EBLIDA letter to the Ministers of Culture and Education

 

 

 

March 2002

 

 

Minister of Education and Minister of Culture

Barcelona European Council, 15 March 2002

 

Bringing together learners and learning opportunities.

“Encouraging and supporting learning communities, cities and regions and setting up local learning centres. Member states are invited to use the resources of schools, adult education and higher education institutions, research institutions and other public facilities, such as libraries, as multipurpose centres for lifelong learning.”

European Commission, Communication on Making a European Area of Lifelong Learning a Reality, November 2001

 

Dear Minister,

 

In the context of the Barcelona European Council on 15 March 2002, we ask you to ensure that libraries and archives are active partners in the lifelong learning strategy.

 

Lifelong learning or learning from cradle to grave does not have the same connotation as recurrent education within the educational system. Lifelong learning reflects a more holistic view on education and recognises learning in and from many different environments.

 

Libraries and archives have the potential to make a difference between a traditional system of formal education and a broader system of learning. Libraries and archives are socially inclusive places, offering a broad choice of different media and professional guidance in information search. In my view, they must therefore supplement the classroom and the traditional textbook.

 

Role of libraries and archives as partners in lifelong learning

EBLIDA strongly believes that libraries and archives have a fundamental role to play in the development of strategies for lifelong learning The key function of libraries and archives is not just as a service place, but an active partner offering access, professional guidance and training to global resources in a local setting.

The notion of lifelong learning implies the ability to search for information and acquire knowledge actively and independently. The classroom and the traditional textbook must therefore be supplemented by archives, libraries and museums; institutions offering a broad choice of different media and professional guidance in information search techniques.

 

Global resources in a local setting

There are around 224.000 library service points in Europe with about 139 million registered users[1]. Libraries are centred at the heart of local communities and in everyday locations such as high streets and community centres. Special services are provided for targetted groups, such as ethnic minorities and learners with disabilities. Mobile library services provide access to rural areas and to special groups, such as the elderly.

 

Lifelong learning in the networked environment

There are three pillars to information provision in the networked environment. The first is access. Libraries and archives provide access to a vast range of global resources, using both traditional and electronic media. Libraries pool the demand and share resources. Publishers can make their products available to a wide audience.

 

The second pillar is retrieval, often requiring new skills. Learners with knowledge of how to retrieve information from traditional resources e.g. books or journals, may not be familiar with how to use a computer or how to navigate around the dozens of different interfaces to databases, encyclopaedias, newspapers, etc. The librarian and archivist can act as a mediator between the learner and the provider of the learning resource. Professional advice, guidance tools and interfaces in the local language can overcome real barriers to searching and retrieval.

 

The third pillar is to identify quality information. This requires new skills of critical evaluation and interpretation. Direct access to resources on the Internet provides access to a huge range of information, but without the traditional benchmarks of quality, authenticity or permanence. Information professionals provide expert guidance in identifying and evaluating quality resources, enabling users to maximise their use of the new global networks.

 

We therefore ask you to ensure that libraries and archives are integrated into future lifelong learning strategies.

 

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

Britt-Marie Häggström

President EBLIDA on behalf of the EBLIDA Executive Committee

 

Associaçâo Portuguesa de Bibliotecários, Arquivistas e Documentalistâs (BAD), Portugal

Association des Bibliothécaires Français (ABF), France

Associazione Italiana Biblioteche (AIB), Italy

Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Bibliotheksverbände (BDB), Germany

Danish Library Association, Denmark

DIK-förbundet, Sweden

Federación Española de Sociedades de Archivística, Biblioteconomía y Documentación (FESABID), Spain

Finnish Research Library Association, Finland

National Archives of Sweden, Sweden

Norwegian Library Association, Norway

Dutch Public Library Association (NBLC), The Netherlands