Libraries for Lifelong Learning - ENTITLE Final Conference October 15, 2009

The ENTITLE final conference ‘Libraries for Lifelong Learning’ will provide an excellent discussion forum, where librarians and educators from all over Europe can share their experiences, good practices and exchange their view on the role libraries should play in nonformal/informal learning.

The final conference will be hosted in Budapest, Hungary and will be targeted at up to 150 policy makers and representatives of national and European associations in the learning sector, with a special focus in those countries which have not been directly represented in ENTITLE consortium.

The conference is co-organised by EBLIDA, the European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations and other organisations from 11 countries.

The ENTITLE project results are:

• based on an extensive research concluded in 12 European countries

• tested in several libraries in old and new member states (e.g. Denmark, Romania,Slovenia)

• validated by experts from EBLIDA, EUN, MLA, etc organisations

Program:

8:00 – 9:00 Registration, welcome coffee

9:00 – 9:30 Welcome words

Peter Dippold Director National Széchényi Library

Joanne Yeomans, EBLIDA, chairman of the conference

Section 1: Policy Introduction

9:30 – 10:00 Libraries-Knowledge-Social Development

Gábor Náray-Szabó Hungarian Academy of Sciences

10:00 – 10:20 Goals and work of ENTITLE

Rob Davies MDR Partners

10:20 – 10:45 Role of Libraries in supporting lifelong learning

Lecturer to be confirmed

10:45 – 11:20 Coffee and networking

Section 2: ENTITLE Results

11:20 – 12:00 ENTITLE Guidelines for public libraries

Anne-Marie Schmidt, Aarhus Public Libraries (to be confirmed)

12:00 – 12:30 Discussion

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch

13:30 – 14:15 Impact assessment framework

Natasha Innocent, MLA (to be confirmed)

14:15 – 15:30 Best practice and lessons learnt during testing the impact assessment framework in

public libraries: Experiences from Austria, Greece, Portugal

15:30 – 16:00 Final conclusions, recommendations for public libraries and policy-makers

Roger Blamire, EUN

16:00 -16:30 Coffee and networking

16:30 – 18:00 Section 3: Workshops

1. Cooperation of LLL organisations (libraries and other):

“The cooperation with other organisations (schools, municipalities, training institutions, governmental agencies for training and/or regional development, etc) is crucial to achieve the highest impact. The extension of cooperation, not only with nearby educational institutions but, since tele-learning and e-learning are becoming more and more important, with distant educational institutions as well. “

Moderator: Aarhus Public Libraries, Denmark or Veria Public Library, Greece (to be confirmed)

2. Learning impact

“Public libraries need to change their traditional way of thinking with regard to learning services, while library experts need to obtain complex skills so that they can carry on their activities efficiently.” “There is a strong political assumption, both implicit and explicit, that informal/nonformal learning organisations such as libraries have a vital job to do by supporting individual learners’ needs, providing them with choices and flexibility, helping people to continue and return to learning, enabling adults to get a job or qualification, signposting and inspiring people to take up other courses, helping children to learn and supporting schools in diversifying children’s experiences.“

Moderator: MLA, UK or Lisbon Municipal Libraries Network, Portugal (to be confirmed)

3. Library 2.0 – libraries, literacy and learning in the knowledge society

“Public libraries have the duty to help to reduce today’s digital divide that may become tomorrow’s ‘info-exclusion.’ As technologies evolve, making sure that the benefits of high-speed networks are available in rural as well as urban areas is becoming a policy priority. There are different uses and practices of ICT technologies and services provided by public libraries. The provision of ICT facilities and other web technologies without a good community educational programme would not succeed. To gain the best results, apart from providing the ICT and web facilities, one has to provide training in their use. Moreover, one must help European citizens understand why ICT is useful in their everyday lives.”

Moderator: Acrosslimits, Malta, National Library Slovenia (to be confirmed)

Conference information provided by konferenciakalauz.hu

Official Website: http://www.entitlelll.eu/eng/Meetings/Final-Conference