Newsletter nº 3 (2012)

Istanbul 2012

Having in mind that it is crucial for ETL’s members to meet every year, Turkey

hosted the 16th meeting, held in the 19th and 20th of April, in the facilities of

Marmara University.

It was with great satisfaction that the members recognized that ETL is now a

stable group with the same people/organization coming each year, what gives

an important contribute for the continuity of work.

The meeting was attended by the following participants:

Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Ro-

mania, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

6500 Toy Libraries in Europe

UPDATES ON EUROPEAN FACTS & FIGURES

Austria: 50 TL

Belgium (Flemish): 90 TL

Belgium (French): 120 TL

Croatia: 18 TL

Cyprus: 6 TL

Denmark: 40 TL

France: 1200 TL

Germany: 100 TL

Great Britain: 1000 TL

Greece: 4 TL

Hungary: 8 TL

Italy: 1000 TL

Lithuania: 108 TL

Netherlands: 300-400 TL

Portugal: 750 TL

Romania: 150 TL

Spain: 600 TL

Switzerland: 380 TL

Sweden : 200 TL

Turkey: 9 TL

THE PURPOSES OF ETL ARE:

To disseminate the concept of

toy libraries as a means of

bringing play and play mate-

rials to people.

To serve as a link between

national toy library organiza-

tions, providing opportunities

for international exchange of

ideas and materials.

To maintain a liaison with

other organizations and asso-

ciations pertaining to devel-

opmental and social issues,

health, education and play.

To organize common presen-

tations at international events

such as the International

Conferences organized by the

International Toy Library

Association.

To cooperate with organiza-

tions having similar goals.

Each country presented its annual report, which made clear that the financial

crisis has also deep impact on the functionment and funding of toy libraries all

across Europe. Nevertheless, several activities have been carried out in all

countries with the aim to promote Toy Libraries' recognition and to defend the

Right to Play, namely the dissemination of the celebration of World Play Day in

the majority of the countries and several symposiums, conferences and exhibi-

tions regarding Play and Toy Libraries.

Group present at the meeting in Istanbul, 2012

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ETL MEETING—ISTANBUL, APRIL 2012

WORKING STANDARDS

The working standards, worked out in Lisbon and Brussels, were accepted by the dif-

ferent countries.

ETL will release it as part of the global “Documentation for Toy Libraries” that will

have the following contents:

ETL history

Working standards

Different charters of quality

Different standards for toy libraries

All website addresses of the participating countries

ETL’s Newsletters

This documentation is now inexistent in Europe and will respond to a gap that most

countries feel regarding access to reference documents in the area of toy libraries.

Some members highlighted that the wording “toy library” is being incorrectly used

by institutions that have another purposes (namely commercial intents regarding

play). So it was suggested to revise ETL’s definition of toy library, what was agreed

by all members. The definition should now be read as follows:

Toy libraries provide resources for play, including toys, games, trained staff and

dedicated space on a non-commercial basis.

ETL’S DEFINITION OF A TOY LIBRARY

ETL will release the “Documentation for Toy Libraries” that sums up the group’s work and will provide reference documents about toy libraries

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ETL’S STRUCTURE AND FUTURE WORK

ETL’s members were divided in three groups to discuss ETL’s structure and fu-

ture work. Each one of the questions below was firstly worked by a small group

and then analyzed by the entire ETL’s group.

1. Does ETL want to be an Association or a group?

For the time being, ETL will stay as an informal group. This issue was already

discussed in previous meetings and the “formal” aspects of being an association

were highlighted as they probably would imply a change in ETL’s current situa-

tion: today we are a working group that can focus on technical issues and that

doesn’t spend time on formal aspects. This discussion will be resumed in upcom-

ing meetings.

2. Who can be a member of ETL?

A member’s profile was drawn as follows:

Members are National Associations of Toy Libraries or similar (no individual

members);

Members must live in a European country and speak English fluently;

The decision of accepting the membership is of the entire responsibility of

ETL (no automatic memberships). A membership form will be created.

ETL will stay an informal group and focus on technical issues, as it has been until now.

3. What are the tasks of ETL?

All the tasks below are crucial contributes to strengthen the European Toy Li-

brary Movement:

to inform each other, the group, Europe and policy makers;

to be informed of the ITLA decisions, of important European or world topics

with influence on Toy Libraries’ work;

to represent European Toy Libraries (establish contacts with policy makers

and have a strong European representative in ITLA);

to influence local Toy Libraries’ policy;

to reflect national and international policies.

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GETTING TO KNOW ISTANBUL...

NEXT MEETING:

Date: April 19th –20th 2013

Place: Denmark

© Child Support Institute, 2012

The organizers of this year’s meeting welcomed the participants with a concert in

Marmara University facilities and prepared a series of activities to get to know

Turkish culture and arts.

The first visit was the Istanbul Toy Museum, with a collection of over 4,000 toys

from around the world. A very well designed space where workshops for children

and families are carried out.

In the last day of the meeting, the members participated in an Ebru Workshop, a

traditional Turkish art that ETL members could experience with the help of a

professor from Marmara University. There were also a visit to the Karagöz Tradi-

tional Turkish Shadow Puppet Theatre where ETL’s members saw a play and

were able to talk to its the creator.

ETL HISTORY AND MEMBERS

ETL will continue working to strengthen the European Toy Library Movement

The Group of European Toy Libraries (ETL) was founded in 1996 during

the 7th International Conference on Toy Libraries in Zurich (Switzerland).

ETL is committed to the beliefs that play, playthings and playful interac-

tion are essential to optimal education, physical, psychological, social and

cultural development.

It has as current members the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Croa-

tia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Cyprus,

Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Rus-

sia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

ETL is a section of the International Toy Libraries Association of (ITLA)

and works in close co-operation with ITLA.