of Den Haag.
So we are discussing the importance of public libraries and copyright and other issues
with the people from the Cycling for Library.
A library is not just a place to return and land books, but it's a place to communicate.
It's a social place. It's a place where people want to be.
Actually, for me, the public library in particular is the place where democracy starts.
Lentil soup is nice. We were indoors for a couple of hours to discuss library issues in a round table manner.
And then after this, we are riding to Delft, which is all our cycling today.
This is the shortest day of the whole trip. It should be only 9 kilometers.
So my name is Molly Schwartz. I'm from Maryland, really close to Washington, D.C.
I just graduated in May from the University of Maryland with a degree in library science.
And this summer, I'm actually taking a little hiatus from libraries.
I'm doing a paid internship at a tech startup company doing user experience,
but it's still very related to digital information.
And then in September, I'm going to start the National Digital Stewardship Residency
at the Library of Congress, and I'll be stationed at the Association of Research Libraries
doing a project on making digital information useful and accessible.
This is my first Cycling for Libraries trip.
I went to the IFLA conference last year in Helsinki,
and I met all of the wonderful Finnish organizers of Cycling for Libraries,
and I saw the documentary from the first year from Copenhagen to Berlin,
and when I saw it, I was just like, I have to do this.
And especially when I found out the route was from Amsterdam to Brussels,
I was so excited, and I was just like, I'm going, no matter what.
It's raining.
It's a rainy day in Delft.
We are running to Rennes today.
No other library visits than ourselves.
We are a big library organization that has existed for three days,
and will exist for four days, and will exist for another few.
It's raining, we're getting soaked today.
It should be beautiful though.
We're going to the countryside in the Netherlands,
and the islands, and it's also mid-summer day today,
so I'm afraid it's going to get a little bit crazy.
We have some people going in the right direction.
We have some people that have a broken bike,
and some that are just trying to stay warm in Copenhagen.
It was rainy and windy, but we made it.
And then when the rain stopped, being on the bike, it dried you right off.
Wet.
Not completely wet.
Wet.
Yeah.
Nice.
Definitely.
Wet and damp.
Typical mid-summer weather, so we're used to it.
And windy.
Yeah, but we're looking forward to some bonfires perhaps tonight,
singing, lots of singing.
Yeah.
It's going to be nice.
So I'm Lara, I live in France,
but I work in Switzerland, in Lausanne exactly,
in a public library,
and I'm in charge of the collection management,
collection, in fact.
So this is my first trip this year,
but two years ago I Googled on the internet
libraries and cycling,
because these are my two passions,
and then I found cycling for libraries.
And that was the first edition,
but I couldn't do it this time.
And this is why this is maybe a proof
that libraries should use the internet
to find some good things.
Bikeleafs of the day.
It's raining, but we're still happy.
Music
It's a bad hair day.
On our way to Bruges,
today we are riding from Renès,
after a hard day yesterday,
and today we will have everything we had yesterday,
except more of everything.
More dikes, more wind, more rain,
more kilometers, more awesome.
That was a midsummer festival.
Yesterday, I don't know much about it,
but sauna was involved.
Yeah, we're all ready to go.
We'll see you then.
Music
Karen, did you go to the sauna yesterday?
Yes.
Can you tell about it?
No, it was really nice.
It was fun, it was warm,
there was a lot of steam,
and yeah, we had a good time there, definitely.
Some vodka, a sauna,
which I did not go in,
but I looked in,
and I think some people were out pretty late,
but they are the ones that feel better today,
because they're all limber and feeling good.
Really hot, really thin.
Very good.
In the manual they say that it takes three people,
but we had about eight at the time,
and always the record is delivered.
Music
My name is David Brightbill.
I come from Tallahassee, Florida.
I work for the Florida Virtual Campus.
It's an organization that supplies library automation
and distance learning services
to the universities and colleges in my state.
I found out about cycling for libraries
from going to an American Library Association convention
and hearing someone speak about it.
The changing role of libraries
and how libraries have become
more like a community center
in the cities of the Netherlands we visited,
and that more is a place for ideas to be exchanged.
Music
Bruges.
Tough day yesterday.
Today we are going to see Bruges Library
and then Austin Library.
Have lunch there, try to find.
Yeah, people are, I would say,
seems to have slept very well.
People are ready to go.
Just yesterday was pretty bad technically.
Not only did we have headwind and, I bet,
maybe 10 range, and we had 11 punctures.
Can you imagine? 11 punctures.
Many questions popping up from the participants.
One question I really appreciate
and that is coming more and more than I hear
is, is there anything I can do to help?
This is really great.
Music
So we are here in Bruges Public Library.
This is a library for Lening Library,
a big public library.
We have this main library here
and 12 branch libraries in other parts of town.
We just saw the library here, which is lovely.
And of course we saw the chocolate factory
right next door,
a homemade family-owned chocolate.
Yeah, so I want to welcome you in Belgium.
Music
So today it's Sunday and we took off from the hostel
and went into Bruges, navigating among all the tourists
and the old houses and stuff.
And we visited the public library in Bruges
and stayed there for a while and then we cycled back
and now we're in Ostkamp visiting another public library
and having some food, some drinks,
and some discussions about culture.
Music
Well, I'm Hilde.
I'm from Belgium.
I work in an academic library in Hengk.
It's called the Media Arts and Design Faculty
and I'm a solo librarian.
So I do all the work myself
and when I tell people, they say,
what? How is it possible?
So here I hope somebody hears me
and sends me a good helper.
This is my third time in cycling for libraries.
The first time I could come
because of my boss at that moment
allowed me to come to cycling for libraries.
And I'm still very lucky that at my work
they see it as a surplus for my work
and they support me for coming here
so I can do it in working time.
And cycling for libraries makes me a better librarian
so I'm happy they see it.
Music
Today is Monday, I think.
And they have 50K from Ghent to Afri-Gem
which is a monastery in south from here.
AMV will be visiting
Ghent Faculty Library Book Tower
and also the place they are building
a new public library in Ghent
and after that in the afternoon
we will be cycling towards Afri-Gem
and we'll be having a night there.
Music
We are at the public library of Ghent
and for me that's a very touching experience
because I have worked for more than 30 years
for the public library of Ghent
seven last years of my career as a director.
So this library is functioning over here from 88
but now there are plans for building a new library
just in the neighborhood over here
it will be a combination of a public library
and a center of new media.
Music
Cycling in libraries
Music
Now we are at the book tower
and we climb 20 floors
and we are at the top of it.
So we are enjoying the view
enjoying the discussions
hearing about their move
they're also moving
and then we're getting ready
for our next stop later in the day.
Music
I'm Maria Shimunovic, I come from Croatia, Zagreb
and I'm a librarian also.
I found out about cycling for libraries
through the internet, through the social networks
last year and then it was during the period
of when you applied for the cycling
and it was too late for me to apply
and it was too far away from Croatia
and then I said to myself,
okay, I will do it next year
and here I am
and it was very nice experience for me
because I made a lot of good librarians
and I found out that the people
who had a lot of ideas
they accomplishing it
by just sending the email
and it was very inspiring for me.
So I took a lot of energy from these people
and I have one year to make something
we will see what.
The best thing is cycling for libraries
is cycling and lots of librarians
who likes similar things that I like also
and that would be it.
Nice weather maybe.
Music
Okay, it's the last day of the tour.
Not really.
We will arrive to Brussels today
a day that everybody has been waiting for
and I have been looking for these issues
the whole week and now I finally find them.
I guess that's it.
Sun is shining, it's good.
After all we have had wind and rain and cold
and finally sun is approaching Brussels.
We are now in the African Abbey.
We will end up to Krossenmarkt
I hope at five o'clock p.m.
and after that we will go and have fun.
Music
Duckling for Libraries has come to Aster.
Our last library visit outside Brussels.
From here on we are escorted by
the local cyclists association
and they are taking good care of us.
We will ride in a car escort from here on.
Typically we just escort ourselves.
I have a little bit of prejudice
towards this traffic culture
and I don't think that we are used to
big groups of cyclists but we will teach them.
We learn many things from librarians.
Music
Music
Yes, we are in Brussels and we just arrived
to the Krossenmarkt central square here.
Here we have a hundred beautiful, beautiful librarians
and library lovers who bicycle all the way from Amsterdam
to Brussels only because of their personal enthusiasm
and their love for libraries and everything that libraries represents.
It's great to be here. The sun is shining together.
We made a group effort to go around the world.
Hundred people, forty hundred kilometers each
that's around the world. It's fantastic.
It's a group effort. So happy to be here.
After eight days of hard cycling in the wind
and rain and cold but I think everything is fine now.
Laughter
What can we say?
Music
Hello, I'm Ansi from Finland.
We've just arrived to Brussels from Amsterdam
and this is, yeah, the next question would be
what's best in cycling for libraries
and the best thing is arriving here.
It's the networking, the people to get to know new places.
It's all, everything is summed up in arriving here right now.
We just had like an hour ago our last library visit
and now we're celebrating our great journey here.
Music
Music
I would like to congratulate all the libraries
and all the participants who took part of this beautiful race
and I'm very happy that you are here in Brussels.
So welcome.
Public libraries are very invisible.
They do fantastic work at the local level in Europe
and they, in fact, we now know that they address
many of the objectives and aims of the European Parliament
and the Commission that they are trying to achieve
across the whole of the European population.
We now know that those things are happening in the public library
but it's invisible.
It's very hard for people here in Brussels at the commission level,
above the nation level to really see the benefit
of public libraries at the lake level.
So we have done research across the whole of Europe
which now shows that there is a direct link between what happens
in public libraries and what the European Commission wants
to achieve for the European economy and for social benefit
for European citizens.
So what are we doing here today?
Well, 100 public librarians from across Europe and beyond
have cycled from Amsterdam here to the European Parliament today
and they've arrived to meet MEPs, to tell them
and to help them understand what the benefits
of the public library are.
And it's about dispelling myths and rumours about
what a public librarian is that they've cycled many miles
across Europe to come and deliver their message
and the MEPs are really excited and are really listening
and they've invited them into the European Parliamentary Library
and then they are hosting them at a dinner tonight.
So I think this is the most exciting piece of public librarianship
at the European Parliament that there has been
and this is the start of a great campaign.
And that campaign is getting the European Parliament
and European Parliamentarians, MEPs to sign up to a statement
that values public libraries and tells the European Commission
that they too should value public libraries.
So we have 10 MEPs today who have signed a declaration
and now a campaign starts.
So as the cycling finishes, our work starts
at permitting public libraries here in the European Parliament.
If you're looking for the European Member States
and the European Parliament itself,
it seems to me that when we have the financial crisis at the moment,
the first thing where we cut is the culture and education.
And we can't build the good future if we cut those things
because they are most essential when we think about the future
and when we think about the sustainable growth
and growth which is based off the knowledge.
And I think it's good signal also for the decision makers
to show that, hey, think about it.
What is the most important thing and what is the basic things,
what we have to save and what we have to keep?
So I think it's absolutely vital.
I think it will create great interest.
And MEPs will want to know who the cyclists were
that visited the European Parliament today.
The cycling for libraries concludes now here
at the European Parliament in Brussels
and we're meeting MEPs and press.
And after this is the end of my holidays
and I will go back to work on Monday
to see the records in alphabetical order
and serve the front desk.
See you there.
Cycling for Libraries!
Transcription by ESO, Translation by —
