GROW! your library

[GROW! yourlibrary] is a development project situated in Risskov Branch Library, Aarhus and supported by the Danish Board of Culture.

The project runs from February 2013 till September 2014.

The target group is youngsters age 14-24. A group rarely found in public libraries and a group that most libraries finds it difficult to connect with.

In this project Risskov Library gives away its garden/outdoor areas to the local youth as a first step towards becoming a user oriented community center.

This project explores how the relations between youngsters and the library can be developed by exploring new arenas and new ways of learning – particularly welcoming young people who learn by doing.

The project has a long list of partners both in the educational field and among actors working with various aspects of sustainability.

[GROW! yourlibrary] is an out-door-maker space for young people. Sustainability is the overall headline.

SUSTAINABILITY understood not only environmentally but also socially and economically.

In pursuit of this headline all the makings in the maker space, must:

Generate Social Capital
Rethink Materials - using recycling and secondhand
Include Hands-on-learning
Everything must be build/made/developed in cooperation with the youngsters

[GROW! yourlibrary] has 4 cornerstones and a sandbox; 4 mandatory ele-ments and an arena for making.

Before I die Wall – communicating on a physical wall, sharing dreams and ambitions for all local community to see
Outdoor Library – shelves outside with materials that can be works of art, novels made by young people
Urban Gardening – the opportunity to explore sustainability through growing your own food in the library garden
Flea market – exploring how to act sustainable as a consumer

Project Organization

Project Owner: Inge Daugaard inda@aarhus.dk

Project Manager: Annette Harlis Thorgård aht@aarhus.dk

Member of Projest Team: Helene Bruhn Schvartzman hsc@aarhus.dk

The Project was supported by:

Danish Agency for Culture

Project Partners

Leisure-time centres and youth clubs in Aarhus North – ’De Nye Unge’

Egå Production College

Studenterhus Aarhus

Risskov Gymnasium

KRAFT