Public Libraries and social inclusion

1. Public Libraries and social inclusion Bibliocom, Rome, 30 October 2003 Rob Davies MDR Partners LearnEast Project

2. www.learneast.com

3. This presentation • Establishing a mainstream role for public libraries in social inclusion: success factors • Preliminary assessment • EQUAL agenda – social inclusion, lifelong learning, employment skills – disadvantaged groups • Sources • LearnEast/ABSIDE study – France/Italy/UK – still in progress • Desk research, interviews • Workshop in Bordeaux, France (October 2003) • SEIN study commissioned by EC DG INFSO on local cultural memory organisations (CMO) – draft findings

4. EQUAL Programme • European Social Fund Test and promote new ways of combating all forms of discrimination and inequalities faced by those groups most disadvantaged in the labour market, both those in work and those seeking work, through transnational co-operation. • Groups include: • women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, older workers, refugees, ex-offenders, drugs and alcohol misusers. • also action to help the social and vocational integration of asylum seekers. • 3 out of 1300 projects involve libraries! • ABSIDE, CARIBAL-EDIST,LearnEast • Second Call for Proposals, Spring 2004 • http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/equal/index_en.html

5. EQUAL principles • Partnership • public authorities, representatives of workers and employers, equality commissions, education and training communities, voluntary and community sectors, management authorities • Thematic approach • new ways of tackling problems common to different types of inequality • Theme E - Promoting lifelong learning and inclusive work practices • Transnationality • partnerships from other Member States, learning lessons, developing new methods and approaches to training and job creation; • Empowerment/participation • target groups can influence the design and evaluation of activities • Innovation • new methods of delivery, new systems or innovative actions • Dissemination and mainstreaming • help inform policy developments at a national and European level

6. Success factors: summary • Policy and strategies • Perceptions of library services • Services • Public Libraries’ role in the learning process • Staff and training • Content resources • Equipment/IT infrastructure • Evaluation/Impact measurement

7. Policy and strategies • National policies, strategies, key documents • Lifelong learning • Social exclusion • Employment skills • National sector-specific policies for public libraries • Regional and local policies • Co-operation and partnership agenda • Funding programmes

8. Partnerships • National/regional agencies with local services • health, employment • Regional development agencies • Local authority services • social services, education, archives and museums etc • Local adult and higher education institutions • Community and voluntary organisations (NGOs)

9. Policies and strategies - France • No MoC policy or vision statement for public libraries in this area • National ‘digital divide’ activity (Les Espaces Culture Multimedia) - involves only a few public libraries • Decentralisation to local level - sporadic individual initiatives • Weak articulation between national, regional and local policies • Sporadic co-ordination/funding support provided by regional DRAC • Partnerships mainly governed by local interagency contracts

10. Policies and strategies - Italy • Libraries encouraged to respond to National Action Plans/strategies • Social inclusion • Lifelong Learning • e-Learning • Information Literacy • Territorial development • Regional co-ordination responsibility • Multicultural libraries promote social inclusion for immigrants • Structural funds seen as possible funding source • Training and employment • Technical innovation

11. Policies and strategies - UK • 1997+ Specific role for public libraries within top down govt strategies: inclusion, neighbourhood renewal, learning, skills • Role in national and local partnerships, access centres for national services • Support through specific agencies at regional level • Role adopted in some way by almost all public library authorities • Peoples’ Network £170 million – IT, digitisation, training • Public libraries currently eligible for wide range of ‘non-traditional’ funding schemes – bidding culture • Future sustainability? • ‘Framework for the Future: Libraries, Learning and Information in the Next Decade provides only £3 million – all for strategic development

12. National/regional policies

13. Regional libraries’ consortia

14. Resource regional agencies

15. Perceptions of library services • Social exclusion target groups "Fellow citizens who lack the means, material or otherwise, to participate in economic, social, cultural and political life in Britain today. It is more than poverty and unemployment: it is being cut off from what most of us regard as normal life." • National public library tradition • Culture = books, reading, multimedia? • Everything we do?

16. Perceptions

17. Services • Types of service • Simply information and resource access • Mediation/guidance/resource selection • Structured learning eg guided learning/tutoring/mentoring/direct teaching • Types of learning supported • Formal/informal • Skills – literacy, numeracy, IT • Content-based learning?

18. Services

19. Libraries benchmarking data

20. Staff and training • Recruitment and qualifications? • Librarians, learning supporters or teachers • Community background • In-service training for learning support • In-house/self-directed/on-line • External (adult education) • Motivation and skills

21. Staff and training

22. CREMISI/ABSIDE

23. Libraries and learning “If libraries are to fully exploit opportunities to realise their potential to support learning, a greater understanding of the totality of the learning process and its relationship to the role of libraries is needed. In order to achieve this, the library sector will need to work closely with policymakers and practitioners from the education sector as well as collaborating with organisations in the cultural domain”.

24. Role in learning process • Formal or informal learning? • Use of ‘learning’ rather than ‘education’ • Shift towards student-centred learning • Accreditation? • IT competence qualification eg ECDL ? • How does the library support learners? • Engaging learners • Planning learning experiences • Exploring • Reflection • Generalising and implementing learning • Evaluation

25. Learning process

26. Content resources • Public libraries as ‘designated access centres’ for national content services in learning, employment, skills • On-line databases/information services • learning and training opportunities • employment opportunities • Learning materials and resources • e-Learning • Audio • Software • Workbooks, manuals • Language availability

27. Content resources

28. LearnDirect

29. Equipment and infrastructure • Buildings and access • Opening hours • Non-library community venues • IT equipment • PCs and peripherals • Networks • Specifications, compatibility, security • Accessibility • Upgrading, maintenance and support • Connectivity and bandwidth • Internet, multimedia content, videoconferencing etc • Assistive technology • eg induction loops

30. Equipment and infrastructure

31. Evaluation and Impact measurement • Investment for sustainable service development comes from showing that you make a difference • Service benchmarking • Process and metric • Focus groups and consultation • Statistics • Surveys • Impact measurement • Individual ‘beneficiary’ monitoring (LearnEast) • Data collection • Longitudinal issues

32. Evaluation and impact measurement

33. Conclusions of UK benchmarking club (2002) • All libraries regardless of size should be registered as UK Online centre • All libraries should be recognised as LearnDirect Access Points and offer taster sessions in ICT and Internet use • Libraries expected to be Information, Advice and Guidance Centres (IAG) providing a route into the learning jungle • Some libraries in each authority, dependant on size and site, should provide Homework Clubs/study support facilities for school children

34. Conclusions of UK benchmarking club (2002) • Some larger libraries to provide learning centres where structured learning (perhaps provided by other agencies) can take place • Development of a specific access/learning policy is good indicator of priority for learning support services • Effective services need to be fully integrated at strategic and service point levels • Formal recognition of library services’ contribution to local education authority and and Local Lifelong Learning Partnership objectives is a key element of good practice.

35. Where will results be published? www.learneast.com http://www.abside.net