About
Information about Cycling for libraries event
Cycling for libraries is a politically and economically independent unconference and a bicycle tour. It also supports physical and mental well-being of library professionals, grassroots networking, and internationalism and — last but not least — the crucial role of libraries for the society and for the intellectual and scientific education in general. Cycling for libraries also supports environmental values and ecological way of life.
Cycling for libraries inherits many values from librarianship. Openness, liberalism, access to information, lifelong learning and innovativeness are among these values. Librarianship is also by it’s very nature humanist, internationalist, cross-boundary and concrete.
What is the route and when exactly do you intend to cycle it?
We are cycling from Copenhagen, Denmark to Berlin, Germany in the spring-summer 2011. The tour will take about 10 days. At the moment we have confirmed only the day of the closing seminar, which will be on June 6th in Berlin.
A more detailed timetable and route will be announced during the next few months.
Who is organizing this?
Cycling for libraries is an independent event, not organized by any existing formal organization. It is made possible by a sovereign, international network of library enthusiasts. You can join!
How hard are the daily trips ?
This is understandably a very frequently asked question. The daily stages are approximately 70 km each, so they are reasonable even for inexperienced cyclists, or for simple bikes. However, we recommend that inexperienced cyclists make some 70 km trips before the main event in spring/summer 2011, to get an idea what it feels like. Gather a group of colleagues and try it out 
You can cycle in small or larger groups or even at your own pace. We have reason to expect that some people will race, and that’s fine too. However, the programme will be built around the main group, which will move at relaxed speed. The organizers guarantee that nobody will be left behind.
Who can participate?
Everyone working in libraries or in some way involved with librarianship, and all library lovers are welcome in this event. We hope to see there all of you with an open and optimistic mind towards libraries (and bicycling). We want to hear your say about the development of libraries and how it should be done. If you recognize yourself in the description above, we are happy to invite you to the memorable, first-ever Cycling for libraries unconference!
Should I participate there in work or leisure?
This is an another frequently asked question. We hope that the your employer understands the nature of this professional unconference and gives you the opportunity to participate there in your working time. This is very much professional and also supporting your well-being at work.
We operate with the support and encouragement of a number of different library associations and we share the values of IFLA and EBLIDA. We speak for the openness and cooperation and we want to support non-governmental and non-organizational, i.e. cross-border library expertise and library skills at all levels. It’s great if your employer will support the event, because it gives you the opportunity to keep yourself in good physical condition and keep up to date in the development of the rapidly changing library world at one go! It is certain that you will come back in better shape than you left! Your entire organization will benefit. And bring your colleagues too!
Publicity for your ideas, publicity for libraries
Collect your impressions and broadcast them on the web – An important part of the cycling tour will be the sharing of experiences and thoughts with each other. We intend to make use of the modern communication tools and techniques to let people know about the various events and also mishaps during the journey on-line. Whether you make the trip with old retro style or contemporary manner, whether you cycle effectively or just enjoy the scenery, whether you cycle in a small group or in a big one, we just hope that you will share your impressions with the other participants and push them to our website as well. You can do this with photographs or blog text. The videos are also welcome. We will collect pictures, tweets and other material tagged #cyc4lib on to our website at http://www.cyclingforlibraries.org.
Video production – The cycling tour will also be videoed with small but professional production team all the way from Copenhagen up to Berlin. The team is already very familiar with the library world, and runs a web-TV called Kirjastokaista (the site will soon be published also in English and Swedish). Throughout the journey the team will make interviews of both the participants and other library professionals and also shoot the events of the trip with all its incidents on video tape. The video material will be produced as a documentary movie, which is offered for international television distribution.
Publication – We plan to collect presentations, stories, discussions, anecdotes and photos of the cycling tour together and publish the best of them as a book. The editorial board members will be requested at a later date; all participants are eligible to offer themselves as members to the editorial board of the book. The publication will be either English or multilingual one. However, we strive to make a book which is a bit different from what we are used to see and which then describes best the spirit and nature of our cycling tour. We hope that as many participants as possible will allow the use their images for the publication. Note that the cycling tour organizer does not collect any money by making this publication, its purpose is only to make libraries, their activities and their admirable and proactive approach known as widely as possible.
Maintenance van
A maintenance van accompanies us all the way. It will be carrying your heavy and cumbersome equipment for you, so you can concentrate on cycling and enjoying the tour.
The staff in the van takes responsibility for basic maintenance of bikes and broken tyres and also for injured cyclist during the journey. The van will carry the medical supplies and beverages necessary during the road trip. The maintenance van also has cameras and the technical communication equipment needed to make recordings as well as. The van works as a registration and info point during the trip and is of course a visible marker of our mission.
Meals
The organizer will offer breakfasts and lunches during the road trip and beverages as needed. Dinners and other meals the participants pay themselves. We dream of evening barbecues together.
Accommodation
We’ll offer accommodation to all participants between Copenhagen and Berlin, but not in either of these cities. We also offer shower/washing facilities after cycling. If accommodation will be will be dorm-like, then a sleeping bag or sheets should be enough.
How we are going to manage this is still open and depends on many factors, for example the amount of people who will participate in Cycling for libraries -tour and on the funds we raise. We need help on this, contact us please!
Registration fee
The fee is open so far. We will find out the costs by the turn of the year. Please note, that our aim is to support the participation so that the registration fee would be as low as possible and your attendance as easy as possible! With the invaluable help of our partners and supporters we will ensure the success of the trip. The support will include, apart from accommodation, meals and communication, also variety of activities and events.
Please note, that the tour organizer will not support any of the following things:
- travel tickets of the participants and/or the transporting bicycles from/to Copenhagen and Berlin
- accommodation in Copenhagen and Berlin
- bike rentals
- dinners (except in Berlin 6th of June).
- alcohol (except some in Berlin 6th of June)
What do I need to participate?
Naturally you need a bicycle. It certainly does not need to be a fancy, expensive bike. Even the simplest of bikes is sufficient. First and foremost it must be right for you and your own style, and any style is allowed! However, your bicycle should be in reasonable shape for a journey of 650 kilometers. You will also need some luggage, which we shall list here soon. And if you take photos, remember to take the digital camera with you.
You can ride all the way from Copenhagen to Berlin – and this of course is what we recommend. But you have the opportunity to cycle what ever stages or days you like. Your cycling does not necessarily have to start from Copenhagen, it may start for example from Rostock, or you can bicycle just the part in Denmark.
Transportation of bikes
Unfortunately you need to figure out how to get your bike to the tour and back.
The easiest way could be to bring bikes together with colleagues, either as cargo or in your own car (this is what we will do), but they go well with trains or in a plane, too.
So, bikes can fly as you can read here (http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/travel/flying.htm). More information about European railway companies you will find here: http://railpassenger.uic.asso.fr/usefull.html?lang=english&nompage=usefull.html&fontsize=1 ; take a look also here: http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisure/travel_information/at_the_station/bicycles.jsp.
You can also rent a bike from Denmark or Germany; instructions for renting bikes will be published here later. The Danish and German bicycling associations can help in this.
Note that both Copenhagen and Berlin are absolutely fantastic cities to explore with a bike. We very warmly recommend doing that and enjoying these two very bike-friendly cities while you are there.
Insurance
Note, that you must have travel insurance for the trip. The organizers cannot insure you.
In addition to that, and if you live in Europe, The European Health Insurance Card ensures that you will get the same access to public sector health care (e.g. a doctor, a pharmacy, a hospital or a health care centre) as nationals of the country you are visiting. If you have to receive medical attention in a country that charges for health care, you will be reimbursed either immediately, or after you go home to your own country. The idea is that you are given the care you need to allow you to continue with your stay. The card makes it easier for people from the European Union’s 27 Member States plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland to access health care services during temporary visits abroad. For the European Health Insurance Card check this: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=509&langId=eng.
If you live outside of Europe, find out what your insurance covers in Europe.
Registration (aka the “this is fantastic, count me in!!” -section)
Does this event sound too good to be true? We are all very excited about it too, but hold your horses. The official registration opens in 2011.
Until that, you can show your interest and support on Facebook, where an event called Cycling for libraries Copenhagen-Berlin 2011 has been created. We will let you know when we start accepting proper registrations.
Want to collaborate/support us?
We will soon be looking for partners and sponsors for our journey towards this new kind of library conference. We need financial support to make this possible and also to reduce the costs of participants and thereby ease their attendance. We are expecting a large number of participants. All funds will be used during the tour or soon after it in the post-production of the communication materials as this is a non-profit endeavour. We provide visibility for our partners in the following ways:
- Your company will have a concise presentation of your company’s activities with texts, pictures or with video of your choice on a separate page; the company presentation will be shown in a shorter form on a common compile page
- Your company will be asked to write a greetings to Cycling for libraries tour. The greeting text would desirably include a personal image of your choice. Greetings will be pushed in turn to the front page
- The logo of your company will be seen on every page. Your company logo has a link to your company’s home page
- We have place for your company’s logo also on the maintenance van’s and / or trailer’s sides or back, and it will be then shown up all the way from Copenhagen up to Berlin. The van will be displayed on every day and every stage and your logos will be displayed in an agreed manner. The size of your logo is free. The van and the trailer will increase your company’s visibility in various locations and also on video clips.
- We will inform the local media about our cycling event, the event dates and place of arrivals in advance. We will also pay attention to the local libraries along the way so that we could together as an international library community bring forward things they are concerned or happy about.
- Indication of support will be seen in the television documentary credits
- Indication of support will be seen in the publication
- Visibility of your choice in the opening reception in Copenhagen
- Visibility of your choice in the closing seminar and evening party in Berlin
- Company name and logo on spokecards?
- Plenty of good karma
Please, contact us! We are looking for finacial partners but also societies and associations, who have objectives similar to ours. Partnership doesn’t need to be financial.
We are looking for organizations and people to write greetings, invitations and welcoming words to invite and encourage people to take this challenge of Cycling for libraries. These are free form, personal texts that we are collecting on the website. Contact us, we would love to have your words on the website!
Cycling for libraries contact: Jukka Pennanen, cyclingforlibraries (at) welho.com
– More to come –
Please note that the event organizer reserves the right to change the event information until the registration.
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