The primary goal of our mobility project was to increase staff mobility both internationally and locally. We wanted to encourage our staff to take on new challenges and assignments and give them self-confidence to embrace new ideas and practices. The tasks the 2017 Library Act places on libraries require new skills and ideas. We planned mobilities that acquaint us with new ways to do social inclusion work and teach us to guide and support adult literacy and digital skills. 5,6% of Jyväskylä residents speak something other than Finnish as their first language. Libraries in countries with more immigrants are experienced in providing inclusion and integration services. We hoped to learn from them. We also wanted to strengthen our teaching skills, because library education does not really include didactics. We hope that the new skills, ideas and experiences gained from our Erasmus+ mobility project will be reflected in the design and implementation of the activities of the new cultural centre Jyväskylä is currently planning. On an organisational level we also hoped to start building a European network. On an individual level, we wished that the mobility participants would gain new experiences and form international friendships.
The Jyväskylä City Library started its internationalisation project in order to gain fresh perspectives on library work and to offer its staff the opportunity to acquire new experiences, views and challenges. We chose the theme Inclusive Library - Jyväskylä City Library as a Forum for Civil Society because, according to the new Library Act, one of the tasks of the public library is to promote social and cultural dialogue. We hoped that our mobility project would support our efforts to realize this mission. Jyväskylä is planning a new cultural centre that aims to unite as many different cultural activities as possible under one roof and to develop co-operation between the different actors. Because of that, we chose to visit libraries that are part of a cultural centre or are otherwise in close cooperation with other cultural actors.