Live-stream recording from the conference Nordic Libraries Annual 2026. This live-streamed video includes a presentation by Emma Lang Åberg, Department Manager, Public Libraries in Lund, Sweden: “Libraries as Information Points in Times of Crises”.
Lang Åberg presents how Lund’s public libraries and city service center serve as information points in crises, where residents can receive verified information from the municipality in person or through notices that stay visible even when the library is closed. The information points were developed in 2023 together with the municipality’s service center, safety, communication and HR departments, and they are activated by the municipality’s crisis management team. Each of the 12 information points has an activation kit that makes the point visible and guides staff in setting it up, and the network is practiced every year during Sweden’s preparedness week. She shares lessons for other libraries: the mandate must come from municipal leadership, priorities should be agreed in advance, staff need training, and procedures must be practiced. In the Q&A with the moderator, Päivi Jokitalo, she advises libraries to start by finding the right contacts in their municipality, and discusses how a branch library was activated during a flood, whether the library bus can serve as an information point, and how the cooperation has made the libraries more visible.
Nordic Libraries Annual is an annual conference that addresses topical issues in public libraries and library development. NLA 2026 was organized as a webinar on October 27, 2026 by the Finnish Supervisory Agency (LVV) in collaboration with Library Channel (Kirjastokaista).
The theme of the 2026 conference was “Libraries and preparedness”. The conference examined preparedness from different perspectives and from across Europe: what it means for the public and for public libraries, and what examples and experiences already exist within the library sector.
Read more:
All videos from the conference
Live-stream: Mikko Helander and Joonas Nevalainen
Producer: Riitta Taarasti
Produced by Library Channel (Kirjastokaista), 2026
Tags
You are free to share, embed, and show videos from Kirjastokaista (Library Channel). The videos can be used under a Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-SA.
