Cardiff – Online library

A range of digital resources are available from Cardiff Hubs & Libraries Service for people to enjoy at home during the corona lockdown.  The service has free e-books, e-audio books, e-magazines, e-newspapers and ancestry resources that library members can access from their own devices. Cardiff residents who aren’t currently members can also join up online. You can read more here

Contact: Beverley Watson

Ljubljana – Overview of measures

Ljubljana is increasing its offer to all age groups; from working with volunteers to keep the elderly company and offering free counselling via telephone; to digital services for the young and
telemedicine by telephone or other telecommunication means introduced for all.

Further measures adopted by the city include providing additional space for the homeless and working with volunteers from Ljubljana’s firefighter association and members of Ljubljana’s mountain rescue association and civil protection on public communication. Read more here

Contact: Polona Novak

Ljubljana – Expansion of library services

Ljubljana’s city library is offering a postal service for students and high schoolers seeking study material. This is further facilitated by a wide array of online material, including films and documentaries, and an easy remote registration.

For children and their parents as activities include listening to or reading fairy tales, taking quizzes, drawing and solving riddles. Videos of past cultural events are also available on the library’s YouTube channel.

Contact: Polona Novak

Bilbao – Actions for culture

Bilbao city council has undertaken a host of measures to give a boost to access to culture during confinement. These include publishing the city’s cultural agenda online; offering free access to thousands of digitised services through its libraries; and offering some virtual access to the Bilbao Guggenheim museum. Read more here

Contact: Alazne Zugazaga

Tallinn – Overview of measures

Tallinn has allocated a municipal food supply and 15,000 euro in financial contribution to the NGO Food Bank, it has kept two day-care centres in the city open 24h, the city library is reading books to children via Skype or by phone, and drones are used to give information in Estonian, Russian and English. Download the full overview here (updated version: 30 April 2020)

Contact: Kerttu Märtin

Edinburgh – Get stuck in when you’re stuck at home

From ‘Mummy Bubble’ to ‘Cosmic Kids Yoga’ – a series of fun and free online activities to keep residents of all ages active and busy during the coronavirus lockdown has been devised by one of Edinburgh’s Schools and Lifelong Learning officers. Callum Mcleod and colleagues came up with the idea of putting together activity packs for children, young people and families to use at home to keep them physically and mentally active during the lockdown. Read more here

Contact: Karen Lloyd

Zagreb – Ask librarians

Members of the Zagreb City Library can read more than 600 e-book titles on different devices, and they can access a list of free e-books. They can also get help in searching for content thanks to the Ask Librarians service. The Library also collected on their YouTube channel interesting online events like forums and workshops, and is giving access to an online collection not only showcasing books, but also materials like photos and music scores. Read more here (in Croatian)

Contact: international.relations@zagreb.hr

Bordeaux – One artefact a day

The city’s cultural services have been showcasing one work per day from Bordeaux’s museums, libraries or botanical gardens, or from one of the region’s cultural attractions. In addition, a large proportion of the collections held in the city’s public museums are available online. Read more here (in French)

Contact: Marie-Elisabeth Sapin

Rome – Libraries against isolation

Rome’s libraries are making their catalogue available online for free with the #cultureathome campaign. People can subscribe for a free membership that will give them access to over 7100 periodicals from 90 countries in 40 different languages, the main national and international newspapers, and widely circulated magazines. Users will also be able to borrow from 2 to 4 e-books. Read more here

Contact: Tamara Lucarelli

Tallinn – A personal call from a librarian

The librarians of the Tallinn Central Library are reading books via Skype or phone for children who have to stay at home because of the COVID-19 crisis. A child only needs to choose a book from the library list and call the librarian, who will then read the book for him/her. One session lasts maximum 30 minutes.

The library, which has already had a large stock of e-books available since it opened eight years ago, is also now uploading tonnes more e-books to keep people engaged during the coronavirus, and is providing free online registration for those Estonian citizens who are not yet readers in order to grant access to e-library ELLU.

Read more here.

Contact: Kerttu Märtin