Local Projects

General Report on the Acitivities of the Austrian Pilot-Libraries

Since September 2009 okay.zusammen leben, in cooperation with the libraries of Lustenau and Götzis, is looking into the following issue within the EU-project Libraries for ALL – Intercultural (European Strategy for Multicultural Education - ESME):

How can local libraries contribute to the integration of immigrants and to meaningful interaction across linguistic and cultural divides? Until the summer of 2010 okay.zusammen leben will develop several projects and put them into practice in collaboration with the two pilot libraries and the Advisory Board – Intercultural (including officials in charge of communal integration, as well as protagonists who have a migration background and work with migrants themselves, e.g. by teaching their native language, as interpreters, or cultural activists, etc.). This process generates interculturality itself because migrants bring their planning and realization skills into the individual projects and activities.

okay.zusammen leben therefore acts as a national competence centre for integration issues in Vorarlberg and connects this project with other integration projects and programs throughout the region. In order to link the project internationally, okay.zusammen leben, as the leading partner, cooperates with partner organisations located in three countries of the EU: the ‘Stadtbücherei Frankfurt am Main’ (Germany), the ‘Immigrant-institutet Borås’ (Sweden), and the ‘Multiculturni centrum Praha’ (Czech Republic).

The foundation of the library as an intercultural site is basea on the self-conception that it is not “only” a place that lends books. Moreover, the library also plays an important role in citizens’ access to information. Libraries are open to all citizens but often migrants, as a target group, do not find the supplies to meet their specific needs, because they represent a new social group in our society which is only slowly (but surely) reconsidered as an audience for social and educational institutions.

Taking this insight as an initial point and thinking about the special situation and needs of migrants in Vorarlberg, employees of both libraries, okay.zusammen leben, and members of the Advisory Board started to develop specific supplies. Both migrants and the so-called majority society can benefit from these supplies. In improving access to our supplies, the preparation of a media inventory in the languages of the biggest migrant groups of Vorarlberg plays a decisive role. This inventory is developed by the two libraries in cooperation with those members of the Advisory Board of migrat background. Therefore, an external competence group has been created to compile media lists in the Turkish, the Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, and Spanish languages. The pilot libraries then purchase mediaforeign language materials based on these lists, which at a later date will be made available to other libraries.

In addition to their actual thematic function, other activities, mostly of a temporary nature, have already been realised and should attract migrants’ attention to the new supplies offered by the libraries. Hence, in Autumn 2009 the Götzis library started the “German for breakfast” project with the objective of facilitating the acquisition of the national language to women with a migrant background. The project based around an informal breakfast on the premises of the Götzis library. Numerous women from different nations such as Turkey, Russia, Bolivia, or Chechnya read and talked about German texts after an initial round of introductions and breakfast. Each breakfast meeting has another focus depending on the language level of the women. The texts to be read and discussed are about Vorarlberg, the municipality of Götzis, and the habits and traditions in Vorarlberg. Within the breakfast these women have the opportunity to learn about the peculiarities of their new home and, at the same time, to improve their language skills. Furthermore, since the Autumn break of 2009 the Götzis library offers a Turkish morning reading for children between the ages of 4-6. A native Turkish teacher reads from Turkish picture books and shows the parents the ‘correct’ way of reading to children, taking advantage of the brochure “Sprich mit mir und hör mir zu” (English: Talk to me and listen to me) which was designed by and is available from okay.zusammen leben. A prime example for synergetic effects, as the aim of such projects, is the cooperation of the Götzis library with other institutions, such as SUPRO Vorarlberg (preventatives against addiction – Maria Ebene Foundation). Thus, the result of this collaboration was a presentation and follow-up discussion of the movie Anababa – Me and my family. The short movie has been produced under the supervision of SUPRO and with active participation of Turkish migrant children. Its presentation brought many migrants with Turkish roots to the library where they were shown the new supplies.

The Lustenau library also created and realised some temporary and permanent projects besides establishing media supplies in Turkish, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian. For example, the library’s internet homepage has already been translated into several languages. Multilingualism is one of the main foci among the employees as they are planning to offer at least three multilingual library tours for migrants. The goal is, on the one hand, to show migrants the foreign-language media supplies and, on the other hand, to introduce the target group to the library in general. As the employees of the Lustenau library want to put together a multilingual compilation of highly relevant picture books, translation projects have been taken into account. In doing this, special attention will be given to high quality illustrations, and these picture books will be bilingual. The migrants haven’t disregarded the matter of studying the German language, which is evident when we look at the Lustenau library project of purchasing media supplies in German as a foreign language.

There will also be temporary activities for the benefit of the majority society. Two bilingual evening lectures (one of them in the Götzis library) on Latin American cultures like the Mayas and Aztecs have been realised in German and Spanish. These lectures were planned in cooperation with the association Tierra Madura in Götzis. Tierra Madura is a socio-cultural initiative of Latin Americans and Austrians residing in Vorarlberg that encourages intercultural exchange with Hispanic cultures.

In addition, both libraries designed a multilingual information brochure. The Lustenau library also collaborates with other institutions; specific teamwork has been established with their local secondary school (pupils presented books from Turkey), and with resident integration activists (a project funded by the municipality: Women’s Table in Lustenau for women of Turkish background; previously, it was located in the mosque, but it has moved to the library in order to encourage target audience’s entry into the library). The Women’s Table in Lustenau also invites to talk about different topics.

The strategy of awareness-raising among the target group is bearing fruit already as the following project-feedback that okay.zusammen leben received from the Götzis library shows us:

One afternoon, three persons with Turkish roots – a boy of about 7 and his parents – were standing at the door and curiously but cautiously looking into the library. I approached and welcomed them. The father was apparently relieved and started talking: My son was desperate to come here. He received that slip of paper at school and didn’t stop begging until we came here!


Products of „okay“ to support libraries to offer intercultural services

okay.zusammen leben“ produced three papers of introduction into intercultural library services to support local libraries when building up these offers. They are written in German and can be downloaded from:

http://www.okay-line.at/php/ausgabe/index.php?urlid=3&ebene2_aktiv=1863&ebene3_aktiv=1895&menue_themensort=

Paper 1 informs on intercultural library work in general; paper 2 gives examples of “good practice” from libraries in Europe and the USA. Paper 3 informs on activities of national and international library-associations related to intercultural library services.


Products of „okay“ to support local libraries to offer family-literacy-services for immigrant families

okay.zusammen leben“ produced a wide variety of information materials for parents to help them to support their children´s language development. These products are available in 5 languages to reach parents who are not able to read this information in German and to encourage them to educate their children bilingual. The material is distributed via local libraries. Furthermore “okay” helps libraries to offer specified workshops for immigrant parents to learn how to use the library to support their children`s language development. In this case “okay” functions as “liaison agency” between immigrant parents and local libraries.

http://www.okay-line.at/php/ausgabe/index.php?urlid=3&ebene2_aktiv=1738


Selected Documentation of the Project Activities of the Austrian Pilot-Libraries

Article in the Swiss Paper “SAITEN” on the project “Deutsch zum Frühstück” (German for breakfast”) of the Library Götzis. (German language)

Article of Michaela Hermann (Library Götzis) on the regional project in Austria, published in the journal "Büchereiperspektiven" of the Austrian Association of Libraries. (German language)

Interview with Eva Grabherr, okay.zusammen leben, on the project „Libraries for ALL“ and its cooperation with the Library Lustenau, published in the local newspaper of Lustenau. (German language)

Dornbirn, March 2010