Udlån af erfaringer

The aim of this paper is to investigate how an increasing fraction of the Danish libraries over the last years has experimented with lending of non-traditional materials. The main purpose is to examine how library staff can develop non-traditional lending initiatives that support a user-to-user exchange of experiences. The paper’s main contribution is the presentation of a model, “Erfaringsudlånsmodellen” (“The model of Experience Lending”), which describes how the cultural communication strategy of co-creation can be combined with the lending of non-traditional materials, which will result in an extension of the library collection that in the future can contain not only the materials, but the patrons’ experiences with the materials as well. A number of Danish and foreign examples of the lending of non-traditional materials are reviewed. Afterwards, two specific Danish alternative lending initiatives are investigated further. These are Valby’s Library’s “FrøLab” (“SeedLab”) and Risskov Library’s “Man Bliver Glad af Surdej!” (“Sourdough makes you happy!”) The lending design of these initiatives is discussed, and it is stated that the initiatives combine knowledge sharing tools with co-creation to facilitate an exchange of experience between users. This lending design is formalized in the model of Experience Lending, which is presented and discussed.