A new function for the library

With 13 shipyards, in the 19th century Hoogeveen was one of the Netherlands’ main inland shipping centres, thanks to the peat-cutting industry. When the cultural history museum De 5000 Morgen closed in 2015, local stories of industry, perseverance and enterprise were in danger of being lost. The local library took over the management of the museum’s collection of historical objects and thereby took on a new function: helping to tell the story of Hoogeveen.

The Story Yard

The Verhalenwerf, or ‘Story Yard’, gives Hoogeveen’s cultural history a new home and preserves it for the future. This active meeting place consists of a permanent exhibition showcasing the collection; a space for temporary exhibitions chosen and created by community members, led by a supervisor; and a workshop where local people can add to the exhibitions. Every temporary exhibition is preserved in digital form. In line with the motto ‘For, by and belonging to Hoogeveners’, every local resident can contribute to the collective memory bank.

Their stories are collected and preserved in an online platform, www.verhalenwerf.nl. So Hoogeveen’s local lore now has a digital home as well as a physical one.

An agile approach

Bibliotheek Hoogeveen brought in Studio Louter to help develop the new heritage function at an early stage. Together we created a concept and used it to set up a pilot project and raise additional funds. Today’s Verhalenwerf was built on the basis of this pilot. It’s an example of our agile approach.