I spent the day with the Shanachies – a pair of librarians from DOK (the library concept centre) in Delft in the Netherlands. Their mission is to “make stories, tell stories, keep stories”.

Here’s the groovy trailer made by Robin Slierendreg for their Downunder Tour:

ShanachieTour Down Under: Trailer from Jaap van de Geer on Vimeo.

I learned a lot from them.  Mainly about library staff thinking creatively, forming partnerships and just getting on and doing what needs to be done. I hope to mention more about some of their initiatives after I see their 4 hour workshop at the State Library of Western Australia tomorrow.

Right now, I’m utterly exhausted and slightly sunburnt, so goodness knows what they are feeling after travelling over 24 hours by plane yesterday to get here.

We tried to find five things that a librarian could do on their day off in Perth.

They were:

1. Visit Kings Park

2. Go shopping

3. Visit Curtin University Library’s iZone

4. March in a parade dressed as a story book character

5. Sit on the beach and think up new names for a library