Järfälla invests in digital school library WeLib from Axiell

24 % of Swedish students now has access to a modern digital school library

Lund, Sweden, October 2, 2018 - Axiell today announces that the Swedish municipality Järfälla has selected the digital school library solution WeLib for their 8200 students. The procurement process was designed to ensure that the municipality could secure its vision for the students to have access to a modern digital school library solution. WeLib was considered the only system that met every requirement. Järfälla’s selection of WeLib means that approximately 24% of all students in Sweden have a modern digital school library.

Axiell's VP of Public Libraries & Education, Ann Melaerts comments:

“Järfälla is a municipality that actively works to incorporate school libraries in a way which helps teachers, students and school librarians to collaborate around the goal of encouraging reading in the schools. I am glad about the response we are getting from customers and see their choice of WeLib as evidence that our solution contributes to that way of working.”

WeLib is a system that allows digital collaboration between teachers, librarians and students. Because the system is web-based and incorporates the entire school library's digital and analogue resources as well as educational material, the student can carry the school library with them, wherever they are. In its report "School Library as Educational Resource" 2018, the Swedish School Inspectorate, states that school libraries should have a designated role in the revised curriculum for primary and lower secondary school and preschool, to strengthen students' linguistic skills and digital skills. They also refer to research that shows that school libraries represent a significant educational resource and that the interaction between school librarian and teacher has a beneficial effect on pupils' learning, which is what WeLib is designed to support.

"I am very pleased that we have now procured a common computer system for school libraries in Järfälla," says Sofia Malmberg, coordinator for school libraries in Järfälla municipality. In the procurement, we focused on selecting a system that could serve as an educational platform, where school library staff could easily inspire students to read and continue to search for knowledge. It was also important to us that the system could function as a common area of cooperation in order to exploit the shared library of school libraries.”