ABSIDE:
Learning in Libraries: the Information Society
facing discrimination and exclusion
Pier Giacomo Sola, Amitié
INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP CAMBRIDGE, 4/5th September 2003
The Background:
The Cremisi Project
The Cremisi Project, promoted in 1997 by Ministero per
i Beni e le Attività Culturali Ambientali – Direzione
Generale per i Beni Librari e gli Istituti Culturali (the
Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage), created a
network of multimedia halls in National Libraries,
focusing on providing training courses either for
librarians, workers and citizens. It ended in 2000.
The Idea:
Library is an Open Learning Space
Abside starts from the consideration that the library, one
of the few structures uniformly distributed in most
countries, can be a perfect place for “learning”.
This resource is particularly efficient towards a public who can
perceive the library as a “friendly” source, open and available
for the most part of the day, reachable without long journeys,
otherwise necessary to attend courses offered in big cities.
The Objective:
Developing New Training Models
The project, to be ended in November 2004, will develop
and test new training models to support people who are
in a weak and situation with regards to labour market.
The pedagogical methodologies used in the framework of the
project integrate individual training, Open and Distance
Learning and practical activities,
in order to create a flexible and useful
fruition for the beneficiaries.
The Beneficiaries:
Criteria used to identify them
A) development of SMEs on the market;
B) skills for self-employability of young people;
C) people living in rural and mountain areas;
D) people in or quitting prison, to promote social inclusion;
E) integration of recent migrants;
F) Guiding youngsters towards new professions;
G) People physically and psychically disabled;
H) women with difficulties in entering the labour market;
I) young people with a humanities degree;
J) promoting access to information, to support educational and
training systems easily accessible by everybody in each library,
wherever located.
Recent Activities
1. Creating Learning Centres within public libraries; training
librarians to act as tutors:
 Besides improving the Learning Centres already created by
Cremisi, other libraries have been encouraged, by organizing
meetings and presentations, to set up multimedia halls and
become demonstration centres.
Many libraries were involved in Abside in the last months,
covering most Italian Regions. Learning Centres are located
in:
Ascoli Piceno, Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Cosenza, Cremona,
Firenze, Genova, Gorizia, Milano, Modena, Napoli, Oristano,
Parma, Piacenza, Potenza, Roma, Torino, Trieste, Venezia
Recent Activities
An agreement has been reached with the Italian
Ministry
of Justice in order to stimulate the creation of Learning
Centres offering courses for people in or quitting prison.
Recent Activities
2. Identification, design, development and purchase of training
materials for the ODL.
Besides updating the materials already developed in the
framework of the Cremisi project, new training materials
will be focused on the following themes:
The PULMAN Guidelines Manuals
Knowledge Management in the Library
Marketing for Libraries
The "one person library”
The on-line information service: Access to Public Information.
The multi-lingual and multi-ethnic Library
Recent Activities
 The Prison Library
 Multimedia, Internet, Electronic Information Services
 Basic Competences: Literacy and numeracy.
 Encouraging the access to the library
 Managing Digitisation Programmes
Recent Activities
3. Activation and experimental supply of course
Currently, the Abside platform includes:
3 Forums: General, News, Librarians
A choice among 20 training materials on different subject,
(documents and files in pdf and html format)
121 users have signed up until now
 4 tutors
4. Development of a credits system
The partnership is working on the creation and development
of a credit system which should guarantee the fruitful use
of the skills achieved during the training activities
in the labour market, both for intermediate (librarians)
and final (people suffering discrimination) groups.
Recent Activities
5. Support, awareness raising, information and dissemination
activities:
Several meetings have been organized to promote Abside
at a national level. The last ones on July 2003,
Napoli, Press Conference, and Rome,
meeting with Italian “national” libraries.
Abside Transnational Partnership took part in the
international events organised on August 2003,
Berlin, during the IFLA Conference.
6. Transnational exchanges with similar experiences
Next transnational workshop will be held on 29/30 October
during the Bibliocom Congress in Rome.
Partnership
Research Centres:
Amitié
Professional associations: Associazione
Italiana Biblioteche
Companies:
Comerint
Higher education:
Università della Tuscia
Trade Unions:
Cisl and CGIL
Sectoral associations:
Associazione CDH (disabled)
COSPE (migrants)
Lilith (women)
Public sector involvement
The following organisations are supporting the project:
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali
Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione
Ministero di Grazia e Giustizia
Regione Abruzzo, Calabria, Campania,
Emilia-Romagna, Lombardia, Piemonte, Puglia, Sardegna,
Toscana, Umbria
Comune di Roma
Province di Parma e Salerno
To Know Something More
Tel:
Fax:
Email:
URL:
++39.051.27.31.73
++39.051.65.60.402
[email protected]
http://www.abside.net
Francesca Magrefi, Chiara Scorzoni,
Pier Giacomo Sola, Alessandra Tagliavini
Amitié
via Val d’Aposa, 3
I-40123 BOLOGNA