Public Libraries and Lifelong Learning

This literature review examines the role of public libraries in supporting lifelong learning (LLL). The first part considers the impact of recent economic and social changes in the field of education. Thanks to official documents, the paper tries to answer the question on how is it possible to transform the information society into the learning society? The new learning culture is largely described besides focusing on the concept of LLL. The second part describes the themes related to the new role of libraries and librarians involved in LLL services. When public libraries, between the 1990s and the 2000s, are recognized as the pillars for a democratic knowledge society, the position of the libraries in the communities changes, thanks to cooperation and new partnerships into the formal, non formal and informal education system. Besides the infrastructures, the networks and the provision of services, libraries offer neutral and supportive local learning settings. As demonstrated by the experiences in the field of Information Literacy, guidance and training constitute the strategic value of libraries. In order to achieve the democratic goals of an inclusive society, libraries have to pay attention to their public and to the different needs of their users. This new scenario ask librarians to become agents of change, prepared to meet the new demands of technology and, morover, of people. New information professionals need new qualifications and professional recognition, into a perspective of a lifelong career. This study dedicates a part to the Italian case, in order to understand the state of the art of the role of public libraries in LLL in this geographical area and comparing the situation with that of other European countries. The final part offers a recognition of the main trends and problems related to the role of public libraries and LLL. In some areas it is evident a gap between the international policy and the current practices

Emergent digital services in public libraries : a domain study

Purpose: This paper explores the emergence of digital services in the public library domain via an extensive study of the websites of all Scottish public library services Design/methodology/approach: In a 4 month period all 32 of Scotland’s public library authority websites were visited by a researcher. The goal of the researcher was to record the options available from the library homepages in the following way: •Role of library in providing page content: content provider or access provider? •Was the page providing a digital service? •What was the audience for the page? Adult, child, or not specified? •Description of page content •Any noted usability issues Each site was only visited to three levels below that of the initial homepage. Findings: The study found a good standard of innovation in digital services around LMS functions, offering users the ability to keep in control of their borrowing and reserving. In addition there was a consistent set of electronic reference resources subscribed to by multiple libraries, offering high quality information both within the library and for library members from their home or workplace. Problems were found with regards to guidance on the usage of these resources, as well as confusion and inconsistency in terminology usage across different library services. Research limitations/implications: The paper examines only Scottish public library sites, thus can only claim to be representative of that country. It also can only represent the sites at the time they were examined. Practical implications: The paper should be of interest to public and other librarians interested in patterns across web sites in their sector. Originality/value: This is the first national study of Scottish public library websites and its findings should be of value as a result

Las clasificaciones de bibliotecas. Bibliotecas públicas

This chapter list the various classifications of libraries according to different authors. Particularly, it is focused on the origins, concept and functions of Public Libraries. Additionally, this chapter analyses the guidelines, standards and Manifestos related to Public Library. And finally, it explains the organization of services and, in particular, the Local Collection

Bibliotecas y empoderamiento: servicios innovadores en un entorno de crisis

This article analyses the role of public libraries on the promotion of individual and collective empowerment, according to the action lines of the new Public Library model, based on international recommendations and trend studies. These initiatives promote, among others, the transformation of the library space in a kind of “Agora”, or third space, initiatives aimed at the promotion of the creative capabilities and developing new learning models, as well as technological tools for the social and shared economy. The final goal is evaluating the level of implementation of these innovative services in the Spanish Public Library Network, highlighting the most significant initiatives. The study is based on data provided by the people on charge of the organisms. As an instrument for collecting data, a questionnaire was designed ad-hoc, which was later completed by personal interviews and searching on the official web pages. The response rate obtained was 73.3% (41), a sufficiently representative sample that allows a global view of the implementation of services. The study results show that even when public libraries start providing those services that the new social needs demands, like training for job-search and ICT competences, other, more innovative services, as the use of digital manufacturing tools or the transformation of space in collaborative and co-working spaces, are offered in a much smaller proportion.El presente trabajo analiza el papel de las bibliotecas públicas para fomentar el empoderamiento individual y colectivo de acuerdo a las líneas de actuación del nuevo modelo de biblioteca que propugnan las directrices de organismos internacionales y estudios de tendencias. Estas iniciativas promueven, entre otras, la configuración del espacio bibliotecario como un «ágora» o «tercer lugar», acciones orientadas a fomentar la capacidad creativa y nuevos modelos de aprendizaje, así como herramientas tecnológicas para la economía social y compartida. El objetivo último es evaluar el grado de implantación de estos servicios innovadores en la Red de las Bibliotecas Públicas del Estado (España) compuesta por 53 entidades, subrayando aquellas iniciativas paradigmáticas. Los datos para el estudio se han obtenido de la aportación de los propios responsables de los centros. Como instrumento de recogida de datos se diseñó un cuestionario “ad hoc” que fue complementado posteriormente con entrevistas personales y consultas a sus páginas web. La tasa de respuesta obtenida ha sido del 73,3% (41), una muestra bastante significativa que permite una visión global del desarrollo de estos servicios. Los resultados muestran que, si bien las bibliotecas han comenzado a prestar muchos de los servicios que las nuevas realidades sociales demandan, como la formación para la búsqueda de empleo y formación en competencias TIC, otros, más innovadores, como el uso de herramientas de fabricación digital o la transformación del espacio en lugares de colaboración y coworking, todavía se prestan de manera muy minoritaria

Análisis de la expresión “información local” en siete documentos de apoyo al desarrollo de las bibliotecas públicas

The expression local information in seven documents on the public libraries is located, analyzed and commented: Manifesto of UNESCO (1994); Declaration of Copenhagen (1999), La biblioteca pública: un centro para la sociedad de la información (2000), Guidelines IFLA/Unesco (2001), Pautas sobre los servicios de las bibliotecas públicas (2002); Pulman Guidelines (2002) and Manifesto of Oeiras (2003). After exposing the different aspects that this concept locks up, we defend that the roll of this kind of information in the present public library is very related to the tendency towards the globalization of our societySe localiza, analiza y comenta la expresión información local en siete documentos sobre bibliotecas públicas: Manifiesto de la Unesco (1994), Declaración de Copenhague (1999), La biblioteca pública: un centro para la sociedad de la información (2000), Directrices IFLA/Unesco (2001); Pautas sobre los servicios de las bibliotecas públicas (2002), Pautas Pulman (2002) y Manifiesto de Oeiras (2003). Tras exponer los diferentes aspectos que encierra este concepto, se defiende que el papel de este tipo de información en la biblioteca pública actual está muy vinculado a la tendencia globalizadora de nuestra socieda

Ese antídoto contra la exclusión digital llamado biblioteca pública necesita mediciones actualizadas

Las bibliotecas públicas desempeñan un importante papel en la sociedad de la información. Instituciones como la Comisión Europea recurren a ellas para canalizar muchos de sus esfuerzos en materia de inclusión digital (como atestiguan los programas Harmonica, ECUP, Camile, Libecon 2000, etc.) y no es casual que nuestras bibliotecas se impliquen en su desarrollo. Bertot, John-Carlo; Real, Brian; Lee, Jean; McDermott, Abigail J.; Jaeger, Paul T. (2015). 2014 Digital inclusion survey: Survey findings and results extended summary. [College Park, Maryland]: Information Policy & Access Center (IPAC). http://digitalinclusion.umd.edu/sites/default/files/up loads/2014DigitalInclusionSurveyFinalRelease.pd

Halk kütüphanelerinin toplumsal rolü ve Etimesgut İlçe Halk Kütüphanesinin kullanım etkinliğinin değerlendirilmesi

In current society, called as information society, which the importance of the knowledge is being increased in view of economic progress and development of societies, individuals needs to acquire knowledge to reach competition strength. Public libraries are institutions that their goal is to present information service in the easiest and fastest way to every individual of the society without considering any differences among them. In this study, the position and situation of our libraries that might be able to play great role in terms of the progress of our countryman to be knowledge society has put forward. In general, the social role of public libraries; aims of public libraries, services that are given by public libraries, contribution of public libraries on local development has been examined, the usage efficiency of the public library in Etimesgut district by public was evaluated in the light of statistical and public surveys by taking into consideration the projects related with public libraries in European Union process. Aim of the study is to reveal whether EIHK takes part that needs to be in information age, whether it fulfills its social role/roles, whether the efficiency of public usage is enough or not, to find out what are the causes of these results and how they can be solved. Information services are the services that user who wants to reach information supply to reach information in a fast and efficient way and make them used by user. The aim of these services is to create well-informed people. EIHK that we made studies on is even not enough to perform traditional functions in view of information services. General results that we got from our study are; both users and region people don’t need to get information, their knowledge how to use library is not enough, public is unaware of the services that are presented by library and therefore that they are not using public libraries, EIHK doesn’tperform its functions properly since building, budget and personnel lack. Commonly in our country where the use of library usage and reading habit are poor, it was detected that not only libraries don’t perform their roles but also schools and parents don’t perform their roles in this situation. Public libraries that have a special and important role among information centers are one of the indispensable organizations in being information society. EIHK is not enough to perform its both roles in that it doesn’t give information services to public at desired level and doesn’t fulfill integration with public and it doesn’t make expected contributions on the process of being information society. On the other hand, it was previously mentioned that public libraries in western world has great importance and they reach user, at the point where they couldn’t reach the user libraries search for serious alternate projects to reach people. In case of the EIHK, it seems almost impossible to reach current information age standards in these conditions by near future. EIHK like other public libraries in our country faces the problems coming from previous years in difficult conditions. Although contributions are made into the projects that are developed in Europe in the name of our public libraries, some reforms that are made to improve libraries will bring comfort to use of libraries but not solve the main problems as long as it is not seriously considered or applied. It must be keep in mind, products of the investments that are made on public libraries, which are considered as universities of public, will be well-informed people

Avrupa Birliği ve Kütüphaneler

This paper addresses the following topics related to Turkish - European Union (EU) librarianship; the political background of relations between Turkey and the EU, work related to the information society within the EU and its influence on library and information services, development plans, policies, and projects in culture, education and science on the above mentioned fields in the EU, work related to the information society within Turkey, the main developments in library and information services, development plans and science policies, and projects which will enhance the adaptability of Turkey in its accession period to the EU. Policy initiatives issued by the European Union provide useful insights into the ways in which improvements in Turkish libraries may be realized. Although some efforts have been made to enhance the status of libraries according to development plans as well as cultural and science policies, these initiatives still fall short of those enjoyed by many libraries in the European Union