As previewed briefly in Exploit Interactive's News and Events page (issue 1) PubliCA is carrying out a programme of training for library managers in Central and Eastern Europe, the PubliCA Training Centres Initiative. In this timely article, Sue Welsh describes the initiative in more detail. Places in the programme are being booked now.
In 1998 PubliCA's mandate was renewed and updated by DG13. Specifically, PubliCA was extended to the ten Central and Eastern European countries with pre-accession agreements: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. As part of the new remit, PubliCA engaged to set up a training programme for public library service managers from Central and Eastern Europe, based in "centres of excellence" around Europe.
The Aim of the PubliCA Training Centres Initiative is to:
"accelerate the development of modern public libraries by widening the experience and knowledge of potential leaders, particularly in the fields of management and modern networked public library services and to foster continuing contacts between the libraries and individuals taking part." [1]By enabling library managers and service heads to see exemplary services in action it is hoped that they will be empowered to develop their own ideas locally. In addition, those trained will be able to disseminate knowledge and skills to their colleagues.
In order to address the priorities of potential participants accurately more detailed knowledge of training needs was required. A preliminary questionnaire was circulated to PubliCA contacts across Europe asking for information on training strategies and needs, and responses were received from 23 countries. A graphical view of the results of the survey is shown below in Figure 1. A detailed description of the results from the questionnaire is available on the PubliCA web site [2].
Figure 1: From the Training Needs Survey |
Subsequently a more extensive and detailed consultation exercise was performed focusing on the Central and Eastern European countries only. PubliCA country co-ordinators were asked to consult with colleagues in the public library sector and prioritise over 30 broad training areas. The input from each county was used to produce a table training needs, ranked according to the priorities expressed by each country. High scoring training areas included:
These training needs were then used to inform and evaluate potential centres of excellence.
Potential centres of excellence were invited to apply to join the programme. Once application period closed, PubliCA rated the proposals against published criteria [1], which ranged from addressing one of the identified training needs to providing adequate support (for example accommodation).
A workshop was organised to give the candidates an opportunity to present their ideas. This was held in Budapest in February 1999 and as a result six centres were selected for the programme. Successful centres are based in:
The centres chosen provide a good range of training, varying topically and in geographical scope (from the library to the regional view).
Training programmes from the successful centres have been published on the PubliCA web site [3] and places are being booked via PubliCA country co-ordinators in Central and Eastern European countries. Training will take place during the period August - November 1999.
PubliCA itself will be providing financial support for attachments during the first year of operations, and in addition Soros Foundations are supporting placements in several countries. The total number of placements funded either by PubliCA, Soros Foundations or nationally is likely to be over 50. In future it is expected that external funding will allow the continuation of the programme and extension of numbers in future years.
The PubliCA Training Centres Initiative is being co-ordinated by Education for Change. Contact Rob Davies (rob.davies@efc.co.uk) for more information.
Figure 2: PubliCA Site |
If you have any comments on this article, please contact the editors (exploit-editor@ukoln.ac.uk).
Sue Welsh
PubliCA Webmaster
Email: swelsh@library.croydon.gov.uk
URL: http://www.croydon.gov.uk/publica/
For citation purposes:
Sue Welsh, "PubliCA Training Placements,"
Exploit Interactive, issue 2, 20 July 1999
URL: <http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue2/citizens/>
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